Rais Hamidu

( ar, رئیس), plural , is an Arabic title meaning 'chief' or 'leader'. It comes from the word for head, . The corresponding word for leadership or chieftaincy is . It is often translated as 'president' in Arabic, and as 'boss' in Persian. Swahili speakers may also use it for president. The Ottoman Turkish form of the title is reis, which denoted a captain (a term with identical etymology, being from Latin , 'head').

The term is of pre-Islamic origin. It may function as an honorific ''laqab'' in a person's name. In the central Arab world, the term originally meant village headman.

British India

In British India the landed nobility in Muslim societies often used the word to describe their aristocratic position held in society. The term was also often used by Muslims when making deed of endowments in their community. Although the word meant 'chief' or 'leader', legal documents used it in the context of 'landlords' or landowners. Other terms such as or ''zamindar'' also appeared as 'landlords', ‘landowners, or 'taxers', even though these titles implied that the individual who bore them was more ruler than proprietor.Muslim Endowments and Society in British India, By: Gregory C. Kozlowski. pp 47-48. Cambridge University Press, 1985.

However, when describing any aspect of the management of their holdings, ' or ''zamindars''' employed regal terminology. The sat upon a throne (''masand or gaddi''). ''Riayat'', whom British preferred to call tenants or cultivators were literally subjects. When a met with his ''riayat'' he described himself as holding court (''darbar''). The money which ''riayat'' paid his lord was tribute (''nazrana'') not rent. The place where he paid the tribute was called a ''kachari'', just as a government revenue office was, and the clerks who collected, kept accounts and ensured tributes kept coming on time were known by their Mughal courtly styles of (''dewans'') and (''sipahis'' – a horse trooper).

Urdu

From Arabic, via Persian, this word came into Urdu