imamArticle Free Pass imam, Arabic Imām, (“leader,” “pattern”),
the head of the Muslim community; the title is used 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 Sunnite and Shīʿite Islām. Among Sunnites, imam was
synonymous with caliph (khalīfah), designating the successor of
Muḥammad, who assumed his administrative and political, but not
religious, functions. He was appointed by men and, although
liable to error, was to be obeyed even though he personally
sinned, provided he maintained the ordinances of Islām.
Political disagreement over succession to his office after the
death (661) of ʿAlī, the fourth caliph and Muḥammad’s son-in-
law, propelled the Shīʿite imam along a separate course of
development, as partisans of ʿAlī attempted to preserve
leadership of the entire Muslim community among