Wāli in the context of "Vilayet"

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⭐ Core Definition: Wāli

Wāli, Wā'lī or vali (from Arabic: والي Wālī) is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim world (including the Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates and the Ottoman Empire) to designate governors of administrative divisions. It is still in use in some countries influenced by Arab or Muslim culture. The division that a Wāli governs is called Wilayah, or Vilayet (Ottoman Empire).

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In this Dossier

Wāli in the context of Provinces of Turkey

Turkey is divided into 81 provinces (Turkish: il). Each province is divided into a number of districts (ilçe). Each provincial government is seated in the central district (merkez ilçe). For non-metropolitan municipality designated provinces, the central district bears the name of the province (e.g. the city/district of Rize is the central district of Rize Province). In the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the vilayet.

Each province is administered by an appointed governor (vali) from the Ministry of the Interior.

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Wāli in the context of Muhammad Ali of Egypt

Muhammad Ali (4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was the Ottoman Albanian viceroy and governor who became the de facto ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848, widely considered the founder of modern Egypt. At the height of his rule in 1840, he controlled Egypt, Sudan, Hejaz, the Levant, Crete and parts of Greece and transformed Cairo from a mere Ottoman provincial capital to the center of an expansive empire.

Born in a village in Albania, when he was young he moved with his family to Kavala in the Rumelia Eyalet, where his father, an Albanian tobacco and shipping merchant, served as an Ottoman commander of a small unit in the city. Ali was a military commander in an Albanian Ottoman force sent to recover Egypt from French occupation following Napoleon's withdrawal. He rose to power through a series of political maneuvers, and in 1805 he was named Wāli (governor) of Egypt and gained the rank of Pasha. As Wāli, Ali attempted to modernize Egypt by instituting dramatic reforms in the military, economic and cultural spheres. He also initiated a violent purge of the Mamluks, consolidating his rule and permanently ending the Mamluk hold over Egypt.

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Wāli in the context of Sanjakbey

Sanjak-bey, sanjaq-bey or -beg (Ottoman Turkish: سنجاق بك, lit.'lord of the standard') was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not a pasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (sanjak, in Arabic liwa’), hence the equivalent Arabic title of amir liwa (أمير لواء ’amīr liwā’) He was answerable to a superior wāli or another provincial governor. In a few cases the sanjak-bey was himself directly answerable to the sultan in Constantinople.

Like other early Ottoman administrative offices, the sanjak-bey had a military origin: the term sanjak (and liva) means "flag" or "standard" and denoted the insigne around which, in times of war, the cavalrymen holding fiefs (timars or ziamets) in the specific district gathered. The sanjakbey was in turn subordinate to a beylerbey ("bey of beys") who governed an eyalet and commanded his subordinate sanjak-beys in war. In this way, the structure of command on the battlefield resembled the hierarchy of provincial government.

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Wāli in the context of Zonguldak Province

Zonguldak Province (Turkish: Zonguldak ili) is a province along the western Black Sea coast region of Turkey. Its area is 3,342 km, and its population is 588,510 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Düzce to the southwest, Bolu to the south, Karabük to the southeast, and Bartın to the east. The capital is Zonguldak. Its Governor is Osman Hacıbektaşoğlu.

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Wāli in the context of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

Ibrahim Pasha (Arabic: إبراهيم باشا Ibrāhīm Bāshā; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was an Egyptian general and politician; he was the commander of both the Egyptian and Ottoman armies and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman Wāli and unrecognized Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. He was the second ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and ruled from 20 July 1848 to 10 November 1848. Ibrahim served as a general in the Egyptian army that his father established during his reign, taking his first command of Egyptian forces when he was merely a teenager. In the final year of his life, he was appointed Regent for his still-living father and became the effective ruler of Egypt and Sudan, owing to the latter's ill health. His rule also extended over the other dominions that his father had brought under Egyptian rule, namely Syria, Hejaz, Morea, Thasos, and Crete. Ibrahim pre-deceased his father, dying 10 November 1848, only four months after rising to power. He was succeeded as Regent by his nephew (son of Muhammad Ali's second oldest son), Abbas, who upon Muhammad Ali's death the following year inherited the Egyptian throne.

Ibrahim remains one of the most celebrated members of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, particularly for his impressive military victories, including several crushing defeats of the Ottoman Empire, which placed him among the most outstanding commanders in military history. Among Egyptian historians, Ibrahim, his father Muhammad Ali, and his son Isma'il the Magnificent are held in far higher esteem than other rulers from the dynasty, who were largely viewed as indolent and corrupt; this is largely the result of efforts by his grandson Fuad I of Egypt to ensure the positive portrayal of his paternal ancestors in the Royal Archives that he created, which were the primary source for Egyptian history from the 1920s until the 1970s. Today, a statue of Ibrahim occupies a prominent position in Egypt's capital, Cairo.

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Wāli in the context of Wilaya

A wilayah (Arabic: وَلاية, romanizedwalāya or wilāya, plural wilāyat, wilayat; Urdu, Pashto and Persian: ولایت, romanizedvelâyat, welāyat; Turkish: vilayet) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes from the Arabic root "w-l-y", "to govern": a wāli—"governor"—governs a wālāya (or wilāya), "that which is governed". Under the Caliphate, the term referred to any constituent near-sovereign state.

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Wāli in the context of Iğdır Province

Iğdır Province (Turkish: Iğdır ili, Kurdish: Parêzgeha Îdirê, Azerbaijani: İğdır ili, Armenian: Իգդիրի մարզ, romanizedIgdiri marz) is a province in eastern Turkey, located along the borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan (the area of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic), and Iran. Its adjacent provinces are Kars to the northwest and Ağrı to the west and south. Its area is 3,664 km, and its population is 203,594 (2022). Its population was 168,634 in 2000 and 142,601 in 1990. The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan and has a Kurdish majority with a pretty close Azerbaijani minority.

The province was created in 1992 from the southeastern part of Kars Province. The current Governor of the province is Ercan Turan. Being the highest mountain in Armenian Highlands, Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) is at present in Turkey's Iğdır province, but much of the land is a wide plain far below the mountain. The climate is the warmest in this part of Turkey; cotton can be grown in Iğdır. The closed border with Armenia follows the Aras River.

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Wāli in the context of Ikhshidid dynasty

The Ikhshidid dynasty (Arabic: الإخشيديون, ALA-LC: al-Ikhshīdīyūn) was a Turkic dynasty of governors of mamluk origin, who governed Egypt and parts of the Levant from 935 to 969 on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate. The dynasty carried the Arabic title "Wāli" reflecting their position as governors on behalf of the Abbasids. The Ikhshidids came to an end when the Fatimid army conquered Fustat in 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic mamluk soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph al-Radi.

The Ikhshidid family tomb was in Jerusalem.

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Wāli in the context of Ağrı Province

Ağrı Province (Turkish: Ağrı ili, Armenian: Արարատ մարզ, Kurdish: Parêzgeha Agirîyê) is located in eastern Turkey, bordering Iran to the east and the provinces of Kars to the north, Erzurum to the northwest, Muş and Bitlis to the southwest, Van to the south, and Iğdır to the northeast. Its area is 11,099 km, and its population is 511,238 (2023). The provincial capital is Ağrı, situated on a 1,650 metres (5,410 ft) high plateau. Doğubayazıt was the capital of the province until 1946. The current governor is Mustafa Koç.

The province is considered part of Western Armenia and was part of the ancient province of Ayrarat of Kingdom of Armenia. Before the Armenian genocide, modern Ağri Province was part of the six Armenian vilayets. The majority of the province's population are ethnic Kurds.

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