The
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
title ''nāẓir'' (ناظر, tr, nazır) refers to an overseer in a general sense. In
Islam, it is the normal term for the administrator of a ''
waqf
A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...
'' (charitable endowment). The office or territory of a ''nāẓir'' is a nazirate.
According to
al-Qābisī, writing in the tenth century, the pagan ruler of
Tadmakka
Essouk (Arabic: : "the market") is a commune and small village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village lies 45 km northwest of Kidal in the Adrar des Ifoghas massif. The ruins of the medieval town of Tadmakka (Arabic: ) lie 2 km nor ...
appointed a superintendent, which al-Qābisī calls a ''nāẓir'', from among the Muslims living in his land to oversee them. This was probably a common arrangement in the
Sahara and
Sahel regions.
The title was used in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
for the heads of government departments and agencies before it adopted a modern cabinet system. It was synonymous with inspector, supervisor or controller. In Egypt it may also be used for the directors or managers of commercial enterprises.
[Richard Hill, ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan'' (Frank Cass, 1967), p. xiii.]
In the
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...
, the title ''nāẓir al-khuṭṭ'' was used for the official in charge of a subdivision of a district. Usually he was a tribal head. ''Nāẓir ʿumūm'' was a traditional and usually hereditary Sudanese title for the head of a tribal confederation. It was only infrequently recognised by the Anglo-Egyptian government, but it was used for lower-level salaried officials in the
Jazīra.
[ As a traditional Sudanese title, ''nāẓir'' may be an Arabic rendering of the originally ]Funj
The Funj Sultanate, also known as Funjistan, Sultanate of Sennar (after its capital Sennar) or Blue Sultanate due to the traditional Sudanese convention of referring to black people as blue () was a monarchy in what is now Sudan, northwestern E ...
titles ''mānjil'' and ''manfona''. One of the ''nāẓir'''s duties was to administer uncultivated land (''qifār'') within the tribal homeland (''dār'').[Jay Spaulding (1979), "Farmers, Herdsmen and the State in Rainland Sinnār", ''The Journal of African History'', 20 (3), 329–47 . The language of these Funj titles is unknown.]
References
{{reflist
Arabic words and phrases
Political titles