Rayah

A rayah or reaya (from Arabic: رعايا‎ ra`aya, a plural of رعيّة ra`iya "citizens,[1] subjects,[1] nationals,[2] flock", also spelled raya, raja, raiah, re'aya; Ottoman Turkish رعايا IPA: [ɾeˈʔaːjeː]; Modern Turkish râya [ɾaːˈja] or reaya; related to the Arabic word rā'ī راعي which means "shepherd, herdsman, patron"[3]) was a member of the tax-paying lower class of Ottoman society, in contrast to the askeri (upper class) and kul (slaves). The rayah made up over 90% of the general population and the millet communities. In the Muslim world, rayah is literally subject of a government or sovereign. The rayah (literally 'members of the flock') included Christians, Muslims, and Jews who were 'shorn' (i.e. taxed) to support the state and the associated 'professional Ottoman' class.[4]

For the black banner, see Al-raya.

However, both in contemporaneous and in modern usage, it refers to non-Muslim subjects in particular, also called zimmi.[5][6][7]

In the early Ottoman Empire, rayah were not eligible for military service, but from the late 16th century, Muslim rayah became eligible, to the distress of some of the ruling class.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Google Translate". translate.google.ca. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  2. "Google Translate". translate.google.ca. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  3. "Google Translate". translate.google.ca. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  4. Sugar, p. 33
  5. Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48, "Rayah \Ra"yah\ (r[=a]"y[.a] or r[aum]"y[.a]), n. [Ar. ra'iyah a herd, a subject, fr. ra'a to pasture, guard.] A person not a Mohammedan (i. e. Muslim), who pays the capitation tax. (Turkey) (1913 Webster)"
  6. Dictionary.com definition
  7. "Rayahs,"--all who pay the capitation tax, called the "Haraç." "This tax was levied on the whole male unbelieving population," except children under ten, old men, Christian and Jewish priests. --Finlay, Greece under Ottoman and Venetian Domination, 2856, p. 26.
  8. Greene, p. 41, quoting Halil Inalcık

Sources
  • Molly Greene, A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean, Princeton, 2000. ISBN 0-691-00898-1
  • Peter F. Sugar, Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354-1804, series title A History of East Central Europe, volume V, University of Washington Press, 1983. ISBN 0-295-96033-7.
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