What does the word “Mulla” mean?
October 10, 2003.
I felt the need to explain this word, “Mulla”, because
there are so many “Mullas” in Talibaan. Even the name of Talibaan
leader is Mulla Muhammad Omar (mostly referred as Mulla Omar).
“Mulla” is a mutilated form of an Arabic word “Maulaa”.
It means “the leader of prayer in a masjid”. “Mulla” is
sometimes used for an Islamic scholar. As many of the leaders of Talibaan consider
themselves “the scholars of Islam”, therefore, they use the title
of “Mulla” with their names. In fact, this word is a title rather
than name. It is same as other titles like Doctor, Sir, Mr. etc.
In Urdu, “Mulla” is considered a word of contempt
and is used for sarcasm. In Urdu, Mulla means a person who pretends to be
religious scholar or religiously literate. In other words, Mulla is used for
such a person who doesn’t have any legitimate and enough knowledge for
being a scholar but he wants to be considered a scholar of religion. This word
is also used for a leader of prayer with bad character or reputation. In Pakistan,
many people considered this word offensive.
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Muslim Names
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