Long-Term Changes in the Creation of New Cash Waqfs in Istanbul

Year 2022, Issue: 102, 27 - 51, 27.07.2022

Erol Özvar Sadullah Yıldırım

https://doi.org/10.12995/bilig.10202

Cited By: 3

Abstract

In this paper, relying on information from almost 4,500 waqf deeds (vakfiye) available in Istanbul sharia court registers for the period 1550-1900, we study long-term changes in the creation
of new cash waqfs including the periods of expansion, stagnation and crises. We also examine the participation of different groups—namely, officials (askeri), civilians (reaya), and women—
as cash-waqf founders. We find that women were significant contributors to the waqf sector and that, contrary to a common assumption in the literature, officials’ participation as benefactors
was proportional to that of other groups. Furthermore, we show that the relative shares of social groups as benefactors in the waqf sector f luctuated significantly over time. Thus, researchers should be cautious about making generalizations based on a single, set ratio of involvement as if it applies to all times and places.

Keywords

Cash waqf, Ottoman Empire, Istanbul, waqf deed, benefactors.

References

• Akdağ, Mustafa. Türk Halkının Dirlik ve Düzenlik Kavgası. Bilgi Yayınevi, 1975.
• Aydın, Bilgin, et al. İstanbul Şer‘iyye Sicilleri Vakfiyeler Kataloğu. İSAM Yayınları, 2015.
• Baer, Gabriel. “Women and Waqf: An Analysis of the Istanbul Tahrir of 1546.” Asian and African Studies: Journal of the Israel Oriental Society, vol. 17, no. 1-3, 1983, pp. 9-27.
• Boyar, Ebru, and Kate Fleet. A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• Coşgel, Metin, and Boğaç Ergene. The Economics of Ottoman Justice. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
• Crecelius, Daniel. “Incidences of Waqf Cases in Three Cairo Courts: 1640-1802.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, no. 2, 1986, pp. 176-89.
• Çizakça, Murat. Risk Sermayesi Özel Finans Kurumlarıve Para Vakıfları. İslami İlimler Araştırma Vakfı (İSAV) Yayınları, 1993.
• Erdoğan, Öner. İstanbul Şehremâneti (Belediyesi)’nin Kuruluşu ve 1917 Yılı Bütçesi. TC Maliye Bakanlığı Strateji Geliştirme Başkanlığı Yayınları, Yayın no. 2008/386.
• Ergenç, Özer. XVI. Yüzyılın Sonlarında Bursa: Yerleşimi, Yönetimi, Ekonomik ve Sosyal Durumu Üzerine bir Araştırma. Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 2006.
• Genç, Mehmet. “Klasik Osmanlı Sosyal-iktisadi Sistemi ve Vakıflar.” Unpublished paper, 2020.
• Parker, Geoffrey. Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. Yale University Press, 2013.
• Gerber, Haim. “The Waqf Institution in Early Ottoman Edirne.” Asian and African Studies: Journal of the Israel Oriental Society, vol. 17, no. 1-3, 1983, pp. 29-45.
• Kuran, Timur. “The Provision of Public Goods under Islamic Law: Origins, Impact, and Limitations of the Waqf System.” Law and Society Review, no. 4, 2001, p. 841–98.
• Kurt, İsmail. Para Vakıfları: Nazariyat ve Tatbikat. Ensar Neşriyat, 1996.
• Mandaville, Jon E. “Usurious Piety: The Cash Waqf Controversy in the Ottoman Empire.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, no. 3, 1979, p. 289-308.
• Mantran, Robert. İstanbul Tarihi. İletişim Yayınları, 2001.
• Özcan, Abdülkadir (ed.), Anonim Osmanlı Tarihi (1099–1116/1688–1704).Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 2000.
• Öztürk, Nazif. Türk Yenileşme Tarihi Çerçevesinde Vakıf Müessesesi. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayınları, 1995.
• Orbay, Kayhan. “Imperial Waqfs within the Ottoman Waqf System.” Endowment Studies 1, no. 2, 2017, p. 135-53.
• Özcan, Tahsin. Osmanlı Para Vakıfları: Kanunı Dönemi Üsküdar Örneği. Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 2003.
• Peri, Oded. “Waqf and Ottoman Welfare Policy.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, no. 2, 1992, p. 167-86.
• Tabakoğlu, Ahmet. Türk İktisat Tarihi. Dergâh Yayınları, 2000.
• Yediyıldız, Bahaeddin. “Türk Vakıf Kurucularının Sosyal Tabakalaşmadaki Yeri 1700–1800.” Osmanlı Araştırmaları, no. 3, 1982, pp. 143-64.