Mawla

{{short description|Arabic word}} {{redirect|Mawali|the Arab tribe in Syria|Mawali (tribe)|the novel by Surender Mohan Pathak|Mawali (novel)}} {{distinguish|Mawla, Cornwall|Maula}} {{Italic title}} '''''Mawlā''''' ({{langx|ar|مَوْلَى}}; {{IPA|ar|maw.laː|IPA}}, plural {{Lang|ar-Latn|mawālī}} {{lang|ar|مَوَالِي}}; {{IPA|ar|ma.waː.liː|}}), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.<ref name="Wensinck">A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874.</ref>

Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the term applied to any form of tribal association.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ignác |last=Goldziher |author-link=Ignác Goldziher |title=Muhammedanische Studien |url=https://archive.org/details/muhammedanisches00gold |year=1889 |publisher=Halle |page=[https://archive.org/details/muhammedanisches00gold/page/105 105]}}</ref>

In the Quran and hadiths it is used in multiple senses, including 'lord', 'guardian', and 'trustee'.<ref name="Wensinck"/>

After Muhammad's death, the Umayyad dynasty accepted new converts to Islam into Arab-Muslim society and the word ''mawali'' gained currency as an appellation for converted non-Arab Muslims in the early Islamic caliphates.

== Etymology == The word ''mawla'', which was used by the Islamic prophet Muhammad about Ali in the Ghadir Khumm speech,<ref name="EncyclopediaIslam">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Vaglieri |first1=Laura Veccia |author-link=Laura Veccia Vaglieri |title=G̲h̲adīr K̲h̲umm|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia of Islam, Second Edition |year=2012 |access-date=11 October 2019 |publisher=Brill Online |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ghadir-khumm-SIM_2439}}</ref> is derived from the root {{lang|ar|و ل ي}} ''w-l-y'', meaning "to be close to" or "to have power over". ''Mawla'' can have reciprocal meanings, depending on whether it is used in the active or passive voice: "master" Originally, ''mawāli'' were clients of an Arab people, but with the advent of Islam, the term came to refer to non-Arab Muslims and other allies. [needs editing].{{citation needed|date=April 2026}}

Under the Abbasid rulers of the 9th century, the non-Arab converts comprised an important part of the army. The institution of wala' as a requirement to enter Muslim society ceased to exist after the fall of the Umayyads, as the Abbasids favoured a universal interpretation of Islam that was not the exclusive religion of the Arab elite. However, throughout the centuries, the rise of political power of regional Arab dynasties and non-Arab ethnic groups eventually restricted the power of the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, as Persian, Turkic and Berber Muslims began to form independent and autonomous sultanates. {{citation needed|date=March 2026}}

Abu Hanifa was the founder of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence within Sunni Islam and lived through the Abbasid Revolution. He famously stated in one of his sayings: "The belief of a newly converted Turk is the same as that of an Arab from Hejaz." {{citation needed|date=March 2026}}

This institution continued in the Abbasid period on a much smaller scale when the 8th Abbasid Caliph, al-Mu'tasim, formed private corps entirely composed of non-Arabs in the service of the Caliph. These men were the mawali of the Caliph and were thus considered to be more loyal to the Caliph. This practice persisted throughout Islamic history through to the Ottoman period.{{citation needed|date=April 2026}}

== Ghadir Khumm == The word "'''Moula'''" is regarded as a considerable word in the Ghadir Khumm event (regarding the sentence which was declared by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam about Ali, when he said: "For whoever I am his ''moula'', 'Ali is his ''moula''."). There have been mentioned meanings for this use of the word "moula", including leader,<ref>[http://pasokhgoo.ir/node/23468 The meaning of Mawla] pasokhgoo.ir Retrieved 1 Dec 2018</ref> administrator,<ref>[https://makarem.ir/main.aspx?lid=0&mid=247458&typeinfo=23&catid=23955 Mawla meaning] makarem.ir Retrieved 8 Dec 2018</ref><ref>[https://www.al-islam.org/ghadir/meaning.asp Meaning and Implication] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318152405/http://www.al-islam.org/ghadir/meaning.asp |date=2016-03-18 }} al-islam.org</ref> Lord, owner, master, follower, one who has more right in something, wali, an ally, etc.<ref>[https://www.al-islam.org/brother-prophet-muhammad-imam-ali-mohamad-jawad-chirri/38-hadith-wilayah#waliand-mawla "wali"and "Mawla"] al-islam.org Retrieved 8 Dec 2018</ref> Shias argue that in the context of the sermon (Ghadir Khumm), intended that the word "moula" to be taken as "leader". They therefore see this to be the official designation of Ali as the prophet's successor.<ref name="EncyclopediaIslam"/>

== See also == {{Div col|colwidth=20em}} * ''Ajam'' * ''Jizyah'' * ''Mawlānā'' * ''Mullah'' * ''Shu'ubiyyah'' * ''Umm walad'' * ''Walayah'' * ''Wilayah'' {{Div col end}} {{Portal inline|Islam}}

== Notes == {{Reflist}}

== References == * Hourani, Albert. ''A History of the Arab People''. Chapter 1. * Mas'udi. ''The Meadows of Gold''. Trans. and eds. Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. *{{cite book |last1=Pipes |first1=Daniel |title=Slave Soldiers and Islam The Genesis of a Military System |date=1981 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300024470 |page=120 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ByLG-2hZX-MC |access-date=28 December 2021 |language=en|format=hardcover}}

== Further reading == * ''Conversion and Poll-Tax in Early Islam'', D.C. Dennett, Cambridge 1950. * ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'', second edition. * ''Slaves on Horses'', P. Crone, Cambridge 1980. * ''Roman, Provincial and Islamic Law: The Origins of the Islamic Patronate'', P. Crone, Cambridge University Press, 2002. * ''Patronate And Patronage in Early And Classical Islam'', M. Bernards, J. Nawas, Brill, 2005. * [https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01440398008574811 ''Mawlas: Freed slaves and converts in early Islam'', Daniel Pipes, in: Slavery & Abolition, 1980, 1:2, 132–177]

Category:Archaic words and phrases Category:Islamic terminology Category:Ethno-cultural designations Category:Religion and race Category:Arabic words and phrases Category:Anti-Iranian sentiment Category:Racism in the Middle East Category:Shia Islam Category:Abbasid revolution