Mullah dictionary definition

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mullah

mul·lah

or mul′la

a Muslim teacher or interpreter of the religious law: a general title of respect for a learned man

Origin of mullah

Turk, Pers, and Hindi mulla from Arabic maul?, a master, sir

also mul·la

noun

Islam

Origin of mullah

Urdu mullā from Persian from Arabic mawlā master, friend from waliya to become near, be in charge wly

Related Forms:

Noun

(plural mullahs)

Origin

From Turkish molla, Persian , from Arabic مولى (mawla, “vicar, guardian”).

In 1899 troubles arose between the administration and a mullah of the Habr Suleiman Ogaden tribe, who had acquired great influence in the Dolbahanta country and had married into the Dolbahanta Ali Gheri.
This mullah, Mahommed bin Abdullah by name, had made several pilgrimages to Mecca, where he had attached himself to a sect which enjoined strict observance of the tenets of Islam and placed an interdiction on the use of the leaves of the kat plant - much sought after by the coast Arabs and Somali for their stimulating and intoxicating properties.
In 1899 the mullah began raiding tribes friendly to the British; in August of that year he occupied Burao, 80 m.
In the autumn of 1900 the mullah was again harassing the tribes on the southern border of the British protectorate and the neighbouring Abyssinian districts.
Colonel Swayne thrice defeated the enemy, who lost 1200 men and 600 taken prisoners, and the mullah fled across the Haud, taking refuge with the Mijertin in Italian territory.