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Khawaja

Khawaja (Persian: خواجه, romanized: Khawājah) is an honorific title used across the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, particularly towards Sufi teachers.

It is also used by Kashmiri Muslims^[1][2] and the Mizrahi Jews—particularly Persian Jews and Baghdadi Jews.^[3] The word comes from the Iranian word khwāja (Classical Persian: خواجه khwāja; Dari khājah; Tajik khoja). In Persian, the title roughly translates to 'Lord' or 'Master'.^[4]

The Ottoman Turkish pronunciation of the Persian خواجه gave rise to hodja and its equivalents such as hocainmodern Turkish, hoxhainAlbanian, խոջա (xoǰa) in Armenian, xoca (khoja) in Azerbaijani,^[5][6] hodžainBosnian, ходжа (khodzha) in Bulgarian, χότζας (chótzas) in Greek, hogeainRomanian, and хоџаinSerbian.

Other spellings include khaaja (Bengali) and koja (Javanese).^[7]

The name is also used in Egypt and Sudan to indicate a person with a foreign nationality or foreign heritage.^[8]

• 
  Hodja of Shkodra, from Les costumes populaires de la Turquie en 1873, published under the patronage of the Ottoman Imperial Commission for the 1873 Vienna World's Fair
• 
  Hodja of Salonika, today's Thessaloniki (first on the right, with the Hakham Bashi of Salonika on the left and a Monastir town dweller in the middle), from Les costumes populaires de la Turquie en 1873, published under the patronage of the Ottoman Imperial Commission for the 1873 Vienna World's Fair

• Khwaja Khizr TombatSonipat
• Afaq Khoja MausoleuminKashgar
• Khwajagan, a network of SufisinCentral Asia from the 10th to the 16th century who are often incorporated into later Naqshbandi hierarchies.
• Khajeh Nouri (Or Khajenouri), a Persian family belonging to pre-revolution nobility, their family tree can be traced back 45 generations.^[9]
• Khojaly, a town in Azerbaijan.
• Khoja (Turkestan), a title of the descendants of the Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani
• Hoca, Turkish spelling of Khawaja
• Hoxha, Albanian surname
• Hodžić, Bosniak surname
• Koya, a medieval Indian administrative position