What is the difference between a sheikh, imam, mullah, etc in Islam?

Question

And how does someone become an imam, sheikh, mullah, etc?

Answer 1

To become a Shiekh(islamic scholar/cleric) you have to study the Islamic doctrine inside and out and is able to issue relgious ruling . An Imam is one who leads Islamic prayers. Mullah is another term for a shiekh.

Answer 2

well a sheikh is just some name you get as an araber if you are wealthy and having blood connections to some other sheikh(I guess)

While an imam is someone that leads muslims to solat(an Islamic prayer). To become one, the people who solat will select one among them that seems suitable for it. YOu see that you can do solat alone and with other people, if you do it with other people, even if just with your one friend, you need to appoint a person to lead solat(from the two of you), its just the way it is. Everyone can become one, I myself had some experience on being an imam.

Well Skippy there really hates us muslims does he?
Well there must be a missunderstanding, girls can become imams, if the people who do solat are all girls, sound kinda discriminating does it?Its not, really.
Well its not that big a deal, the point is to do solat, who is leading is just like a really tiny addition to it. In Islam everyone has an equal chance on communicating with Allah(God), whether he is an Imam or just one that an Imam leads, an Imam is leading just to give some order in the solat proces. I know it might seem hard to understand it if you never really saw people solat, but it is a beatiful thing to do and to experience and I also enjoy watching people do solat. The silence there is at the time is unexplainable. I love it.

But a mullah, that I just heared

Answer 3

Mustafa says that a Mullah can lead prayer but their major role is teaching the Quran to children. This is in Sunni Islam. A Shia Mullah is more or less the equivalent of a sheikh. They're the guys who wear the mushroom type turbans (no offense meant). The ones who wear the black ones are decendants of the Prophet (pbuh).