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Mawali

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Mawali

The Mawali (or mawala) (Arabic,موالي) are non-Arab Muslims, who converted to Islam in the lands conquered by the Arabs.  The Mawali were initially a second class in Arabian society beneath the Arab conquerors. Ironically, the term means "companion" or "equal."  The position of the Mawali improved under the Abbasid dynasty in the 9th century AD, the Mawali made up an important part of the mercenary army. The fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate coincided with, or was caused by the rise of Mawalis  to power. The Saffarids took power in eastern Iran, the Ghaznavids in Sind, and the Qarmatians in the Arabian Peninsula.  The rise of these ethnic rulers forced the retreat of the Abbasid Caliph to Baghdad around 900 AD. This made it possible to preserve local ethnic identity within the Muslim empire, which ceased to be an Arab empire.


Synonyms and alternate spellings: 

Further Information:


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Encyclopedia of the Middle East

Note - This encyclopedia is a work in progress. It is far from complete and is being constructed and improved all the time. If you would like to contribute articles or expansions of existing articles, please contact news (at) mideastweb.org.  Suggestions and corrections are welcome. The concise version of this dictionary is at our Middle East Glossary.

Spelling - Spelling of words in Middle-Eastern languages is often arbitrary. There may be many variants of the same name or word such as Hezbollah, Hizbolla, Hisbolla or Husayn and Hussein. There are some conventions for converting words from Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew There are numerous variant renderings of the same Arabic or Hebrew words, such as "Hizbollah," "Hisbulla" etc. It is not possible to find exact equivalents for several letters. 

Pronunciation - Arabic and Hebrew vowels are pronounced differently than in English. "o" is very short. The "a" is usually pronounced like the "a" in market, sometimes as the "a" in "Arafat."  The " 'A " is guttural.  " 'H "- the 'het ('Hirbeh, 'Hebron, 'Hisbollah') designates a sound somewhat similar to the ch in "loch" in Scots pronunciation, but made by touching the back of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. The CH should be pronounced like Loch, a more assertive consonant than 'het.

The "Gh" combination, and sometimes the "G," designate a deep guttural sound that Westerners may hear approximately as "r." The "r" sound is always formed with the back of the tongue, and is not like the English "r."

More information: Hebrew, Arabic

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Mawali