Imamate
/ɪˈmɑːm.ət/noun
The office, authority, or period of rule of an imam, especially in Islamic religious or political contexts.
Did you know?In Twelver Shiism, the Imamate refers not merely to mosque leadership but to a hereditary line of spiritually authoritative successors of Muhammad.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic period
Proto-Semitic
ʔ-m-m
“A reconstructed root associated with going toward, facing, or being in front— the conceptual source of leadership terminology.”
Early Islamic Arabic
Arabic
imām
“A leader or one who stands in front; later, a Muslim prayer leader and religious authority.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
imāmah
“Leadership or the office of an imam; in Shiite thought, the institution of divinely guided succession.”
Medieval period
Persian/Arabic
imāmat
“The authority or rule of an imam, used especially in Islamic theological and political writing.”
17th Century
English
imamate
“The office or authority of an imam, borrowed from Islamic terminology.”
Modern English
English
imamate
“An imam’s office, leadership, or territory governed by an imam.”