Mahkama (Arabic: مَحْكَمَة maḥkama), also spelled mahkamah, is an Arabic term meaning 'court'[1] or 'courthouse' in a Muslim context, so a Sharia court. The Arabic word (see محكمة) has been adopted with adaptations in the wider Muslim world (see mahkama), with derivatives in Persian, Turkish, Hindi and/or Urdu, Indonesian and/or Malay, etc.[1] The transliterated spelling makhama can also occur.[2][3]
Examples
- Mahkama Building (Jerusalem) or Tankiziyya, built in 1328–1330 during Mamluk rule, it housed various institutions: a madrasa (school), a school specialised in hadith studies, a Sufi khanka, and at the end of Ottoman rule and in the first years of British Mandate, a sharia court.
- Mahkamat al-Pasha or Mahkama du Pacha, administrative building raised in 1941–1942 in Casablanca, Morocco in a traditional Andalusian style. It was designed to contain the residence of the pasha, a reception hall, a courthouse, and a jail.
See also
- Hākim (حاكم), meaning judge or ruler