Vizier

[7] This etymology is supported - among other scientists - by Johnny Cheung,[8] Ernest David Klein[4] and Richard Nelson Frye.

[11] Al-Mawardi stressed that the latter, as an effective viceroy, had to be a Muslim well versed in the Shari'a, whereas the former could also be a non-Muslim or even a slave, although women continued to be expressly barred from the office.

The latter term is generally found in the Maghreb, while the former is typical of usage in the Mashriq (broadly defined, including Egypt, Sudan, Levant, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula).

In the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan is sometimes given the honorific title of Wazir In Pakistan, the foreign minister is known as Vazir-e-Khārjah.

[citation needed] In contemporary literature and pantomime, the "Grand Vizier" is a character stereotype and is usually portrayed as a scheming backroom plotter and the clear power behind the throne of a usually bumbling or incompetent monarch.

A well-known example of this is the sinister character of Jafar in the Disney animated film Aladdin, who plots and uses magic to take over the entire Kingdom of Agrabah under the nose of the nation's naïve sultan, just as Jaffar in the 1940 movie The Thief of Bagdad dethroned his master, caliph Ahmad.

Others include Zigzag from The Thief and the Cobbler (the original inspiration for the character of Jafar in Disney's Aladdin), the character Iznogoud in the eponymous French comic book by René Goscinny and Jean Tabary, Prince Sinbad's advisor Yusuf in the DC Vertigo series Fables, and the villains of the video games Prince of Persia (also called Jaffar, before the release of Disney's Aladdin) and King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow.

[citation needed] A much older example of this archetype is the character Haman from the biblical book of Esther.

It ranks third, after the King (Raja) and Queen (Rajni), and before the Knight (Senani), Jack (Padathi or Sevaka), and Banner (Dhwaja).