Khawaja 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 and Mizrahi Jews—particularly Kurdish Jews. The name or title Khawaja was usually given in Arab lands to non-Muslim dignitaries, usually to Jews or Christians. The word comes from the Persian word khwāja. In Persian, the title roughly translates to 'Lord' or 'Master'. The Ottoman Turkish pronunciation of the Persian khwāja gave rise to hodja and its equivalents such as hoca in modern Turkish, hoxha in Albanian, խոջա (xoǰa) in Armenian, xoca (khoja) in Azerbaijani, hodža/хоџа in Serbo-Croatian, ходжа (khodzha) in Bulgarian, χότζας (chótzas) in Greek, and hoge in Romanian. Other spellings include khaaja (Bengali) and koja (Javanese). The term has been rendered into English in various forms since the 1600s, including hodgee, hogi, cojah and khoja. The name is also used in Egypt and Sudan to indicate a person with a foreign nationality or foreign heritage.

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