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Mawali or
mawālá is a term in
Classical ArabicClassical Arabic , also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times . It is based on the Medieval dialects of Arab tribes...
used to address non-
ArabArab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s.
The term gained prominence in the centuries following the
early Arab Muslim conquestsIn classical Islamic literature the futūh were the early Arab-Muslim conquests which facilitated the spread of Islam and Islamic civilization.Futūh is an Arabic word with the literal meaning of "openings"....
in the 7th century, as many non-Arabs such as
PersiansThe Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
,
EgyptiansEgyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
, and
TurksTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
converted to Islam. These converts were treated as second class citizens by the ruling Arab elite - they continued to pay the tax required of nonbelievers and were excluded from government and the military until the end of the Umayyad Caliphate. Therefore, many of them were drawn to the anti-Ummayyad activities of the
Kaysanites ShiaThe Kaysanites were a once dominant Shi'a Ghulat sect that formed from the followers of Al-Mukhtar. They believed in the Imamate of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah. Following the death of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah the sect split up into numerous sub-sects, each with their own Imam and unique beliefs...
.
Under the Abbasid rulers of the 9th century, the
mawālī comprised an important part of the army. The fragmentation of the Abbasid around 900 took place with the
mawālī rise to power, the
Saffarid DynastyThe Saffarids or the Saffarid dynasty was a Persian empire which ruled in Sistan , a historical region in southeastern Iran, southwestern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan...
and Ghaznavids in
Greater IranGreater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence. It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains, stretching from Iraq, the Caucasus, and Turkey in the west to the Indus River in the east...
, and the
QarmatiansThe Qarmatians were a Shi'a Ismaili group centered in eastern Arabia, where they attempted to established a utopian republic in 899 CE. They are most famed for their revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate...
in the
Arabian PeninsulaThe Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
. Together, the rise to power of these ethnic groups restricted the power of the Abbasid caliph into Baghdad.
The Word
- Mawālī موالي / master, slaves or servers
- Al-Mawālī الموالي / slaves or servers
- Al-Mawlá المولى / god (one of Names of God in the Arabic language)
In India, the term is also used in a derogatory way to refer to someone who is uncivilized. aka "Riff-raff"
See also
- Anti-Persianism by Arabs
- Dhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
- Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
- Mawla
The word Mawlā or patron has two meanings. Mawla is an Arabic word "مولی", prominently used in Islamic literature which means protector.“Call them by their fathers: that is juster in the sight of Allah. But if you know not their father'sthey are your Brothers in faith and those entrusted to you...
- Ajam
Ajam is a word used in Persian and Arabic literature but with different concepts. Ajam in Arabic has two primary meanings: "non-Arab" and "Persian".literally it has other meaning "one who is illiterate in language", "silent", or "mute", and refers to non-Arabs in general, or people of Southern...
- Shu'ubiyya
Shu'ubiyyah refers to the response by non-Arab Muslims to the privileged status of Arabs within the Ummah.There has been discrimination and in many cases oppression of minority groups resulting in many defined periods of cultural struggle throughout Islamic History.-Terminology:The name of the...