muhassil

plural muhassils · alternative mohassil

1. historicalA senior public official under the Ottoman Empire charged with tax collection.

   The Mohassil, in return, pays a visit to the Consul, and is received with much pomp and the Consular house.

   1794, Alexander Russell, The Natural History of Aleppo, 2nd edition, volume II, page 22

   3 more examples

   Ibrahim Pasha, in addition to being governor of the holy cities, was made, on the 3rd of May, 1833, mohassil, or collector of the revenues of Adana.

   1870, Andrew Archibald Paton, A History of the Egyptian Revolution, 2nd edition, volume II, page 100

   It was a promotion in status, the Pasha being next in rank to the Grand Vezir and therefore more important than a Muhassil; but this was of course no guarantee of better government.

   1952, George Francis Hill, A History of Cyprus, volume IV, page 75

   A document sent to Istanbul by the muḥaṣṣıl of Aleppo in the 1790s clearly states that French bills of exchange had been purchased against payment of a ‘premium’ […].

   1999, Edhem Eldem, French Trade in Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century, page 127