toward the construction of a mescid or other charitable facility, as needed. From
the viewpoint of these instructions, her vakuf was different from all the other
women’s vakuf s dating from the sixteenth century that we find in the sources.
This detailed information on Šemsa Kaduna’s vakuf is based on the preserved
vakufnama. She founded her vakuf at the same time as her husband, Sinan Beg,
so that the spouses’ vakuf s were recorded in the same vakufnama dated 1582.62 We
do not know if a building was built from Šemsa Kaduna’s vakuf, and if so, where,
but her grave with a headstone (in Bosnian, turbe) did exist in Čajniče in Eastern
Bosnia, next to the tomb of her husband and near the mosque built by him.63
The richest endowment established by a woman by the end of the sixteenth
century was Shahdidar’s. The amount of 115,000 akçe, of which 100,000 were
endowed in cash, is one of the largest of all the endowments registered in the
1604 Defter. Although we do not know anything about the origin of Shahdidar’s
property, we know that she founded her endowment after the death of her husband,
Husrev Beg, given the words al-marūm al-marqūm prefixed to his name when
mentioned in Shahdidar’s vakufnama.64 Since Husrev Beg died in 1541, Shahdidar
must have founded her endowment some time thereafter.65 In the form copied into
the court records, Shahdidar’s vakufnama ends as follows: “Shahdidar declared
that after her death, her vakuf should be transferred to Neslishah Sultan, daughter
of Seljuk Sultan’s daughter, if the latter so demanded, as the benefactress is
Neslishah’s slave, her property, and her right.”66 On that basis, Fehim Dž. Spaho
who translated Shahdidar’s vakufnama into Bosnian has concluded that Husrev
Beg must have been married to his sister’s freed slave.67 If this was indeed the
case, then most probably Shahdidar inherited the property from her husband. In
any case, at the time she founded her endowment, she had at her disposal both real
estate and large amounts of money.
Upon comparing the sums of money endowed, we can reasonably establish
that the benefactresses mentioned in this paper were wealthy. However, it is worth
noting that women with much less property than Shahdidar—Šemsa Kaduna and
Hatidža Hatun—also donated their property to charity. If we set aside these three
women (in view of their family ties with statesmen), then we can consider the
daughters of Havadže Kemal and Havadže Durak—both men were well-known
benefactors in Sarajevo—wealthy as well. The two women, and those of whom
we know nothing except their names and the fact that they were benefactresses,
endowed money, while the endowing of real estate was so rare that it can be
taken as sporadic. To what extent women in the early period of Ottoman Bosnia
disposed of real estate at all is a question to which an answer cannot be found in
the 1604 Defter. Some additional information is offered by vakufnama s related to
that period, in the following manner: since vakufnama s contain exact dimensions
and the first neighborhood of the real estate being endowed, we encounter the
names of women who owned real estate. Such information is found in both
Filan, Women Founders oF Pious endoWments
111
Shahdidar’s and Husrev Beg’s vakufnama s. In Shahdidar’s, we read that the
house that she endowed bordered the property of Dudiya, daughter of Aliya, on
the East,68 while Gazi Husrev Beg endowed, inter alia, a property that he had
bought from a woman named Hanum Hatun.69
Review of the Later Centuries
If we compare the properties of vakuf s founded by women in the sixteenth century
with those of the vakuf s of Aiša, daughter of Hajji Ahmed, in the seventeenth
century, and of Fatima Ašida, daughter of Imaretlić Vejsel Aga, in the nineteenth,
we see that women in later centuries endowed more real estate than did their
predecessors. We learn of these two benefactresses from their own vakufnama s.
In the hope that we might find some information concerning the benefactresses
registered in the 1604 Defter, we looked through 1,092 vakufnama s from Bosnia
and Herzegovina that have been preserved to date.70 None of the vakufnama s
in this sample refer to the vakuf s of the women mentioned in the 1604 Defter.71
With the exception of the benefactress Shahdidar, the information we have about
these women is limited to what is recorded in the Defter itself. Nevertheless,
the list of vakufnama s shows that women founded vakuf s throughout the
centuries in Ottoman Bosnia. The 1604 Defter contains information for the
period until the end of the sixteenth century, and in the aforementioned set of
vakufnama s we came across the names of benefactresses in all later centuries.
There are 249 recorded benefactresses, which means that out of the total number
of the vakufnama s preserved in the Gazi Husrev Beg Library, about 23% are
for women’s vakuf s. Obviously these figures cannot be considered conclusive,
since they include neither the vakuf s of the women about whom the 1604 Defter
provides information, nor those of men and women whose vakufnama s have not
been preserved, especially from the earlier centuries.
Among the preserved vakufnamas from Bosnia and Herzegovina are those
referring to the vakuf s of Aiša and Fatima Ašida. The former benefactress founded
a vakuf in 1646 in the city of Mostar by endowing 7,000 akçe, two shops, and
gardens. The latter, Fatima Ašida, daughter of Imaretlić Vejsel Aga ( medîne-i
Saraybosna’da Yahya Paşa mahallesinde sâkine fahrü’l-muhadderât Fâtima
Aşida bint Imâretli-zâde Veysel Aga ibn Ibrâhîm Aga—4–5),73 established her
vakuf two centuries later, in 1875, by endowing two shops, one oda, and some
land [ arsa]. Aiša, daughter of Hajji Ahmed, stated in her vakufnama that she had
inherited the real estate she intended to endow from her father. She also states
that after her death and that of her sisters, her vakuf should be joined to her
father’s; thus, we also learn from Aiša’s vakufnama that Hajji Ahmed was also
a benefactor. There is no evidence pertaining to Fatima Ašida in her vakufnama,
either about the origin of her property or about the benefactors in her family. In
this short paragraph, we have reviewed only two vakuf s established by women in
later centuries.
112
Women in the ottoman Balkans
Provisions Regarding the Endowment
Only from vakufnama s are we able to learn something about whether women
attended court in person, or acted through a proxy, when they wanted to draw
up a legal document regarding an endowment. The Defter offers no information
on that subject. In the transcript of Shahdidar’s vakufnama, there is no mention
of her proxy at court, which allows us to assume that she participated in person
in drawing up the deed of endowment. Hatidža Hatun authorized her husband
Husein Beg to establish her vakuf before the court. Accordingly, the court first
checked the authenticity of the power of attorney, as stated in the vakufnama, and
then proceeded to draw up the vakufnama.74 Although Husein Beg’s vakufnama
includes his sister Mihri Hatun’s
vakuf, there is no record in the vakufnama
showing that she had empowered her brother or anyone else to represent her
before court. There is no such record about Šemsi Kaduna either; her vakufnama,
like Hatidža Hatun’s, is contained in her husband’s vakufnama.
Whether a benefactress established her endowment in person before the court
or by proxy, she, in accordance with legal procedure, declared which part of her
property she endowed, for what purpose she had founded the vakuf, and who
was to be paid a salary from the proceeds of the property she had endowed. She
also specified the duties of those who were to receive a salary, and nominated an
administrator and a supervisor [ nazır] for the management of vakuf affairs. For
large vakuf s like the one founded by Shahdidar, the range of provisions set by the
benefactor was even broader: the salary to be paid to the chief official leading
prayers in the mescid she built, to the school teacher, assistant teacher (should
such a position be established), and bookkeeper; the amount earmarked for the
maintenance of the building, including such expenses as lighting, cleaning, the
purchase of carpets, etc. All these provisions were recorded in the deed of the
vakuf foundation. As an official document, the vakufnama therefore has a certain
format in terms of content sequence. Still, each vakufnama is an expression of
the free will of a particular benefactor: the benefactor’s will had to be executed
as law.
As a very small number of sixteenth-century vakufnama s have been preserved,
we are left with only the Defter to try to understand how benefactresses stipulated
conditions for the use of the profits from their endowments. Although the relevant
information in the Defter is very modest, it can be seen that women usually
stipulated that the proceeds from their vakuf s should be used for the salaries of
the officials of the endowment to which they had joined their own. In exchange
for a salary, the religious official—an imam or mu’ezzin—had the duty of reciting,
at certain times, a chapter from the Qur’an, short or long as specified by the
benefactress. When we look at the list of vakuf s in the 1604 Defter, we can see
that the joined vakuf proceeds also paid the salaries of religious officials: secure
salaries kept the mescid, the central institution of a large vakuf, in operation. For
the chief official—the imam—a somewhat higher amount was stipulated than for
lower-ranking officials such as the mu’ezzin. In this respect, Shehsuvar Hatun
stipulated a different condition from other benefactors, at least as far as can be
Filan, Women Founders oF Pious endoWments
113
surmised from the Defter: she stated that the imam and mu’ezzin should be paid
equal salaries.75
Providing an income for unspecified vakuf officials according to their function
was not, however, a firm rule. Benefactors could stipulate that the duties for which
a salary was to be paid out of the proceeds of their vakuf should be performed by
someone specific personally appointed by them. Seljuka, the wife of Hajji Kemal,
posed the condition that a salary from her vakuf should be paid to a Mevlana
Hussam, in exchange for which he would recite chapters from the Qur’an.76 The
confectioner’s wife, too, decided that a certain Mahmud, son of Mustafa, should
be paid a salary from her vakuf; he was also charged with reciting chapters from
the Qur’an.77 Who were Mevlana Hussam and Mahmud, son of Mustafa? Why
did the benefactresses stipulate salaries for them? The Defter contains no answers
to these questions. We can only conclude that they were not vakuf officials, since
both benefactresses stipulated that after the death of the persons to whom salaries
were to be paid, those funds would be paid to the vakuf officials. Seljuka and the
confectioner’s wife thus specified salaries for particular individuals; whether they
were family members or friends, we cannot tell from the information recorded.
Perhaps the benefactors wanted to support those persons by providing them
with a living wage, as far as their vakuf s could afford? The benefactress Seyda,
daughter of Atmadži, also assigned a salary from her vakuf, established in 1566, to
a particular person—Abdiya Halifa, the chief official at the Ali Pasha mosque in
Sarajevo. She stipulated that upon his death, the salary in question would be paid
to the chief official, whoever he might be, at the Skender Pasha mosque, located
in the quarter where Seyda lived.78 Under these provisions, the vakuf of Seyda,
daughter of Atmadži, was effectively joined to that of the Skender Pasha mosque,
but the benefactress transferred the salary to a particular man during his lifetime.
The salary was paid for the duties performed in accordance with the conditions
laid by the benefactress. These duties had a religious purpose: reading God’s
Book. On the one hand, this meant that the appointed person had the knowledge
(the religious education) to discharge the set duties, and on the other, that he
possessed high moral qualities. Therefore, through paying salary—which did not
exceed one akçe per day in the smaller vakuf s—the pious endowment played a
role in the moral, and even religious-educational, life of the community.
This role of the vakuf can be understood even better when a benefactor or
benefactress sets the condition that entitlement to a salary, and thus taking on the
stipulated duty, should be passed from parent to child. This is what, for instance,
Havadže Kemal’s daughter Hanifa decided. She stipulated a salary from her vakuf
for Sheykh Yunus Efendi on the condition that he recites the Qur’an. After Yunus
Efendi’s death, the salary would be inherited by his children, and then by his
children’s children.79 In order for the children to inherit their father’s salary, they
had to be prepared to fulfill the condition laid down by the benefactor—they
had to be able to recite the Qur’an, which meant that they had at least to attend
primary school [ sıbyan mektebi] where they would learn to read the Qur’an.80
114
Women in the ottoman Balkans
Furthermore, under this provision, Yunus Efendi’s descendents were expected to
be honest people.
Direct support for schools shows even more clearly that these women were well
aware of the educational role of the vakuf. It was indicated earlier that Shahdidar’s
endowment had an educational dimension through the school she built. We can
also say of Mihri Hatun’s vakuf that it had an educational purpose, in the sense
that the benefactress set aside the profits earned from the money she had endowed
for the salaries of the teachers in one of the two schools founded by her brother.
The school’s founder, Husein Beg, had decided on a salary of 2 akçe per day for
the teacher at the school he had opened in the village of Vrhbarje, but the teacher
received another akçe from Mihri Hatun’s vakuf. In that way, the benefactresses
Shahdidar and Mihri Hatun supported education, each according to her funds: one
by opening a school, the other by supplementing a teacher’s salary. Fatima Ašida,
too, set aside part of the funds from her vakuf for educational purposes
, specifically
for the education of women. This benefactress’s provision was to reward from
her vakuf proceeds, as was customary, a religious official who would, every year
during three selected months of the Muslim calendar, deliver a lecture once a
week for women in the Yahya Pasha mosque in Sarajevo ( ve be-her sene receb
ve şa’bân ve ramazân aylarında haftada birer def’a Yahya Paşa câmi’-i şerîfde
nisâ’ tâ’ifesine va’z u nasîhat edüp vâ’iz efendiye fazla-ı mezkûreden emsâli
misillü ikrâm oluna).81 Although we know nothing about Fatima Ašida’s own
education, this provision shows that she understood the importance of learning.
Aiša of Mostar made her contribution to education in her town by stipulating that
part of the funds from her vakuf should be used to support poor scholars at the
Karađoz Beg medrese. However, this was not the benefactor’s only condition;
she also expressed the wish to buy, if possible, blankets for this school’s students
with which they could cover themselves in winter, and firewood to keep them
warm. The examples of Aiša and Fatima Ašida show that women were able to
take care of some “secondary” areas of educational life in the community where
they lived.
Judging from the four vakufnama s we have used as sources for this paper, it
can be expected that others will also provide interesting insight into the purposes
of women’s vakuf funds.
Women in the Service of Endowments
Any person considered by the benefactor to be honest and capable of performing the
duty could be appointed vakuf administrator or supervisor. The administrator bore
a particularly important responsibility, as carrying out the provisions stipulated by
the benefactor were, for the administrator, an absolute imperative.82 The Defter
offers us very little information about the people whom the benefactors entrusted
with those duties. We can see that Đulizar Hatun entrusted the mescid chief official
with the duty of administrating her vakuf, but there is no record as to what salary
she attached to that position. Nor is it known what salaries the sisters Aiša and
Fatima set aside for the administrator of their vakuf, when they entrusted the duty
Filan, Women Founders oF Pious endoWments
115
to their father Mahmud in 1564.83 By entrusting the duty of administrator to their
Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History Page 21