emir, (“commander,” or “prince”), in the Muslim Middle East, a military commander, governor of a province, or a high military official. Under the Umayyads, the emir exercised administrative and financial powers, somewhat diminished under the ʿAbbāsids, who introduced a separate financial officer. Sometimes, as in the cases of the Aghlabids and Ṭāhirids, the emirs ruled virtually independently in their provinces with but token allegiance to the caliph. In other cases the province was first taken by force, then the emirs applied for legitimacy to the caliph.
The title amīr al-muʾminīn, sometimes used of leaders of Muslim military campaigns, was assumed by ʿUmar, the second caliph, probably on the basis of the Qurʾānic “Obey God and obey the Apostle and those invested with command (ūlī al-amr) among you” (iv, 59); it was used by all his successors until the abolition of the caliphate in 1924.
In the 10th century the commander of the caliph’s armies at Baghdad was styled amīr al-umarāʾ (“commander in chief”). Emir could also denote office, as in amīr al-ḥājj, “leader of the pilgrimage” to Mecca, held by the caliph or his delegate, a precedent set by Abū Bakr and Muḥammad himself (630 and 631).
The title emir was later adopted by the rulers of several independent states in central Asia, notably those of Bukhara and Afghanistan. In the modern United Arab Emirates, however, none of the rulers of the constituent states are called emirs; all are sheikhs. The word Emirates was included in the name of the federation by default, because mashyakhah (sheikhdom) was already in use for the smallest of Arab administrative units, comparable to a parish or township.