The Afghan Taliban was formed in 1994 by men who had graduated from, or at least attended, madrasas. They called themselves taliban, the plural of talib, or “students”. Many of the leaders of the Taliban were titled Mullah, although not all had completed their madrasa education.Someone who goes on to complete postgraduate religious education receives the higher title of Mawlawi.
Mullah and its variation mulla have also degenerated into a derogatory term for a Muslim priest that connotes a semiliterate, backward, often bigoted village imam, Shia clerics commonly use Ayatollah, rather than Mullah. Until the early 20th century, the term mullah was used in persian seminaries to refer to low-level clergy who specialized in telling stories of Ashura, rather than teaching or issuing fatwas.
