From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishayatollaha‧ya‧tol‧lah /ˌaɪəˈtɒlə $ -ˈtoʊ-/ noun [countable] RRIa religious leader of the Shiite Muslims, especially a very powerful one
Examples from the Corpus
ayatollah• After all, fanatic ayatollahs and born-again Christians eager for the Rapture set no encouraging example.Origin ayatollah (1900-2000) Persian Arabic ayatullah “sign of god” 