Mollah

Mollah (Arab. maula, Turk. meula, i.e., ruler) is the name of a Turkish superior judge, who is an expounder of civil and criminal law, and of the religion of the state; he is therefore, necessarily both a lawyer and an ecclesiastic. Under him is the cadi or judge, who administers the law, and superior to him are: the kadhiasker and the mufti (q.v.). They all are, however, subject to the Sheik al-Islam, or supreme mufti. In Persia, the office of mollah is similar to what it is in Turkey; but his superior there is the "sadr," or chief of the mollahs. In the states of Turkestan, the mollahs have the whole government in their hands. See MULLAH.