امام

imām, s.m. One who is followed or imitated; exemplar, guide,leader, head, head of a religion (and especially of the Mohammadan religion), patriarch; priest; minister or reader of a mosque;—a large bead in a rosary (which remains fixed in the hand, and is not turned over in counting);—the flag or standard borne in procession before the ta`ziya on the first ten days of Moḥarram:—imām-bāṛā, s.m. (dim. imām-bāṛī, s.f.), The place to which the ta`ziya is conveyed and kept in the Moḥarram, and where offerings are made to the dead; a building in which the festival of the Moḥarram is celebrated, and in which services are held in commemoration of the death of `Alīand his sons Hasan and Husain; (the same building is sometimes used as a mausoleum for the family of the founder):—imām ẓāmin, s.m. The protecting Imām, one's guardian saint:—imām ẓāmin-kārupayā, or paisā, s.m. A piece of money dedicated to Imām zāmin, and fastened on the arm of a person about to leave home, as a protection from evil spirits and the difficulties of the way.