Religious leader always given a duty – gosh! (9)
I believe the answer is:
ayatollah
'religious leader' is the definition.
(type of religious leader in Islam)
'always given a duty gosh' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'always' could be 'ay' (archaic term for 'always') and 'ay' is present in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ayatollah that I've seen before include "High-ranking Shiite religious leader" , "Religious high-up" , "Muslim leader" , "religious authority" , "Iranian leader" .)