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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (41158)	12/18/2001 5:28:38 PM
From: one_less	Respond to of 82486

There are a variety of terms. The term "Imam" means the person who is leading the group prayer. Unlike other religions, the prayer is scripted and the Imam does not offer a personal prayer. The person picked to be the Imam is usually the most knowlegeable about the Quran and so would be the least likely to make mistakes in recitation. The term "Alim" means Islamic Scholar. This person should be asked for advise on affairs of the world when a person is unsure about what course to take. For example: a couple of years ago we had a new fad "pogs." It was a game kids played. Parents were concerned because the little kids were coming home from school crying that they had lost their pogs trading or playing with the big kids. An Alim was asked if these things were evil or forbidden. The guy simply said that if the kids are using them in a way that makes them like a gambling token then they are forbidden. But if they are trading them or playing a game of skill with them they are not forbidden. They ended up getting banned from our school because the big kids were repeatedly accused of abusive practices in their persuasive techniques during trading. An Imam is not considered to be endowed with God's inspiration to make decisions or in guiding others. "Khalifa" is a political term (that hasn't been employed for several centuries) reserved for one person who can lead the entire Muslim population as one Islamic state. Bin Ladin had this aspiration. There are some other terms that subcultures use to recognise leadership (Amir, Sultan, etc.) None of these are intended to act as any kind of go between for the believer and God. If you are looking for one term that fits all I would simply say "religious leader." There are spokes persons from the various world religions. Of course you know that there wont be one in Christianity that all Christians will support and likewise for the other religions.