JALILI FAMILY

prominent Iraqi family that ruled the Ottoman pasalik (province) of Mosul (in modern Iraq) in the period 17261834. Although the founder of the Jalili line, 'Abd al-Jalil, was a Christian slave, his son Isma'il distinguished himself as a Muslim public official and became wali (governor) of Mosul in 1726. Hajj Husayn Pasha, who succeeded his father in 1730, became the central figure of the dynasty by successfully repulsing a siege of the city by the Iranian conqueror Nader Shah in 1743. Assorted members of the Jalili family held the office of wali of Mosul as well as administrative positions in other Ottoman provinces until 1834, when the Ottoman Empire was reorganized under a centralized, modern form of government.