Skip to content
Vinony

imam

noun

  1. islamic leadership position
L16960 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈiːmɑːm/ / /ɪˈmɑːm/

name

Etymology: Occupational surname, borrowed from Arabic إمام (ʔimām). This surname is mostly found in Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

  1. A surname from Arabic.

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

  1. One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.

    “Now it chanced that in one of the mosques was an Imam. (footnote: The person specially appointed to lead the prayers of the congregation and paid out of the endowed revenues of the mosque to which he is attached)”

    “But then there's a Christian cleric and an imam on each of the country's three regional censorship boards, in Kaduna, Lagos and Onitsha, although more than one producer told me that the brown envelope worked the same magic here as in any other Nigerian Government department.”

  2. A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor.
  3. A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor.