Modern History of the Arab Countries. Vladimir Borisovich Lutsky 1969
aga – chief. Any officer from the grade of major up in the Ottoman Empire; battalion commander in Abd-el-Kader’s army
aga el-askar – commander of Abd-el-Kader’s regular army
aghnam – sheep tax
akche – silver coin, about a quarter of a dirhem
ardeb – dry measure containing 198 litres
asnaf – artisan guilds
atar – allotted land in the Egyptain commune; in the iltizam
ayan – feudal lord, a notable
baladiah – municipal council
barrani – an extra tax exacted by the multazims from the peasants in addition to the mal el hurr
bedel el-askari – payment for exoneration from military service. It applied to the Christians of the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 19th century
Belt-El-Mal – the treasury, the department that handled state property
bek – see bey
Bektashi – Dervish order
bey – feudal title literally meaning ruler
beylik – state land in Algeria and Tunisia
cadi – Moslem judge
cadi-askari – military judges in the Ottoman Empire
caliph – lit. “deputy”; in particular, heir of the prophet; spiritual head of all Moslems
cantar – Egyptian weight measure, about a hundredweight
chift – allotment given to the peasant by the feudal lord
defterdar – inspector of taxes
derebcy – feudal lord, sovereign; literal meaning, “ruler of the valley”
dervish – member of Moslem brotherhoods or religious order; Moslem monk
dey – Algerian ruler prior to French conquest
dirhem – the principal silver coin which was equivalent to one-tenth of a dinar
diwan – council of higher dignitaries
Druze – Moslem religious sect, offshoot of Ismailism
duar – village (in Algeria)
emir (“sovereign”) – prince; feudal title
emir el-mumeneen (“sovereign of the faithful”) – title of the caliph
enzel – a form of alienating waqfs
eiyalet – see pashalik
faiz – portion of the mal-el-hurr (q.v.) that remained in the multazims’ hands; interest, profit
fakir – poor dervish, hermit; see dervish
feddan – Egyptian unit of area equal to 1.038 acres
fetwa – formal pronouncement made by the appropriate theological authority on matters involving the interpretation of the canon law
firman – decree
gafir – village watchman (in Egyptian commune)
hadj – pilgrimage to the holy places of Islam
hatti-humayun – sultan’s rescript
hatti-sheriff Gulhane – noble rescript, same as the hatti-humayun
Iltizam – feudal estate in Egypt based on tax farming
Imam – (1) the spiritual head of the Moslems in several Moslem countries and religious communities; (2) Moslem minister of religion
janissary – Turkish soldier, member of a privileged professional infantry corps formed in the 14th century
jihad – holy war waged by Moslems
jizyah – (kharaj ra’asi) poll tax exacted from non-Moslems
Kafir (gaur) – infidel, apostate of Islam
Kaid – chief, the governor of a district (kaidat) in Tunisia
kaidat – administrative and territorial division in Tunisia
kasida – verse or poem
kashif – provincial or district ruler in Egypt
kashifia – payments for the upkeep of the provincial administration (in Egypt)
kaza – smallest administrative and territorial division in the Ottoman Empire
khabus – see waqf
khammas – propertyless peasant who cultivated the land on the basis of the khammasat
khammasat – a medieval form of holding land on lease for one-fifth of the crop yield
kharaj – exorbitant land tax, amounting sometimes to half of the harvest
kharaj ra’asi – see jizyah
kharajiya – peasant lands in Egypt that were affected by the kharaj
khas – large estates for the private use of the Sultan, members of his dynasty, ministers and other important dignitaries
khauli – land surveyor (in Egypt’s communal administration)
khedive – sovereign, seignior (Persian); in 1867 khedive became the hereditary title of the ruler of Egypt
khutbah – Friday sermon in which the ruling sovereign’s name was mentioned
kiakhya – estate manager, butler
kibar – feudal lord, a magnate
kulemenis – white slaves in Iraq forcibly converted to Islam and given a military training; the same as the Mamelukes in Egypt
kurbash – five-tail whip made of rhinoceros hide
liwa – sanjaq
madrasah – collegiate mosque
mahmal – palanquin or litter used to carry the presents that were sent daily to Mecca with the pilgrimage caravan
makhzen – privileged tribes in the government’s service in Maghreb
mal-el-hurr – money rent, the comhbined payments exacted by the multazim from the peasants
malmudir (muhassil) – official in charge of the finance and tax department in the sanjaq (during the tanzimat period)
Mamelukes – white slaves in Egypt, especially bought and trained for military service
mamleket (miri) – state land property belonging to the treasury in the Ottoman Empire
ma’mur – ruler of a markaz
marabout – leader in North Africa, head of a religious brotherhood
markaz – territorial division in Egypt
Maronites – followers of one of the Eastern Christian churches as a separate Monothelete organisation
mashhad – village policeman in mediaeval Egypt
mawat – “dead land,” according to Moslem law
mejba – poll-tax in Tunisia
mejliss – council, assembly
mejliss idaroh – administrative council under governor (wali) in the Ottoman Empire (during the tanzimat period)
mek (melik) – leader, ruler or king (in East Sudan)
melikat – the jurisdiction of the mek (melik)
melkiti – members of Greek Uniate Church
millet – nationality, national group; according to the pan-Ottoman theory, one of the elements or components of the single “Ottoman” nation
miri – see mamleket
miri tapu – state lands handed over to private owners for use on the basis of special documents (“tapu”)
mudir – head or ruler of province (mudiria) in Egypt
mudiria – administrative and territorial division in Egypt since the time of Mohammed Ali; province
Mufti – expounder of the canon (Moslem) law; head of the Moslem clergy of a province
mugaras – agreement by which one person undertook to plant and cultivate fruit-trees on another person’s land; when the term of agreement expired the plantation was divided
muhassil – see malmudir
mukabala – reimbursement, compensation; according to the Egyptian law of mukabala of 1871, all landowners could redeem one half of the land tax to which they were liable by payment of the six years’ tax, either in one sum or in instalments spread over a period of twelve years
mulk – privately owned lands
multazim – feudal lord, owner of iltizam
mutasallim – governor, district head in Syria and Iraq
mutasarrif – (1) governor of autonomous Lebanon according to the “reglement organique” of 1861; (2) head or governor of a district in the Ottoman Empire
nahiya – the smallest administrative and territorial subdivision in Egypt
nazir – governor, head of a nahiya (in Egypt)
Nizam-El-Jadid – regiments of the “new order”; Turkish name for the regular forces founded by Selim III
omdah – village elder, head of a village administration in Egypt
padishah – official title of the Turkish sultan, the supreme authority in the Ottoman Empire
pasha – feudal title; deputy, governor of a province
pashalik (eiyalet) – province or territory under the pasha’s jurisdiction
piastre – monetary unit in the Ottoman Empire
qa’im ma’qam – deputy; head of the sanjaq in the Ottoman Empire
raya – tax-paying population, who had to give nearly half their harvest to the feudal lord
reis-es-saf – platoon commander in Abd el-Kader’s army
rizq – see waqf
Sadr Azam – title of the Grand Visier, head of the government of the Ottoman Empire
sanjaq, or liwa (banner) – district, the knights (sipahi) of which formed a military unit of the Ottoman cavalry; later an administrative and territorial division in the Ottoman Empire
sanjaq bey – governor of a district and commander of the knights (sipahi) of the district
sarraf – money-changer; tax collector
sayaf – platoon commander in Ahd el-Kader’s army
seyyid (also sherif) – (1) a descendant of the prophet; (2) title of the ruler of Oman (Muscat)
sheikh – elder, tribal leader
sheikh-el-Islam – head of the Moslem clergy
sherif – the hereditary ruler of Mecca; also see seyyid
Shi’as – followers of one of two trends in Islam; that branch of the Moslems who reject the first three caliphs and consider Ali, Mohammed’s son-in-law, as the first rightful successor of Mohammed; and those who do not recognise the sunna as any part of the law
sirdar – commander-in-chief (in Turkey and Egypt)
sirdar-i-ekram – Supreme Commander-in-Chief in the Ottoman Empire
sipahi – horsemen, knights
Sufist – member of a madrasah in Turkey
sultan – sovereign; title of hereditary ruler in many Moslem countries
sultanate – territory under the sultan’s jurisdiction
Sunnites – followers of Orthodox Islam; one of a Moslem sect that acknowledges the first four caliphs to be the rightful successors of Mohammed
Tanzimat – the name of a period of reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began in 1839. The term comes from the name of the reforms tanzimat-elkhairiye
tanzimat-el-khairiye (“charity reforms”) – an expression used in the hatti-sherif Gulhane of 1839 in reference to certain projected reforms
timar – military fief with a revenue of up to 20,000 akchas
timarji (timariot) – sipahi, owners of the timar
Ulema – Moslem theologians, learned men
ushr – tithe (one-tenth)
ushriya – various categories of feudal land in Egypt from which after 1854 a tithe was collected
usia – originally land, allotted to serve the community’s needs; later, a landlord’s estate
vilayet – administrative and territorial division; province
Vizier – minister
wakil – representative, agent
wali – governor; head of vilayet administration
waqf (khabus) – land and other property of Moslem religious institutions
zaim – sipahi, owner of a ziamet
zakat – cattle tax
zawia – hermitage, dervish monastery
zaydites – religious Moslem sect, offshoot of Shiism; not so far removed from the Sunnites as other Shi’s orders
ziamet – military fief with revenue exceeding 20,000 akches
Last updated: 31 July 2020