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In the Islamic tradition, a mufti is a professional jurist who interprets Muslim law. When religious muftis were portrayed on the English stage in the early 19th century, they typically wore costumes that included a dressing gown and a tasseled cap—an outfit that some felt resembled the clothing preferred by the off-duty military officers of the day. The clothing sense of mufti, which first appeared in English around that same time, is thought to have developed out of this association of stage costume and civilian clothing.
Examples of mufti in a Sentence
Seth G. Jones, Foreign Affairs, 3 Dec. 2012
The British also created the Supreme Muslim Council to oversee Islamic property, endowments, schools and courts and appointed Haj Amin al-Husseini, from a rival elite family, to head the council as the grand mufti of Jerusalem.
—Seyward Darby, Longreads, 14 Feb. 2024
But the mufti made a visit to Hitler, which is often used against the Palestinians.20
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Al-Husseini aided a pro-Nazi coup in Baghdad.
—Emily Bazelon, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2024
The chaos on Tuesday in Benghazi that resulted in the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was set in motion the Sunday before when Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt, spoke out
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—Jytte Klausen, Foreign Affairs, 13 Sep. 2012
He was elected mufti of Sunni Muslims in Ukraine in 2009.
—Carlotta Gall, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2023
In a flashy video posted on his personal Telegram page, Mr. Kadyrov, flanked by his sons and Chechnya’s official mufti, said 12,000 Chechens were ready to fight in Ukraine.
—Thomas Grove, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2022
Six years into the war, Mr. Putin turned the chief mufti of Chechnya to betray the rebel cause.
—New York Times, 29 Mar. 2022
At the time, Palestinian Arab politics was dominated by Amin al-Husseini, who had been appointed by the ruling British as the grand mufti of Jerusalem.
—Sean Durns, National Review, 7 June 2021
Dictionary Entries Near mufti
Cite this Entry
“Mufti.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mufti. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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