Mawaali and Molaa'ee

muqawwee123 · August 25, 2013, 4:28am

Re: Mawaali and Molaa’ee

Let me share my meager vocabulary on the topic. Mawaali might have been derived from the any of the following two Arabic words;

Mila’ which means to fill something (e.g water). From the same root the word Moel means a place to fill something (e.g a well, a go-down, a spring) and Mila’ee meaning someone who fills something in a bag, sac etc. So probably, Mawaali could be a distortion of the word Mila’ee meaning the filler of water bags or water carrier (Maashki in Urdu). May be this Mila’ee changed to Milaawi and then Mawaali and came to be used for any one doing some manual or menial job. Incidentally, this does not sound too plausible to me.

Mo’el which means house or a place to live. From the same root, the word Mo’eli meaning someone who always remains inside a house. May be this Mo’eli changed to Mo’weli and then Mawaali and came to be used for someone who is lazy, does not do any job, is good for nothing and / or a burden on the family. To me this definitely seems more plausible and also has a negative connotation.

Another historical perspective of the word Mawali:

Mawali or mawālá (Arabic: موالي‎) is a term in Classical Arabic used to address non-Arab Muslims. The term gained prominence during the Umayyad Caliphate (c. 661-750 CE/41–132 AH), as many non-Arabs such as Persians, Turks and Kurds converted to Islam. The influx of non-Arab converts to Islam created a new difficulty in incorporating them into tribal Arab society.[SUP][1]](Mawla - Wikipedia)[/SUP] The solution appeared to be the contract of wala’, through which the non-Arab Muslims acquired an Arab patron.

Mawali - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia