Mawlawi (Islamic title)

Mawlawi (also spelled Maulvi, Moulvi, and Mawlvi; Arabic: مولوی) is an honorific Islamic religious title given to Muslim religious scholars or Ulema preceding their names, similar to the titles Maulana, Mullah, or Shaykh. Mawlawi generally means highly qualified Islamic scholar. Usually, a Maulvi would have completed full studies in a madrassa (Islamic school) or Darul Uloom (Islamic seminary). It is commonly used throughout the Persian- including Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, South Asia, South East Asia and East Africa. The word Mawlawi/Maulvi is derived from the Arabic word mawla, which has several meanings, including "lord".

Turkish Mawlawi fraternity of Sufis (Muslim mystics) founded in Konya (Qonya), Anatolia, by the Persian Sufi poet Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (d. 1273), whose popular title mawlana (Arabic for “our master”) gave the order its name. The order, propagated throughout Anatolia, controlled Konya and environs by the 15th century and in the 17th century appeared in Istanbul.

In the Central Asian and Pakistani context, where "Mullah" does not carry a formal meaning, Maulana is often the word of choice for addressing or referring to Muslim religious scholars who are respected, while Mullah is used often derogatorily for people the speaker considers to be more rabble-rousers than scholars.

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