DIWAN

Pronounced "divan" in Persian and Turkish; a term that has been used in a variety of senses.

The term diwan has been used to mean all of the following:

• A collection of poetry or prose written by one author.
• A register of census, from the Arabic awwana, to collect. The first diwan was the diwan aljund, the register that covered the people of Medina, Medina's military forces, émigrés and their families during the time of Muhammad.
• Ministries from the Umayyad period onward in the Arab world and in India and Iran. Three basic diwans corresponded to the three essential needs of the state: chancellery and state secretariat (diwan al-rasaʾil), finance (diwan al-amal), and the army (diwan al-jaysh).
• The imperial privy council of the Ottoman Empire.
• Place of meeting, understood as a separate apartment or sitting room.
• A council chamber or a smoking room.
• A large couch or sofa without a back or arms, often used as a bed.

mia bloom

DIWAN

Arabic word meaning council, often used for the governmental chambers or councils. The term also is used to describe a communal house in Palestinian villages and refugee camps, usually for a particular tribe or part of a tribe.

diwan or divan. Islamic hall, court, council-chamber, court of justice, or audience-chamber.