Amir (commander, governor, prince in Islamic history)

Amir is basically an Islamic term for commander, governor and prince. The Qur'an has only the expression ulu l-amr (those invested with command), but amir occurs often in the traditions. In the early sources amil and amir are used as synonyms, and in the reports on the meeting of the sakifa amir denotes the head of the Muslim community. ²

In the caliphate of Medina army commanders, and occasionally commanders of divisions, were called amirs, and so were the governors, who were at first the conquering generals. The Umayyads began to separate administrative and financial duties, but for most of their period amirs had full administrative and financial powers. ¹

The amir organized the army and appointed the sarrafs, kept order through a prefect of police, and usually had a chamberlain and a bodyguard. He appointed a postmaster to report on subordinates, supervised the mint, led prayers, built mosques, and usually appointed the kadis. He took the bay'a for the caliph or the designated heir, and his salary and administrative allowances (amala) were paid from the province. When he left his province he appointed a khalifa to represent him. ³

The Abbasids made the amirs members of the bureaucracy, and the Caliph was still considered the source of political authority. Later, when the Buwayhids held the caliph and made him their pensioner, appointed wazirs and interfered with the succession, only the people's belief that the caliph was the source of authority kept them from overthrowing the Abbasids; the amirs of the provinces therefore still sought the caliph's 'ahd, the decree of appointment. The Umayyads of Spain called themselves amirs until 'Abd al-Rahman al-Nasir took the title of caliph, and their governors, like those of the Fatimids, were called wali. ⁴

Some amirs were given a free hand in their province in return for tribute, and founded dynasties: the Aghlabids and the Tahirids, and then the Tulunids, the Ikhshidids, the Samanids and the Hamdanids, who shared the attributes of sovereignty with the caliph. Others conquered their provinces by force and then sought the caliph's sanction, as the Saffarids and the Ghaznawids did; these were practically independent. Al-Mawardi (d. 422/1031) reflects the full development of the institution: he admits the amirate acquired by force as lawful, to avoid rebellion and division, on condition that the decree requires the amir to follow the sharia. ⁴

In the 4th/10th and 5th/11th centuries the traditional bureaucratic administration collapsed and was replaced by the rule of the military. Under the Seljuks, the Ayyubids and the Mamluks the title amir was given to military officers of all ranks, and Ibn Jama'a (d. 733/1333) states that in his time amirs were commanders who received fiefs to maintain their troops, whose primary duty was military. ⁴