Mir (title)


Mir is a Persian, Kurdish and Balochi title with variable connotations.

Tribal Princes of the Persian Sunni Sayyids

Mir is the Persian version of the title of tribal leaders of Sayyids, that are addressed in the arabic world as Naqib. Examples for Persian Miran are Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani and the family of the Mir Sayyid Hasan bin Azimullah and Hazrat Ishaan, that are today known as Dakik Family.

Tribal Princes of the Kurdish Yazidis

In the Yazidi culture, the Mîr is the religious and also the administrative authority from the Qatani branch of the Sheikh caste. The former Mir was Tahseen Said Beg, whose son Hazim bin Tahsin Said and nephew Naif ben Dawood contest leadership.

British Empire

The title Mir is also used by various vassals of the British Empire, who are neither Sayyids nor Yezidi.

Examples

In Muslim princely states of British India, a few rulers were formally styled Mir, notably in present Pakistan, where only two of the six have actually reached the level of salute state, becoming entitled to a gun salute and the attached form of address His Highness:
The following all remained non-salute states:
Mir was also used as an honor rank.

Compound titles

In the subcontinent, since the Mughal period, various compounds were used in Persian including:
In the Hindu kingdom of Nepal:
  • Mir Munshi, from the Arabic Amir-i-Munshi, 'commander of the secretaries', is the Chief Secretary of the Foreign Office.
  • Mir Umrao, from the Arabic Amir ul-Umara, 'commander of commanders': a senior military officer ranking below a Sardar and charged with the command of a fort and surrounding territories, the training and equipment of soldiers and the supply of material.
In the Baloch kingdom of Balochistan:
In the Ottoman Empire, Mir-i Miran was used as the Persian equivalent to the Turkish title Beylerbey, alongside the Arabic equivalent Amir al-Umara.