إمام
imām
A leader: the one who leads prayer, and a title of respected scholars.
What it means
In every mosque the imam leads the congregation, and the Prophet said: “The imam is appointed to be followed” (Sahih al-Bukhari). The title is also given to great scholars, such as Imam Abu Hanifa or Imam al-Shafi‘i.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 23, listed as IMĀM. The definition is restated here.