Article: Vizier

VIZIER

VIZIER. Vizier, 'helper' or 'deputy', a term first employed in the Koran, evolved to mean 'chief minister' in early Islamic history, possibly becoming an office of Arab administration with the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi (775 785). The title vizier was applied widely as an honorific for representatives of the caliph or sultan. The term "grand vizier" denoted those chief, or prime, ministers who served the Ottoman sultans from 1300 to 1923.

ORIGINS OF THE INSTITUTION

The Perso-Turkish word vizier (also "vezir," or "vizier") originates in the Arabic waz ī r, and appears in the Koranic verse "We gave Moses the book and made his brother Aaron his waz ī r," (Koran, ...

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