Mahalla (neighborhood)

The Mahalla , ( Arabic محلة, DMG Maḥalla 'drop-off point, storage place, district', Bulgarian Махала Machala , Turkish Mahalle , in India Mohalla ), is a district with institutionalized self-government in the Islamic countries of North Africa, the Middle East , Central Asia and South Asia . In Southeastern Europe the Mahalla also occurs in the successor states of the Ottoman Empire . It is an official administrative unit. The name of the Egyptian place al-Mahalla al-Kubra ("the big city district") is derived from the word .

Ottoman Empire

In the Ottoman Empire , the Mahalle was the smallest administrative unit. The Mahalle usually plays an important role in the formation of an identity with the local mosque or church and the local café ( Turkish : Kahvehane ) as the most important social institutions. The Mahalles were formed according to ethnic, religious and family characteristics and mostly had a central square meydan and a market square çarşı .

The office of Muhtar (Turkish: Muhtarlık ) was developed to take over some state tasks in village communities or in a mahall. The Muhtar is elected by the community every five years. He takes on public administration tasks in his office. He is supported by a so-called council of elders (Turkish: Ihtiyar meclisi ), to which elected members and - in the village communities - the village school teacher and the local imam belong as "natural members".

Uzbekistan

The structure of the Mahalla has existed since the (European) Middle Ages, Article 105 of the Uzbek Constitution stipulates that the Mahalla can independently deal with all questions falling within its jurisdiction. Furthermore, the Mahallas are allowed to propose their own candidates for the Uzbek parliament , a right that exists more on paper. In each Mahalla, a speaker ( Oqsoqol , "Whitebeard") is elected for two and a half years , who is usually both judge and mullah of the Mahalla.

The Mahalla regulates all local affairs, often the neighborhood help called Hashar is practiced. This tradition found a related form of expression in the Soviet subbotnik , is now called Hashar again and is an important concept within the Mahalla. District mosques, for example, are renovated or streets repaired using Hashar.

literature

Saidbek Goziev: Mahalla: traditional institution in Tajikistan and civil society in the West . Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.], 2015.
Kalifa Chater: Insurrection et répression dans la Tunisie du XIXe siècle: la méhalla de Zarrouk au Sahel (1864). Tunis 1978.
Qazi Azizul Mowla: "Settlement texture: Study of a Mahalla in Dhaka" in Journal of Urban Design 2 (1997) 259-275.
Charles Pellat: "Maḥalla" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. V, pp. 1220b-1221a.
Eric Sievers: "Uzbekistan's Mahalla: From Soviet to Absolutist Residential Community Associations" in The Journal of International and Comparative Law at Chicago-Kent 2 (2002) 91-158. PDF

Individual evidence

↑ Grigor Doytchinov: urban development in Bulgaria from 19 to 21 century. In: Thomas M. Bohn , Marie-Janine Calic (eds.): Urbanization and urban development in Southeastern Europe from the 19th to the 21st century (= Southeastern Europe Yearbook. Vol. 37). Sagner, Munich et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-86688-118-1 , pp. 185–196, here p. 186.

Web link

Jan Balster: Do the Machallas have a future in Karimov's one-party dictatorship? In: Eurasisches Magazin 07-2005 ( accessed Jan. 27, 2007)

[1] Grigor Doytchinov: urban development in Bulgaria from 19 to 21 century. In: Thomas M. Bohn , Marie-Janine Calic (eds.): Urbanization and urban development in Southeastern Europe from the 19th to the 21st century (= Southeastern Europe Yearbook. Vol. 37). Sagner, Munich et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-86688-118-1 , pp. 185–196, here p. 186.