Mufti

A Mohammedan priest or expounder of the law.

"A mufti was essentially a private scholar known for his learning and his ability to give rulings on disputed questions by means of the exercise of ijtihad. The opinions (fatwa) given by famous muftis could be incorporated in authoritative books of fiqh after a time, but the activity of giving fatwas had to continue. From perhaps the thirteenth century onwards rulers appointed official muftis, who might receive salaries, but the private scholar, who was paid a fee by those who sought a ruling from him, and was under no obligation to the the ruler, had a position of special respect in the community."

Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (1991).