Rayah

{{short description|Name given to common people by Ottomans}}

File:Mackenzie1877-p1345-bosnia-rayah-paying-tribute-49abc0.jpg

A raiyah or reaya (from {{Langx|ar|رعايا}} {{lang|ar-Latn|raʿāyā}}, a plural of {{lang|ar|رعيّة}} {{lang|ar-Latn|raʿiya}} "countryman, animal, sheep pasturing,{{Cite web|url=https://translate.google.ca/#view=home&op=translate&sl=ar&tl=en&text=%D8%B1%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9|title=Google Translate|website=translate.google.ca|access-date=2020-02-07}} subjects, nationals,{{Cite web|url=https://translate.google.ca/#view=home&op=translate&sl=ar&tl=en&text=%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A7|title=Google Translate|website=translate.google.ca|access-date=2020-02-07}} flock", also spelled raiya, raja, raiah, re'aya; {{langx|ota|رعايا}}, {{IPA|ota|ɾeˈʔaːjeː|}}; Modern Turkish râiya {{IPA|tr|ɾaːˈja|}} or reaya; related to the Arabic word rā'ī راعي which means "shepherd, herdsman, patron"{{Cite web|url=https://translate.google.ca/#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=en&text=%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A|title=Google Translate|website=translate.google.ca|access-date=2020-02-07}}) was a member of the tax-paying lower class of Ottoman society, in contrast to the askeri and kul.

The raiyah made up over 90% of the general population in the millet communities. In the Muslim world, raiyah is literally subject of a government or sovereign. The raiyah (literally 'members of the flock') included Christians, Muslims, and Jews who were 'shorn' (i.e. taxed) to support the state and the associated 'professional Ottoman' class.Sugar, p. 33

However, both in contemporaneous and in modern usage, it refers to non-Muslim subjects in particular, also called zimmi.Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48, "Raiyah \Raee"yah\ (r[=a]"y[.a] or r[aum]"y[.a]), n. [Ar. ra'iyah a herd, a subject, fr. ra'a to pasture, guard.] A person not a Mohammedan (i. e. Muslim), who pays the capitation tax. (Turkey) (1913 Webster)"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rayah Dictionary.com definition]"Raiyahs,"--all who pay the capitation tax, called the "Haraç." "This tax was levied on the whole male unbelieving population," except children under ten, old men, Christian and Jewish priests. --Finlay, Greece under Ottoman and Venetian Domination, 2856, p. 26.

In the early Ottoman Empire, raiyah were not eligible for military service, but from the late 16th century, Muslim raiyah became eligible to the distress of some of the ruling class.Greene, p. 41, quoting Halil Inalcık