Malik

Page from a Rosh Hashanah prayerbook with Hebrew מלך (melekh) in large red text.

Malik (Phoenician: 𐤌𐤋𐤊; Hebrew: מֶלֶךְ; Arabic: ملك; variously Romanized Mallik, Melik, Malka, Malek, Maleek, Malick, Mallick, Melekh) is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as M-L-K in Northwest Semitic during the Late Bronze Age (e.g. Aramaic, Canaanite, Hebrew).

Although the early forms of the name were to be found among the pre-Arab and pre-Islamic Semitic speakers of the Levant, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, it has since been adopted in various other, mainly but not exclusively Islamized or Arabized non-Semitic Asian languages for their ruling princes and to render kings elsewhere. It is also sometimes used in derived meanings. Furthermore, in the Seljuk Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Malik was a title granted to members of the dynasty who were not sultans.

The female version of Malik is Malikah (Hebrew: מַלְכָּה; Arabic: ملكة; or its various spellings such as Malekeh or Melike), meaning "queen".

The name Malik was originally found among various pre-Arab and non-Muslim Semitic speakers such as the indigenous ethnic Assyrians of Iraq, Amorites, Jews, Arameans, Mandeans, other Syriac speaking ethnic groups, and pre-Islamic Arabs. It has since been spread among various predominantly Muslim and non-Semitic peoples in Central Asia, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Etymology

The earliest form of the name Maloka was used to denote a prince or chieftain in the East Semitic Akkadian language of the Mesopotamian states of Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia and Chaldea.[full citation needed] The Northwest Semitic mlk was the title of the rulers of the primarily Amorite, Sutean, Canaanite, Phoenician and Aramean city-states of the Levant and Canaan from the Late Bronze Age. Eventual derivatives include the Aramaic, Neo-Assyrian, Mandaic and Arabic forms: Malik, Malek, Mallick, Malkha, Malka, Malkai and the Hebrew form Melek.

Moloch has traditionally been interpreted as the epithet of a god, known as "the king" like Baal was an epithet "the master" and Adon an epithet "the lord", but in the case of Moloch purposely mispronounced as Moleḵ instead of Meleḵ using the vowels of Hebrew bosheth "shame".

Political

Primarily a malik is the ruling monarch of a kingdom, called mamlaka; that term is however also used in a broader sense, like realm, for rulers with another, generally lower titles, as in Sahib al-Mamlaka. Malik is also used for tribal leaders, e.g. among the Pashtuns.

Some Arab kingdoms are currently ruled by a Malik:

Other historic realms under a Malik include:

Malik has also been used in languages which adopted Arabic loanwords (mainly, not exclusively, in Muslim cultures), for various princely or lower ranks and functions.

The word Malik is sometimes used in Arabic to render roughly equivalent titles of foreign rulers, for instance the chronicler Baha al-Din Ibn Shaddad refers to King Richard I of England as Malik al-Inkitar.

Religious

Compound and derived titles

The following components are frequently part of titles, notably in Persian (also used elsewhere, e.g. in India's Moghol tradition):

In the great Indian Muslim salute state of Hyderabad, a first rank- vassal of the Mughal padshah (emperor) imitating his lofty Persian court protocol, the word Molk became on itself one of the titles used for ennobled Muslim retainers of the ruling Nizam's court, in fact the third in rank, only below Jah (the highest) and Umara, but above Daula, Jang, Nawab, Khan Bahadur and Khan; for the Nizam's Hindu retainers different titles were used, the equivalent of Molk being Vant.

Usage in South Asia

Pashtun usage

The Arabic term came to be adopted as a term for "tribal chieftain" in the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan. In tribal Pashtun society in Pakistan, the Maliks serve as de facto arbiters in local conflicts, interlocutors in state policy-making, tax-collectors, heads of village and town councils and delegates to provincial and national jirgas and Parliament.

Punjabi usage

In the Punjab, "Malik", literally meaning "King" or "Lord", is a title used by some well-reputed Punjabi aristocrat lineages, more formally known as Zamindars. It is a prominent title among Awans, who are historically a group of warrior clans who later settled as wealthy landlords. Malik Awans in Punjabi Ethnology are considered to be Honourable Warriors.

The Muslim Malik community is settled all over Pakistan, and the Sikh Malik are settled in India. Due to the prestige of the Malik title, many Punjabi sub-castes have adopted title to gain acceptance in the Punjabi biradri system.

Jat usage

The Jats of the Gathwala clan use Malik ("Lord") as a title. The Gathwalas were organized under an influential Jat Khap, and were prominent zamindars during the Mughal era. The Gathwala Khap continues to exist in Western Uttar Pradesh.

Bihari usage

General usage

Malik or Malek is a common element in first and family names, usually without any aristocratic meaning.

See also

References

  1. ↑ , Türkiye Kültür Portalı
  2. ↑ F.Leo Oppenheim – Ancient Mesopotamia
  3. ↑ "Molech". Encyclopædia Britannica Encyclopedia. 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  4. ↑ Bowker, John (2003). "Malka or Malca". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191727221. Retrieved 30 July 2016 – via Oxford Reference.
  5. ↑ Indian Journal of Physical Anthropology and Human Genetics. Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society, U.P. 2005. p. 110. [Jats] are the largest group in northwest India, having various clans and more than 500 gotras. The main gotras are Maliks (Ghatwalla)...
  6. ↑ Stokes, Eric (1980). The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 17, 293. ISBN 978-0-52129-770-7.
  7. ↑ Raychaudhuri, Tapan; Habib, Irfan; Kumar, Dharma, eds. (1983). The Cambridge Economic History of India. Vol. 2 (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 37, 70. ISBN 978-0-52122-802-2.
  8. ↑ Lutfy, Mohamed Ibrahim. Thaareekhuge therein Lakshadheebu