or IMAN, a minister in the Turkish empire, corresponding to our parish priest. He has the ordinary charge of a mosque, calls the people to prayer, and reads the prayers. The chief education of the Imams consists in acquaintance with the Koran. They are elected by the people, are independent ecclesiastically, and may quit their office if they choose. They wear wide turbans, differing in form from the common ones. It is death for a Christian to beat an Iman. The Iman who presides at the Friday prayers is of a higher grade than the ordinary Iman. The name is also applied to the founders of the four chief Mohammedan sects; thus Ali is the Iman of the Persians, and in this case the dignity or Imamate is hereditary.