شيخ šaik, pl. شيوخ šuyūk, اشياخ ašyāk, مشيخة mašyaka, مشايخ mašāyik2, مشائخ mašā’ik2 an elderly, venerable gentleman; old man; elder; chief, chieftain, sheik, patriarch, head (of a tribe); title of the ruler of anyone of the sheikdoms along the Persian Gulf; title of native scholars trained in the traditional sciences such as clerical dignitaries, members of a religious order, profesors of spiritual institutions of higher learning, etc.; master; master of an order (Sufism); senator (parl.) │ الشيخ ارز اسمر (aruzz asmar), الشيخ ارز ابيض (abyaḍ) (eg.) popular names for certain rice dishes; شيخ البحر š. al-baḥr sea calf (zool.); شيخ البلد š. al-balad chief of a village, village mayor; شيخ السجادة š. as-sajjāda title of the leaders of certain dervish orders in their capacity of inheritors of the founder’s prayer rug; شيخ الإسلام š. al-islām sheikh ul-Islam, formerly, esp. in medieval Egypt, title of the Grand Mufti, the spiritual head of Islam, later being bestowed more and more exclusively upon the Mufti of Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire; title of the chief mufti in Tunisia; شيخ المدينة inspector of police (Magr.); مشيخة الجامع الأعظم professoriate, or faculty, of the Great Mosque in Tunis; الشيوخ (pl. of majesty) title of a ruler 496 among the inhabitants of Nejd; مجلس الشيوخ majlis aš-š. senate