Crossword Genius

Dotty character fronting Mass in the morning is religious official (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

imam

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'religious official' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'dotty character fronting mass in the morning' is the wordplay.
'dotty character' becomes 'i' (a lowercase i has a dot on it).
'fronting' suggests taking the first letters (I've seen 'front of' mean this).
'in the morning' becomes 'am' (AM on a clock).
The first letter of 'mass' is 'm'.
'i'+'m'+'am'='IMAM'

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for imam that I've seen before include "Caliph" , "Ma, I'm off to find religious Muslim" , "Mosque's prayer leader" , "Prayer-leader in a mosque" , "Muslim community leader" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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