Imam Family History

Muslim: status name from Arabic imam, literally ‘one who leads the way’, an honorific title for one who leads prayers in a mosque, also applied to the founders of Islamic law schools. Among Shiite Muslims the title imam is applied to the spiritual leaders descended from Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and her husband Ali, the fourth and last of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs (see Ali).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press