Aghawat
Sign in to saveAghawat, plural, and singular Agha (Arabic: أغاوات plural and آغا singular) were individuals who serve in the holy mosques in Mecca and Madinah. They had to be eunuchs and at least have a minimum amount of Islamic knowledge. They were stated to not be enslaved people; but instead, as free individuals who serve, by choice, the two holy mosques. Historically, Aghawat were non-Muslim slaves came from different ethnic backgrounds: Kurds, Persians, Romans (Byzantine), and Africans. But, currently, the Aghwaat left in both Mecca and Madinah all come from Ethiopia.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 4 inbound references to Aghawat, and connects out to Persian, Mecca and Ottoman Empire.
Vinony files it under Eunuchs, People from Mecca and Slavery in Saudi Arabia.
Vinony links it to 5 Wikipedia language editions.
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Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Duties of the Aghawat
- Numbers of the Aghawat
- Ending of the Aghawat system
- References
- Citations
- Bibliography
Aghawat, plural, and singular Agha (Arabic: أغاوات plural and آغا singular) were individuals who serve in the holy mosques in Mecca and Madinah. They had to be eunuchs and at least have a minimum amount of Islamic knowledge. They were stated to not be enslaved people; but instead, as free individuals who serve, by choice, the two holy mosques. Historically, Aghawat were non-Muslim slaves came from different ethnic backgrounds: Kurds, Persians, Romans (Byzantine), and Africans. But, currently, the Aghwaat left in both Mecca and Madinah all come from Ethiopia.
== Etymology == It is unclear why the word "Agha" was used to refer to the servants since the word exists in many languages and has slightly different meanings in each of those languages: Kurdish: "Agha" is used to refer to seniors and leaders. Turkish: In Eastern Turkish, "Agha" means older brother. In Western Turkish, "Agha" means master or leader. Persian: "Agha" means the leader of the family. Mongols: The Mongols used the word "Agha" to refer to the older brother.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Aghawat” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.