Ustād

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Ustād or Ostad ( Arabic - Persian استاد, DMG ustād , also Arabic أستاذ, DMG ustāḏ , “teacher, master”), is an honorary title that has been used since early Islamic times for people who have a particularly good command of their subject. The term goes back to the Middle Persian word awestād . In today's Persian this term is pronounced ostād or also to ostā (استا) or ustā shortened. In addition, it has been exported into numerous other oriental languages, such as Hindi ( Devangari : उस्ताद / ustād ), Bengali (ওস্তাদ / ostād ), Indonesian ( ustadz ) and Turkish ( usta ).

While respected musicians with decades of experience (at least 30 years) are honored with this title in the Indo-Persian language area, comparable to a maestro , as well as artists, teachers or craftsmen, in Indonesia the title is mainly used for Islamic religion teachers. In Turkey , the Nurcus Üstad is the most common name for their religious leader Said Nursî . In Egypt, as in Iran, the term Ustāḏ / Ostād today also describes a university professor , whereas in the Maghreb it is an ordinary teacher. In modern colloquial Arabic and Persian, the term is also used as a courtesy address for educated people.

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Individual evidence

  1. Jean During, Zia Mirabdolbaghi, Dariush Safvat: The Art of Persian Music. Mage Publishers, Washington DC 1991, ISBN 0-934211-22-1 , pp. 17 and 29.
  2. See Howard Federspiel: A Dictionary of Indonesian Islam . Athens, Ohio 1995. p. 279.
  3. Ursula Spuler: "Nurculuk" in Tilman Nagel (ed.): Studies on the minority problem in Islam. Bd. I. Self-published by the Oriental Seminar of the Univ. Bonn, Bonn, 1973. pp. 100-182. Here p. 108.