Vekil or Vakil was the term used for the deputies and de facto prime ministers of the Mughal Emperor in Mughal administration. He was considered the most powerful person after Emperor in the Mughal Empire. Vakil was one of the highest positions in the hierarchy of Safavid Iran, denoting the viceroy in the administrative and some religious affairs of the realm.
While in the Ottoman Empire, the viziers were considered "absolute delegates" (vekil-i mutlak) of the Ottoman Sultan.
Etymology
Vakel or Vakil was the Arabic term used in the meaning of "representative" or "proxy".
Wakil
For the president of Zanzibar, see Idris Abdul Wakil.In Islamic law, a wakīl (وكيل), in older literature vakeel, is a deputy, delegate or agent who acts on behalf of a principal. It can refer to an attorney, a diplomat or the custodian of a mosque or religious order.
Wakīl is also one of the names of God in Islam, meaning "dependable", and is used as a personal name, a short form of Abdul Wakil, meaning "servant of the dependable".
References
- Malik, Dr Malti (1943). History of India. New Saraswati House India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-81-7335-498-4.
- Newman, Andrew J. (2008). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857716613.
- Esposito, John L., ed. (2003). "Wakil". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press.
Further reading
- Mitchell, Colin P. (2009). The Practice of Politics in Safavid Iran: Power, Religion and Rhetoric. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0857715883.
- Gauri Sharma. Prime Ministers Under the Mughals, 1526-1707. Kanishka Publishers, Distributors. 2006.
- Jennings, "The Office of Vekil (Wakil) in the 17th Century Ottoman Sharia Courts" (1975) 42 Studia Islamica 147. Reprinted in Studies on Ottoman Social History in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Isis Press, 1999.
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