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How does the role of a priest within medieval Christianity compare to the role of an imam in medieval Islam?

In order to fully compare the roles of a medieval priest and a medieval imam, it is necessary to fully analyse their purpose as a leader within their religion, their influence upon the people of that religion in terms of their relationship with God and also to acknowledge their irreligious purpose in medieval life. Between the two, it is perhaps easy to argue that the role of a medieval priest is far greater than that of a medieval imam, but before this conclusion is jumped to, it is important to ensure both roles are looked at anachronistically due to the ever-changing nature of religion. In order to answer this question it is important to view the roles of a priest and an imam, not individually but in regard to the other to find a true comparison.

In terms of looking at a medieval priest, perhaps one of the most important things for contemporaries is that essentially, the priest was representative of god, hence in a time of deep-seated spiritualism, his role was vital to any community, and placed him and his clergy amongst the first estate, the most important in society. This idea of a representation of God comes form his specific acts that he could partake in, particularly the role to ‘absolve men and women of their sins for the act of confession’. Obviously this was incredibly important, and if we consider this anachronistically, as mentioned, its importance is only heightened by the fact that virtually all the population maintained the belief that sinners would go to hell, and that the priest had the power to release you from sin and reduce your time in purgatory, something very central to Christian belief in the middle ages. This power to forgive sins is where the idea that the priest represents