Ayan (class)

The Ayan (Arabic plural: a‘yan أَعْيَان; singular: ‘ayn عَيْن) was the class of local notables or dynasts in the 16th to the early 19th century Ottoman Empire who held varying degrees of authority in provincial towns and districts. The a'yan had significant autonomy, and even armed force, but did not challenge the central Ottoman government. Though the title was awarded only to Muslims, its function was secular. The a'yan included "wealthy merchants, heads of Janissary garrisons, leaders of important craft guilds, those who had bought the right to collect taxes for the government in Istanbul, and those who supervised the distributions of wealth generated by, and the maintenance of, pious endowments." The rise of the a'yan class was part of the decentralizing trend in the Ottoman Empire which began in the 16th century, and came to define the Empire's structure until its fall in the early 20th century.