WOMEN AS DONORS IN OTTOMAN BOSNIA

Founding waqfs was carried out through a legal act whereby the individual, of their own free will, declared that they conceded part of their property and endowed it, with the intention to come closer to God (qurbat). The endowed property would become a waqf, which served to religious, cultural, educational and other human goals. Requirements that had to be met to make the legal act of founding a waqf valid included: the individual who endowed had to be the owner of the property and be able to have it at their disposal. Islamic law provides for a condition that one can endow property which can permanently yield income and eternally serve to the goal it is intended for, and it implies immovable property. Since movable property cannot permanently serve to a goal, it can be a subject of endowment only if it is associated to an immovable property. Money also yielded income by lending, under the condition that the amount returned should be increased as much as the donor determined when endowing it, in accordance with Islamic legal principles.

Conceding part of the property with the aim of endowing it for charity purposes, so that other people can benefit from it is a godly action. It is a reason for a believer to do a laudable deed – to found a waqf by endowing their property for charity purposes. As an endowment founded in line with religious principles, a waqf was a contribution to religious, social and economic life of the environment it was intended for, regardless of the value of endowed resources.

The donor who was able to endow large resources intended them for constructing different buildings which will serve to general good. In the legal act of founding a waqf itself, the donor determined the amount of resources for maintaining the building and the salary which would be paid to officers of the waqf. Waqfs that were founded with less resources would be annexed to the already existing, larger ones and contributed to them in this way.

Sources testify that ever since the early period of Ottoman Bosnia, women participated in religious, educational, economic and social life as donors, by founding waqfs with their own property. Thus, it is known that, in the first half of the 16th century, a masjid (building where daily prayers are performed) was built at Mejtaš neighborhood in Sarajevo, with waqf resources of a woman named Dudi-bula. While no other data are known of this donor and her waqf, there is a transcript of vakufnama (document about endowment) for a waqf founded by Šahdidar-hatun, the wife of Bosnian governor Gazi Husrev-beg, also in the 16th century. Vakufnama advises that Šahdidar-hatun endowed money in the amount of 100.000 akčas (Turkish money) which, judging by other endowments of the time, was a fairly large amount. The donor defined that these resources should be used for building a masjid with a maktab (primary school) in a part of Sarajevo which was developing from a small town into a city. Besides the money, the donor endowed the house she lived in, providing that the house should become property of the waqf after her death. There are also partial data about the content of vakufnama of another female donor of the time, who is referred to as “the wife of Sinan-duke” in the sources. She endowed a total of 100,000 akčas for a masjid and a maktab in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Vratnik, and two houses, one of which was next to the masjid and intended for the imam's residence while the donor herself resided in the other one and defined, like Šahdidar-hatun, that the house should become the property of the waqf after her death. The maktab of this donor was demolished in 1687, when Sarajevo was devastated by the army of Eugene of Savoy. Soon after, a new maktab close by was commissioned by another female donor – Hanifa-hanuma, on whom there are no data except that the maktab she commissioned was active until 1908.

Women typically made their contributions to the general good by founding small waqfs, which they annexed to the existing large waqfs. Sources reveal a custom that descendants, both men and women, endowed their own property and annexed their small waqfs to larger ones, which had previously been founded by their fathers. We can give the example of sisters Nefisa and Hanifa who, like their brother Ibrahim, annexed their waqfs to their father's one. It is a waqf of Hodža Kemal, which was used to build a mosque in Sarajevo in the 16th century. The mosque existed until the 20th century, at a spot which is now called Ćemaluša, after this benefactor.

A certain Husein-beg commissioned a mosque and two schools in Rogatica, while his wife Hatidža-hatun and sister Mihri-hatun endowed part of their respective property and founded waqfs which they annexed to Husein-beg's.

Same as female benefactors annexed their waqfs to those founded by their relatives, they allocated their resources to waqfs in the places where they lived. Sometimes these were waqfs with modest means, which shows that women, with their good deeds, helped the survival of waqf institutions impoverished over time.

Women typically endowed money. Although, overall, there are fewer women's than men's waqfs founded by endowing real estate, such as stores, houses and land, their number is not small, throughout the centuries from which vakufnamas originate.

The value of resources that women endowed differed, and certainly depended on the entire property they had at their disposal. Names of women who donated resources in the value of several dozens of thousand akčas reveal that they were daughters and/or wives of dignitaries. Women's waqfs founded with resources of lower value did not differ from men's waqfs of the same category. Thus, Opširni popis Bosanskog sandžaka iz 1604. godine (Comprehensive List of Bosnian sanjak from 1604) reveals that out of four waqfs which were annexed to Jakub-pasha's waqf (with a masjid in Mrguda) approximately at the same time, one was founded by female benefactor Seldžuka by endowing money and two stores. Her waqf is of half the value of the one that belonged to Nesuh-duke and of twice as high value than the other two men's waqfs.

Whether they founded the waqf before a qadi in person or through their agent, female benefactors determined, by their own free will, how the endowed resources should be used and had these provisions recorded in the vakufnama. In these documents it can be seen that women typically allocated income from their waqfs for salaries to the officers of the endowment to which they annexed their own: imam, muezzin and/or vaiz (preacher), particularly one who gave lectures for women. They also looked after the maintenance of the building, such as repairs of damaged parts, lighting, cleaning, flooring etc. Indeed, female benefactors behaved as usual in this respect. Still, in women's vakufnamas one can read provisions such as: that part of the resources from her waqf should be used for supporting poor pupils in madrasa; that, if possible, blankets for pupils should be bought for winter days, as well as heating fuel; that every year 100 groschen should be allocated for buying socks, as many pairs as possible, for poor children who attend a maktab that the benefactor names; that appropriate clothes and footwear should be purchased for ten children who are known to be orphans and poor and who attend a maktab that the benefactor names; that every year, part of the waqf income should be used for prepare a poor girl who lives in the benefactor's neighborhood for wedding.

Same as men reserved the position of manager of waqf property for themselves, there are many examples that women also used this right. Even more often, a woman reserved for herself the position of supervisor of her waqf, as was done by Šahdidar-hatun and Sinan-duke's wife. Sources also recorded the following example: benefactor – tailor Murat appointed the manager of his endowment, and the court appointed Aiša, daughter of the deceased tailor Murat, the supervisor, under the condition that “the mentioned manager must not receive money from anybody or give it to anybody without her knowledge. Recorded in 1565ˮ.

References:

• Çam, Mevlit & Rahman Ademi (Ed.): Bosna-Hersek Vakfiyeleri 1-4. Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü Yayınları, Ankara, 2016.

• Handžić, Adem et al (Ed.): Opširni popis Bosanskog sandžaka iz 1604. Bošnjački institut – Odjeljenje Sarajevo i Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu, Sarajevo, 2000, 481-513.