Amil (name)


Amil, is an Arabic given name, used among different Islamic peoples, such as the Persians and Azerbaijanis. The name is interpreted to mean "a hardworking person, doer, striver", among other similar descriptions. As a word it appears in both the Quran and Hadith.

History

The name comes from root ع م ل, which is related to "working, doing".
According to a Turkish Encyclopedia, âmil is mentioned both in the Quran and Hadith. In the Quran, it is used "mostly in relation to those who do good or bad deeds and also in zakat matters". In the Hadiths, the word generally refers to "administrator and especially tax collector" and is used "almost synonymously" with words arîf, âşir, câbî, emîn, hâzin, sâî and musaddık; the person who works in the mudarabah company is called mudârib as well as âmil. During the Rashidun Caliphate, it referred to both a general civil servant and a tax officer. In the Ottoman Empire, âmil was also used in relation to an officer in charge of tax collecting, as well as a tax-farmer, or a person who collects on behalf of a tax-farmer.

Variants

Âmil, Ğamil, Ğəmil . For the closely related Turkic Tatar and Bashkort, letter ğ stands for the Arabic ghayn, which these languages use to replace the ayin with. Occasionally they appear without ğayn.
In Hindi use, the name Amil does not seem to have the same Arabic root.
In the Balkans, Amil is popular among Bosniaks in the former Yugoslav nations. In this region, it is used as a male given name, while the female equivalent is Amila. The name is an alternative variant to the name Amel, which is also popular among Bosniaks. This however might rather be rooted in the Arabic أمل , meaning "hope, aspiration".

Homonymous names

Amil is also a Galician surname and given name totally unrelated with the arabic one. In this case, Amil comes from a place name in Galicia, derived from the genitive of a possessor name of Germanic origin Alamirus, formed from the Gothic elements alls and mereis.

Notable people