A muḥāfaẓah is a first-level administrative division of many Arab countries, and a second-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia. The term is usually translated as "governorate", and occasionally as "province".

It comes from the Arabic root ح-ا-ف-ظ, ḥ-ā-f-ẓ, (verb: حافظ, ḥāfaẓa), which means to "keep" and "guard".

The head of a muḥāfaẓah is a governor (Arabic: مُحَافِظ, muḥāfiẓ) .

The governorates of Tunisia are wilāyah in Arabic.