found: Work cat.: Gaziantepli Seyyid Muhammed Ali Rıza. Gaziantepli Seyyid Muhammed Ali Rıza'nın Gencü'l-esrâr'ı, 2021:p. v (author was a Sunni imam)
found: Merriam-Webster dictionary online, Jan. 18, 2023(imam, often capitalized: 1. the prayer leader of a mosque. 2. a Muslim leader of the line of Ali held by Shiites to be the divinely appointed, sinless, infallible successors of Muhammad. 3. any of various rulers that claim descent from Muhammad and exercise spiritual and temporal leadership over a Muslim region)
found: Collins English dictionary online, Jan. 18, 2023(imam (American English): 1. the leader of prayer in a Muslim mosque. 2. [often I-] any of various Muslim leaders and rulers, often used as a title; (British English) 1. a leader of congregational prayer in a mosque. 2. a caliph, as leader of a Muslim community. 3. an honorific title applied to eminent doctors of Islam, such as the founders of the orthodox schools. 4. any of a succession of either seven or twelve religious leaders of the Shiites, regarded by their followers as divinely inspired)
found: Wikipedia, Jan. 18, 2023(imam; for Sunni Muslims, imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque; in this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve as community leaders, and provide religious guidance; thus for Sunnis, anyone can study the basic Islamic sciences and become an Imam; for most Shia Muslims, the Imams are absolute infallible leaders of the Islamic community after the Prophet; Shias consider the term to be only applicable to the members and descendents of the Ahl al-Bayt, the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad; Sunni Islam does not have imams in the same sense as the Shia)
found: Britannica online, Jan. 18, 2023(imam; imam, Arabic imām ("leader," "model"), in a general sense, one who leads Muslim worshippers in prayer. In a global sense, imam is used to refer to the head of the Muslim community (ummah). The title is found in the Qurʾān several times to refer to leaders and to Abraham. The origin and basis of the office of imam was conceived differently by various sections of the Muslim community, this difference providing part of the political and religious basis for the split into Sunni and Shiʿi Islam)
found: LCSH, Jan. 18, 2023(Imams (Mosque officers). BT Mosque officers; also Imams (Shiites). BT Shīʻah; Shiites)
found: Encyclopaedia Iranica, Mar. 13, 2023:Emām-e jomʿa (Emām-e jomʿa, leader of the congregational prayer performed at midday on Fridays. This prayer, comprising two prayer cycles (rakʿas) preceded by a sermon (ḵoṭba), normally takes the place of the regular noon prayer with four rakʿas. Customarily the emām-e jomʿa both delivers the sermon and leads the prayer, though his title refers only to the latter function; in Twelver Shiʿism the right to lead or convene the Friday prayer should initially have been reserved for the Imams, though Imam ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭāleb was the only one who exercised the political power on which it was predicated)
found: Email from V. Wilhite, University of Washington Libraries, Mar. 13, 2023(the term Imam in Shiite Islam is not restricted to descendants of the Prophet Muhammad who are the rightful leaders of the Muslim community, but can mean a worship leader in a mosque as well; imams can be worship leaders in both the Shiite and Sunni traditions)
