Amīr al-Ḥājj, was a title for the leader of the Ḥajj pilgrims. There were other titles for this position: amīr al-rakb (see al-Fāsī, 260, 290), amīr al-mawsim (al-Dārimī, 434) and imām al-ḥājj (Mālik, 1/400, 404). From the Shiʿi point of view, leadership of the Ḥajj pilgrims is a duty exclusive to the Imams: the Prophet was the first leader of the Ḥajj, and he was succeeded in this first by ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and then the other Shiʿi imams (see al-Kulaynī, 4/466). For this reason the person given leadership of the pilgrims eit…