Khawaja

"Khwaja" redirects here. For the city in Iran, see Khajeh. For the village in Iran, see Bagh-e Khvajeh.
For other uses, see Khawaja (disambiguation).
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Khawaja (Persian: خواجه, romanized: khwāja)[a] is an honorific title used across the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, particularly towards Sufi teachers.

It is also used by Kashmiri Muslims[1][2] and Mizrahi Jews—particularly Kurdish Jews.[3] The name or title Khawaja was usually given in Arab lands to non-Muslim dignitaries, usually to Jews or Christians. The word comes from the Persian word khwāja. In Persian, the title roughly translates to 'Lord' or 'Master'.[4]

The Ottoman Turkish pronunciation of the Persian khwāja gave rise to hodja and its equivalents such as hoca in modern Turkish, hoxha in Albanian, խոջա (xoǰa) in Armenian, xoca (khoja) in Azerbaijani,[5][6] hodža/хоџа in Serbo-Croatian, ходжа (khodzha) in Bulgarian, χότζας (chótzas) in Greek, and hoge in Romanian.

Other spellings include khaaja (Bengali) and koja (Javanese).[7] The term has been rendered into English in various forms since the 1600s, including hodgee, hogi, cojah and khoja.[8]

The name is also used in Egypt and Sudan to indicate a person with a foreign nationality or foreign heritage.[9]


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  1. ^ Epilogue, Vol 4, Issue 5. Epilogue -Jammu Kashmir. pp. 23–. GGKEY:JAACF25BJCD.
  2. ^ Shyam Lal Pardesi (1989). Amudarya to Vitasta: A Bird's Eye-view of Relations Between Central-Asia and Kashmir. Sangarmaal Publications. p. 15. It is most pertinent to mention here that the word Khwaja is used as mark of respect before the name of a Kashmiri Muslim shopkeeper or wholesale dealer.
  3. ^ Zaken, Mordechai (2007). Jewish subjects and their tribal chieftains in Kurdistan: a study in survival. Jewish Identities in a Changing World. Leiden: Brill. pp. 59–60. ISBN 978-90-04-16190-0. The leading Jewish family in Aqra during the last three generations was known by the name of Khawaja Khinno. The patriarchs of Khawaja Khinno managed the affairs of the Jewish community of Aqra and developed relationships with aghas and officials whose benevolence aided the Jews in times of need... The name or title Khawaja was usually given in Arab lands to non-Muslim dignitaries, usually to Jews or Christians.
  4. ^ Potter, Lawrence G., ed. (2014). The Persian Gulf in Modern Times. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. doi:10.1057/9781137485779. ISBN 978-1-349-50380-3.
  5. ^ Ashyrly, Akif (2005). Türkün Xocalı soyqırımı (PDF) (in Azerbaijani). Baku: Nurlan. p. 12. "Xoca" türkcə ağ-saqqal, "böyük" mənasını daşıyaraq hörmət əlamətini bildirir
  6. ^ "Xoca". Obastan (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  7. ^ S. Robson and S. Wibisono, 2002, Javanese English dictionary ISBN 0-7946-0000-X, sv koja
  8. ^ "Khoja". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  9. ^ Albaih, Khalid (25 November 2018). "Jamal Khashoggi's borrowed white privilege made his murder count | Khalid Albaih". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 November 2018.