The use of the word dahira in a religious context appears to be unique to the Ṣūfī turuuq (orders, from Ar. ṭuruq , pl. of ṭarīqa , lit., way) of Senegal. The Arabic word dāʾira has meanings involving mathematical concepts (e.g., ring, circuit, circumference) and administrative notions (e.g., district, bureau, agency) (Wehr, 347). In Morocco, for example, a dahira (local spelling) is a local police unit above the commissariat; in Algeria, a daïra (local spelling) is a district or "circle," the second largest administrative unit, below the wilaya (wilāya , governorate).