A mukhtar ( ar, مختار, mukhtār, chosen one;
el, μουχτάρης) is a village chief in the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the
Ottoman rule".
According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and
Avi Melamed
Avi Melamed is an Israeli author, educator, and independent Middle East strategic intelligence analyst. Melamed is an author of two books entitled: ''Inside the Middle East: Making Sense of the Most Dangerous and Complicated Region on Earth'' (201 ...
, the mukhtar "for centuries were the central figures".
They "were not restricted to Muslim communities" where even non-Arab "Christian and Jewish communities in the Arab world also had mukhtars."
Quoting
Tore Björgo: "The mukhtar was, among other things, responsible for collecting taxes and ensuring that law and order was prevailing in his village".
See also
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Kodjabashi
The kodjabashis ( el, κοτζαμπάσηδες, kotzabasides; singular κοτζάμπασης, ''kotzabasis''; sh, kodžobaša, kodžabaša; from tr, kocabaṣı, hocabaṣı) were local Christian notables in parts of the Ottoman Balkans, most ...
References
External links
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Arabic words and phrases
Ottoman Empire
{{Ottoman-stub
