在穆斯林世界, 拉亞字面解是為處於統治者或權威治下的臣民之意,即與自稱為Askari(「軍人」)的鄂圖曼帝國統治階層相對的「被蓄牧者」(「羊羣」,其所產「羊毛」即税收便用作支持帝國的Askari)。在穆斯林米利特社區當中,拉亞是佔總人口的90%;拉亞在整體而言囊括了基督徒、猶太教徒和穆斯林,這些群體不單止被徵稅以支撐政權,也要效力「專業鄂圖曼人」的階層。而拉亞與統治階層間關係,是由所謂「正義圈」(Circle of Justice)來界定;而「正義圈」事實上是地方軍人與官僚,亦與Askari同樣屬於「稅收享受者」。不過在同時代及當代釋義中,其也與Dhimmi通用,專門指稱非穆斯林的臣民。
^"Raiyahs,"--all who pay the capitation tax, called the "Haraç." "This tax was levied on the whole male unbelieving population," except children under ten, old men, Christian and Jewish priests. --Finlay, Greece under Ottoman and Venetian Domination, 2856, p. 26.
文獻
Molly Greene, A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean, Princeton, 2000. ISBN0-691-00898-1
Peter F. Sugar, Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354-1804, series title A History of East Central Europe, volume V, University of Washington Press, 1983. ISBN0-295-96033-7.