Military Ranks and Titles
From the start, Emir has been a military title, roughly meaning "general" or "commander."
The Western naval rank "admiral" comes from the Arabic naval title amir al-bahr, general at sea, which has been used for naval commanders and occasionally the Ministers of Marine.
In certain decimally-organized Muslim armies, Amir was an officer rank. For example, in Mughal India Amirs commanded 1000 horsemen (divided into ten units, each under a Sipah salar), ten of them under one Malik. In the imperial army of Qajar Persia:
- Amir-i-Nuyan,
- Amir Panj, "Commander of 5,000"
- Amir-i-Tuman, "Commander of 10,000"
- Amir ul-Umara, "Amir of Amirs" (cfr. supra) or 'Commander of Commanders'
In the former Kingdom of Afghanistan, Amir-i-Kabir was a title meaning "great prince" or "great commander."
Muhammad Amin Bughra, Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra, and Abdullah Bughra declared themselves Emirs of the First East Turkestan Republic.
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