Rayah

Reâyâ, also reaya ( Turkish ), from Arabic رعية, DMG ra ʿ iya, Pl رعايا, DMG ra ʿ aya or ra ʿ ya, Pl ra ʿ aya, " flock", referred to in the Islamic world and the Ottoman Empire originally non-Muslims and later generally the level of taxable subjects, in contrast to the prior askeri. In Serbo-Croatian it is called Raja and in Greek ραγιάς [ rajas ], Pl ραγιάδες [ rajádes ].

In the Ottoman Empire nomads, farmers, artisans, shopkeepers and merchants were counted for Reâyâ. Seldom people were taken with a Reâyâ background in the askeri layer. Contrast, has been argued that many Kul ( slaves ) of Reâyâs ( tax farmers ) descended, while many Sipahis emerged ( " tab", owner of Tımaren ) from Kul.

In the Kurdish society were the Reâyâ not organized tribal farmers, ( semi-) nomads were organized in Eşiret ( tribes ) tribute.