Mujtahid

a Muslim theologian and legal expert who in the Middle Ages possessed the ijtihad (the right of independent interpretation of religious and legal matters). In Sunnism, the mujtahid is the founder and head of the madhabs (schools of Muslim jurisprudence). In Shiism, the mujtahid is a representative of the most influential circles of the upper Shiite clergy (called mojtahed in Persian).