A nineteenth-centuryOttoman f,rman issuedto the Greek-Orthodor of Duma al-Shám @ Zeina Matar dy Ingrid Heck

lNtRooucrtox sixteenth century, under the rule of Sultan Selim I (918-927H.i 1512-1520A.D.). The Ottomansgenerally Description of the Fírman kept most of the Mamluk administrative divisions The document which we are presenting here is the of the aÍea unchangeds. Following the Ottoman second of two Ottoman Firmans purchased in a Conquest of 922 H./1516 A.D.. Syria was initially Damascussouvenir shop about ten years ago1. The divided into 22 sanjaqsbut later on into three provinces firman, in this casea hilkilm2, is written on paper and or e!'alets:Damascus. Aleppo and Tripolió. dated 1308H.i 1890A.D. It is reasonablywell-preserved, According to Cuinet, who wrote in 1896,the Vilayet and the text has not been corrupted by disintegrating of Syria (Suriye vilayetí) was divided into 4 sanjaqs or torn paper, or fading ink. and 22 cazas.one of which was Duma. the area near The gold pounce on the Sultan'scypher or has Damascus which is mentioned in this firman (see mostly disappeared,but traces of it are still discer- Table l). The Caza of D[ma was bordered on the nible. The invocation to God, or huwa, is written at north by ï.heCaza of Nabk, on the east by the Syrian the top of the firman, above Lhe tughra of Sultan Desert (badiyat al-Sham), on the south by the Sanjaq Abdiilhamid IL The measurementsof the firman are of Hawran, and on the west by the Caza of Wádi al- 'Ajam 79 x 58 cm and the reproductiongiven hereis reduced. and the Merkez-Caza of Damascus. At that The text consistsof nine and a half lineswritten on the time the total population of Íhe Caza of Dlma was recto side.The verso side showssix annotationswhich 66,425inhabitants, of whom 2,250were Greek-Ortho- appearto be various signatures.The subjectmatter of dox ChristiansT.Cuinet also statesthat the Caza of the document is briefly describedin a later addition Duma had four churches: '1308 and readsas follows: Firman for the building of Les églisessont au nombre de 4, dont 3 aux syriens a church for our millet in Ma'rlna in the caza of orthodoxes, savoir: une à Hàrèstat èl-Basalet une à 'Arbin, Dlma al-Shám'. dans chacunedesquelles un prêtre de Damas se rend pour officier tous les dimancheset jours de The Vilayet o.f Syria fête, et une à Ma'rouneh oÈ réside un prêtre; la This firman was issued during the reign of the 36th quatrième église du caza, située également dans ce Ottoman Sultan. Abdrilhamid II. who succeededto dernier village, appartient aux grecsunis qui y entre- the throne in 1293 H./1876 A.D. and was subse- tiennent un prêtre à demeures. quently deposedin 1327 H./1909 A.D. He is remem- The text of our firman indicatesthat a petition was bered for his absolutism and for the pan-Islamism made by the Patriarchateof Antioch to the Porte on which characterizedhis reign, but even more for the behalf of the population of the small village of promulgation, by a Hatt-i Híimayun in 1293 H.ll876 Ma'rtna (seemap), which is situatedin an agricultural A.D.. of the first constitution which instituted a two- area in the Caza of Dima, known for its gardens and chamber parliamentary system in the Ottoman good climate.Ma'rlna was also famous for its mineral Empire3. water springs,and is describedby Cuinet as a'char- Prior to the constitution. the era of reforms which mant village d'oà la yue domine sur toute la plaine de took place in the Ottoman Empire and was known as Damas'e. In addition, the village boasted the best the Tanzimat Period, had been characterizedby the quality summak (a spice), walnut and fig trees of the promulgation of the Hatt-i $erif, the Noble Rescript region in both quality and quantity. of Gtlhane in 1255 H./1839 A.D., and the Hatt-i Hiimayun or Imperial Rescript of 1275 H./1856 A.D. CoNcrusroN Theseproclamations gave new rights to the millets or religiousgroupings of the non-Muslim subjectsof the In the works which we have consultedfor this article Empirea. and which deal with the subject of millets and their Syria becamepart of the Ottoman Empire in the early organization in the Ottoman Empire, we have not Z. MATAR & I. HECK. A NINETEENTH-CENTL'RY OTTO\íAN FIR\ÍA\ 159

Fig. l. Map of Damascusand surroundings,showing the position of D[ma in relation to Damascus (from palesÍíneet Syrie. Routesprincipales à travers la Mésopotamieet la Babylonie.L'ile de Chypre. Manuel du voyageurpar Karl Bredeker, 4th edition, Leipzig/Paris1912), between pp. 314-5.

found any evidenceabout the church of Ma'rfina10, TReNslrrrRATIoN but future studieson the Bilád al-Shámmight produce some new material on the Vilayet of Damascus,the For the transliteration the rules laid down by Sir Caza of Dlma, and maybe even the village of James William Redhouse, in his Yeni Tirkge-ingilizce Ma'r[na. In view of the relatively small number of Sózlíik. New' Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionary, firmans from the nineteenth century published so far, : RedhousePress, 1968, have been followed. this document representsan important addition to the corpus of available texts, and broadens our under- TR,tNsurpRATroNoF THEFIRMAN standingof a major period in Ottoman history, that of the Tanzimat. More importantly perhaps, this firman 1. destur-i míikerrem mí)Sír-imiifaftftar-i nizam til-'alem is a valuable piece of evidencein the history of Syria miidebbir-i umur íil-cumhur bil-fikr ag-;akib mí)tem- as a Turkish Province, a chapter about which all has mim-i mehamm iil-enam bir-ra't as-sa'ib milmehhid-i certainlv not vet been said. binl,on iid-devle ve'l-ikbal mtiseyyid-i erkàn íis-sa'ade 'awarif 'asa- ve'l-iclal el-mahkuk li-iu,-uf iil-miilk iil-a'la AcrNowI-SDGEMENTS kir-i nizamrye-i SahanemmiSírantndan Suriye vilay-eti 'o;maní valísi olub murassa'-i We wishto thank Dr. AndrewVincent (the University 2. ve birinci ríitbe-i mecídínisan-i zr-Sanlarmthd'iz ve of Melbourne)for kindly lending us the original 'Áxm firman. and ProfessorDr. BarbaraKellner-Heinkele llumil olan vezrrim Mu;!a.fa PaSa adam'a Attàh ta'ala ic'lalahuve kidvet iil-'ulema il-muhakkrkïn Duma (J.W. Goethe UniversitátFrankfurt/Main) for her 'ilmuhuma valuablecomments. kaiay na'ibi ve míifttsi zída ve meJaftir nl- A

r;1, I rn -1\. .., J eb:rzuta,ut, '//YJ,Yfii!g1n; UYfftí;ól)

Fig.2. The firman concerningthe reconstructionof the church in Ma'rlna. Upper part(tughra and lines l-3). '#;::r":b!wbou;,r,ítrw;twl,tunaufiieí;(;*g,^Q5t,ro*ííay

-_ _ / ": crÍ4tt oo t,,lL) ip g4rnlr,/ l/cno, U,rlo/r, ro r) bo Si, _rf, -r'r q ., fr.y'l,.rr., bir),1t,n0,,q;f/t#.brlbu)*4u,o.," r,t N .^ 'rtli'/uruli4íob.tt)p),.nh;)i,,.,.-, ., -l 4*;-y' , y'."^^,n -t y' I E .) 7

= z E -l rn z i à r 7. -l C

o-t -l o z

7, f ? z

Fig. 3. The firman concerningthe reconstructionof the church in Ma'r[na. Lower part (lines 3-10). o\ 162 M.ANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EASTó (I99])

DIVISIONAD\ÍINISTRATIVE DU VILA\]ET DE SYRIE

CHEFS-LIEUX SANDJAQ de NAHIES CÀZAS

I Damas Ba'albèk. ChÀm-i Il o'allaqa Qatana Chórif Hasbèyri. chet'-lieu: Ràchèyà. Nabk. lJamas Doumà

II IIamah Horus. 0osé1ï.- lki-Qepouiè Eamah Hamidiyèh. lielimivèh

Chéikh-Sa'ad. Qonéïtra. Basr èl-Harir . Dèra'à Bosra '1.^,,ur,, *-" '": Irbid .

Karak Tafilèh I )l a'ào .\ Salt I

1119 ïilhs, ïiliaSS, êtc.

Fig. 4. Table showing the administrativedivision of the Vilayet of Syria. Taken from Vital Cuinet. Syrie,Liban eÍ Palestine.Géographie sdminis- traÍire, statistique,descrípÍive et raisonnêe,(Paris 1896),p. 304.

am1cidve'l-ekartm a'Èa-i met'lis :ída mecduhumtevkt'-i dnan-i htimavunumdanisbu emr-i cehl til-kaderim rcdar re/ï'i híima.vunvdsl olagak ve i'ta olundusizki vah-i míiSar ve nA'ib vemiiftí vesA'ir

3. ma'lum ola ki $am-i Serrfdahilinde Duma kaiasma 8. muma ila,vhimsiz salif il7-iikr kilisenin bir minvtll-i 'ari tabi' Ma'runa kar-vesindekiRum ehalisindenma'bedleri muharrer tul ve ve irtifa't zira'larmr tecavilzetme- 'arÈan oldugundantulan on sekiz ve on iki ve irtifa'en on mek ve mesariJ-i inSa't-vesidali balada gósterildigi :ira' olmak iizere muceddedenbir bab kílise inSasma vechle tesvtl,solunmak iizere bina ve insostna milma- ruhsat i'tay hakkmda na'at olunmamasrye bu vestleile kimesnenincebren 4. Anrakya Rum patrikliginden vuku' bulan istid'a iize- 9. akqa toplanilmak veyahodahar suretle iz'ac olunmak rine sebk eden ist|lama cerabenmevrud maibata-i mil- mi;illti mugayr rua-i Sahanemhalít vuku'a getirilme- lete nazaran karye-i melkurede efrAd-i cemA'et yirmi mesi husislarma dikkat ve llilafmdan bigavet íehay ve 'ibaret beS ftane de yíiz dórt niifusdan olub kilise-i miicanebete-rle)'esiz tahrtren ./ï'l yevm el-hadt meakurufrmnlk (?) 10. min ;ehr sefèr el-[a-v-vr li-seneymAn ve selas mie 'arsa 5. bir ilzerine etraf-i arba'a dtvarlart kdrgïr ve ve al/' el- KusÍ ant tntl-e el-mahruse sakfi kubbeli olarak in;a ve mesarf-i muhammenesi olan on biíi guruSufr ihdA'-i merkume tarafarmdan TReNsLarroN i'anetentesví):e ye i'fi klmaca{t l. His Excellency the Right Honourable and 6. ve ol babd(t bir gune mahzur olmadryt aíilasilmast [To] 'ari Glorious Minister, Regulator of the World, Director olmaso'la key'fiy-vettaraf-i e;raf-i padisàhaneme ile 'l-istiian of the Affairs of the People, who has managed the lede kilise-i mezkurufr ol vechle insasmamíi- Affairs of the People with penetrating insight, and sa'ade-isentye-i who has, with correct vision of state matters, succes- 7. miilukanem erzan klmarak emr-i hiimayun-i Sàha- fully planned. and sustainedthe Pillars of the Sulta- nem $ereí-sunuhve sudur e.vlemisolmagm ruhsaÍt haví nate11,and whose worthinesshas gained the favours Z. \íATAR & I. HECK. A NINETEENTH-CENTURYOTTOMAN FIRMAN 163

of the Sovereign,he who is one of the Generalsof my 10. The redaction(was completed) on 11Safar 130820 Imperial Army and the Governor (valfi of the Pro- in Constantinoplethe Protected. vince of Damascus;12 'Àsrm 2. [To] My Vizier MustaÍà Pasha13,may God Almighty make his glory last, who possessesand bears Norrs (both) the Osmani Order and the Mecidi Orderla, and 1 The first firman was published in Manusuipt.s of the to the Foremost of the Learned Ulemas; Middle Ea.rt.Volume 2 (1987),pp. 42-44. the Deputy [To] Judge @A'íb) and the Mufri of the 2 SeeU. Heyd,'Farman'. EI2. - - Caza of D[ma15 may their knowledgeincrease 3 J. Deny, "Abd al-Hamrd II', EI2. and to the Glorious and Noble Members of the a See R.H. Davison, Reforms in the Ottoman Empire, Council (meclis)- may their Glory accumulate. New York: 1973.Glossary p. 409. When the ElevatedImperial Order arrives, 5 P. Hitti. Histort'of St,ria.London: 1951.pp. 661-611. ó Davison.op. t'it.,p. 409. 3. let it be known that it concernsthe authorizationto ' V. Cuinet. S,r'rie,Liban et Palestine,Paris: 1896. see rebuild 'Caza a church which is one of the placesof worship the section entitled de Douma'. pp. 431-436, of the Greek-Orthodoxinhabitants. and which is located especiallyp. 431. ln 1927. R. Dussaud wrore in his Topo- in the village of Ma'rDna1ó.belonging to the Caza of graphie Hístorique de la Syrie Antique et Medievale (pub- 'Ma'roune. Dlma in the Bilad al-Sham,and which has a length of lishedin Paris): sur les premierscontreforts de 18 dhira', a width of ll dhira'and a heisht of l0 l'Antiliban.depend encore de Douma' (p. 281). dhira'11. 8 Cuinet.op. c'it..p. 433. e Cuinet.op. t'it.,p. 435. 4. according to the report (mazbata)of the religious 10 This includesfor instanceD. Chevallier. 'Non-Mus- - community which, as the answer to an earlier lim Communities in Arab Cities', in Christiansand Jex's in official request (isti'lam), was considered the basis for the Ottoman Empire, edited by B. Braude and B. Lewis. (another) request(istid'A) made by the Greek-Ortho- Volume II: The Arab SpeakingLands, New York: 1982. dox Patriarchatein Antioch - the said villageconsists pp. 159-165; B. Spuler's various contributions on the of the membersof a community of 25 houses,that is Orthodox Churches in the Internationale Kirchtiche Zeit- 104 individuals.The aforementionedchurch. st'hrift: H. Ínalcrk's The Ottoman Empire. The Classical Age 1300-1600.Translated by N. Itzkowirz and C. Imber, 5. which is a building consistingof 4 brick walls and a London 1973 and S.J. Shaw. f1islort. of the Ottoman domed roof, has to be (rebuilt) on a piece of land Entpireand ,VodernTurke.t.2 r'olumes.Cambridge: 1976, (belonging to the members of the community). The as u'ell as J. Matuz. Dus Osnruni.st'heReit.h. Darmstadt: estimated cost of 10,000ghurushl8 1985among others. is to be settled 11 'Bab', through the donations (ihdA) and endowment (i'anet) SeeJ. Hell. Islam Ansiklopedisi. 12 On Syria as a Turkish of the abovementioned(members of the community). Province. see Hitti. op. cit., pp. 661-617. 13 'Àsrm 6. (As) there are no objections in this matter to the MustaÍ-a Pasha,governor of Syria since 1306i submission to me of a request for permission (to I 888-89, died in office in 1309i1 891-92, cf. Mehmed 'Osmant, rebuild),my Imperial Majesty'spermission is given for $tireyyá: Sícill-i vol. 4, Istanbul 1315i1897-98. p. 487. rebuilding the said church in this way, la In a communication made to Prof. B. Kellner- 7. my illustrious (written) order, which was issuedby Heinkele by the Director of the Institut fiir Wissenschaft- my imperial Divan 1e contains the permission of the liche Ordenskunde.Dr. Kurt G. Klietmann (Berlin). the Imperial Rescript. Order of' the Oítoman Entpire was the highest order in the O ye, the aforementioned Valt, Deputy Judge (.ná'ib), Empire; it was divided into 5 classes.and only in the lst Mufti, and all other (dignitaries)mentioned, class was it decoratedwith precious stones.The Order of Mecid was also divided into 5 classes(letter dated 19 8. (you) must make sure that the aforementioned October,1989). 1s church does not exceedthe given length, width, and Seemap for the location of D[ma and the villase of height. As long as the amount of the building costsis Ma'rlna. 1ó paid in the manner stated (above), you Seenote 7 above. then must 1? make surethat the reconstructiongoes ahead and that This is most probably what is known as al-dhira,al- mi'mariyya it is not hindered. of about 79.8 cm. For further details see W. Hinz, IslamischeMasse und Gewichte,Leiden, 1955,p. 59. On this occasion,you are responsible 18 'a Ghurush, piastre, the one hundredth part of a 9. that no incident, which could run counter to my Turkish pound'. J.W. Redhouse, I Turkish and Engtish Imperial consent, is to take place, Lexicon. Constantinopel: I 890. such as collecting 1e money by force or any other molestation.You should On the Dívan-i Hiimayun or Imperial Council, see inalcrk, op. cit., pp. 89-97 glossary be extremelycautious about such offencesand abstain and p. 219. 20 The date is for Hijra year from them (yourselves). and correspondsto 26 September1890. 164 MANUSCRTPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST6 (I992)

SlI-ecreo BIBLTocRAPHy 8. Hitti : P. Hitt| Hístorv of Syria, London: l95l . 9. IA : Islam Ansiklopedísi. I. Boulos: J. Boulos, Les peuples et les civilísaÍions du 10.inalcrk: H. inalcrk, The Ottoman Empire. The Classic'al Proche-Oríenl, The Hague/Paris:1968. Volume 5. Age 1300-1600.Translated by N. Itzkowitz and C. 2. Cuinet: V. Cuinet, Syrie, Lihan et Palestine.Paris: 1896. Imber, London: 1973. 'Non-Muslim -). Chevallier:D. Chevallier. Communitiesin Il. Matuz: J. Matuz, Das OsmanischeReiclr, Darmstadt: Arab Cities', in Christians and Jev's in the Ottoman I 985. Empire, edited by B. Braude and B. Lewis, New York: t2,Miller: W. Miller. The Ottoman Empire 1801-1913. 1982,Volume 2:The Arab SpeakingLands, pp. 159-165. Cambridge:1913. 4. Davison: R.H. Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 13.MME: Manuscrípts of the Míddle East. New York: 1973. l+. Redhouse: J.W. Redhouse,A Turkish anclEnglish Lexi- Dussaud: R. Dussaud,Topographie historique de la Syrie con. Constantinople: 1890 and Yeni Tilrkge-ingili:ce antiqueet mediét,ale,Paris: 1927. só:liik. l,{ev' Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionar,}', Istan- 6. EI2: The Enr:l,clopaediaof Islam,2nd edition. bul: 1968. 7. Hinz: W. Hinz, IslamischeMasse und Gen,ic'hte,Leiden: l5 Shaw: S.J. Shaw. Hislorv cÍ' the Ottoman Empíre and 1955. Modern Turkev. Cambridge: 1916,2 volumes.