MOLLA

Molla comes from the Arabic term mawla, which is most often used to mean religious leader. The term molla is used primarily in Iran and parts of Asia to refer to Muslim religious scholars, or ulema, who serve various clerical functions. It is used as a generic term for a Muslim cleric. The term akhund is a synonym for it in Persian and related languages. Mollas receive a religious education as a child in a maktab (Ar. kuttab). They study the Qur˒an, hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad), and basic aspects of belief and practice. At the highest level of training mollas receive the equivalent of a doctorate in theology from a theological seminary, called a madrasa or howzah˓ilmiyya. Mollas serve a series of social and religious functions: prayer leader in a mosque, reciter of the Qur˒an, religious teacher for children or a professor, jurist or judge, administrator of religious endowments and sites, community leader, politician, scholar of religion, and sometimes as scribes or even bookkeepers. They also preside over various rituals including marriage contracts, and other religious rituals. Not all mollas are employed full-time in this profession. Many of them have other occupations along with their religious duties. It is not uncommon, especially in the past and in rural areas, for the term molla to be applied to a cleric with far more limited education, perhaps limited to some basic knowledge of the Qur˒an and hadith.

See alsoUlema .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Meir, Litvak. Shi˓i Scholars of Nineteenth-Century Iraq: The"Ulama" of Najaf and Karbala. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Momen, Moojan. An Introduction to Shi˓i Islam. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985.

Waldbridge, Linda S., ed. The Most Learned of the Shi˓a: TheInstitution of the Marja˓ Taqlid. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Kamran Aghaie