An Imperial Soup Kitchen Provides Food for Thought

Amy Singer. Constructing Ottoman Beneficence: An Imperial Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002. xv + 240 pp. ISBN 978-0-7914-5351-3. Reviewed by Gottfried Hagen Published on H-Turk (May, 2003) An Imperial Soup Kitchen Provides Food for to Mamluk times, known as the House of Sitt Tun‐ Thought shuq. It was repaired and enlarged, and an impe‐ In the still growing stream of research on Ot‐ rial food kitchen ('imaret) was established there toman social history, pious foundations stand out which continues to serve food to needy people of as a relatively well researched phenomenon, Jerusalem to this day. which has received attention from several of the As it turns out, this particular waqf is extraor‐ greatest scholars in the feld. Attempts of stocktak‐ dinarily well documented. Preserved are the ing in waqf studies towards the end of the last building itself (albeit not without alterations), the century have turned up numerous promising tra‐ foundation deed (waqfiye) in several versions in jectories of research.[1] Yet, Amy Singer's study of Turkish and Arabic, and the title deeds (temlik‐ the Hasseki waqf in Jerusalem is novel in several names) for the property which the founder then aspects. It will be a major landmark in this feld, turned over to the foundation. In addition, the and in the social history of the Ottoman Empire at functioning of the waqfin the next few decades large. Its clear and concise style will help to make can be traced through reports sent by the admin‐ it a standard assignment for undergraduate and istrators to the central authorities in Istanbul, and graduate courses. account books of the endowment. Thus building The Hasseki waqf was established by Hurrem activities, day-to-day procedures, and the expan‐ Sultan (d. 1558), the powerful concubine and then sion of the economic basis can be traced in illumi‐ wife of Suleyman the Lawgiver, in order to pro‐ nating detail. Finally, fhe perspective of the out‐ vide food for the poor and needy in Jerusalem, at sider is provided by a number of travel reports. that time a remote provincial town which mostly Extraordinary documentary wealth is not the lived off its importance as a pilgrimage site. For only asset of Singer's book. It is structured along the waqf's location, Hurrem Sultan chose a (desti‐ two main axes of investigation. On the one hand, tute?) house in downtown Jerusalem, dating back she demonstrates the process of founding and H-Net Reviews running a waqf; on the other hand, she seeks to fered from other concepts in history, and thus explain the notion of beneficence, and the social also poses a question about how the waqf actually practice based on it in the Ottoman Empire. served the purpose for which it was designated in Singer claims that the institution of waqf can only the foundation document. be understood properly if one moves away from Singer's fndings about the practice of waqf- normative texts and bases the study on actual making are particularly important for a larger un‐ practices. Her study of waqf should help to under‐ derstanding of Ottoman legal and administrative stand how "philanthropy is used to achieve vari‐ thought, as she demonstrates the deep gap be‐ ous aims," how beneficence works as interaction tween the normative construct of waqf as found between the donor and the needy, "need being de‐ in the legal tradition of Islam, and the practice in fined by the donor" (pp. 5f.). The concentration on the Ottoman Empire. In the Ottoman context, only one instance enables the author to trace all "waqf was one form of property, of capital invest‐ those ties, and to reconsider the prevailing histo‐ ment, of patronage, of beneficence," and Singer riographical myths about waqf (p. 7). The di‐ insists that these aspects have to be considered to‐ achronic scope is limited to the mid-sixteenth cen‐ gether. She shows that, against all legal norms, Ot‐ tury, to the process of founding and frmly estab‐ toman waqf goods were traded and exchanged lishing the waqf, with very few glimpses past frequently. She could have added that waqfs were 1600. Chapters on general and theoretical issues occasionally transferred from one beneficiary to frame the empirical part on the Hasseki waqf the other (for example, from one sheykh to anoth‐ proper. er), just like timars were transferred from one The frst chapter presents a survey of the de‐ sipahi to another.[2] Singer rejects the age-old velopment of waqf in Islam in order to situate the criticism, which depicts family waqfs as an abuse Hasseki 'imaret in the "historical stream of waqf- of the system, arguing that family waqf and benef‐ making" (p. 37). Chapter 2 analyses the waqfiyes icent waqf (ehli or dhurri versus hayri) should not in order to understand the founder's intentions in be construed as two mutually exclusive cate‐ imperial and local politics and society (p. 9), and gories, as has often been done by legalist writers, the whole process of setting up the waqf. Chapter starting from Qo=i Beg. Instead, most waqf com‐ 3 discusses the aspect of gender in the business of bine both family and charitable aspects in one beneficence, setting the founder of the Hasseki way or another.[3] 'imaret in the context of Ottoman social struc‐ Imperial waqf-making is a special form of pi‐ tures, in particular the imperial household. Singer ous foundations, since the family aspect is exclud‐ ponders possible connections to earlier examples ed by definition. Singer emphasizes the function of beneficent women in Islam, and speculates of waqf as part of an imperial project, and even about the potential continuity between women claims that the competition in waqf-making was benefactresses in the location of the Hasseki part of the dynastic succession. Though the con‐ 'imaret. In chapter 4, she narrows the focus down cept of waqf is setting up a permanent institution, to Jerusalem, studying the day-by-day and year- Singer shows that the very act of founding itself by-year management of the waqf. Chapter 5 was a long-term process, and the endowment re‐ broadens the perspective again, putting the mained more fexible than previously thought. preparation and distribution of food into a com‐ The time from the transfer of the frst landhold‐ parative perspective across the empire. The fnal ings to Hurrem Sultan to the second of the two chapter on "practicing beneficence" investigates foundation deeds spans seven years, and the how the Jerusalem waqf was part of a specifically soup-kitchen was active even before the official Ottoman concept of beneficence, and how this dif‐ 2 H-Net Reviews foundation deed was issued. Modifications of the of sultanic power, an administrator was able to endowed property continued, as new sources forge particular ties to the villages allotted to the were added, or more suitable sources were ex‐ waqf, so that peasants felt a direct loyalty to it. changed for more remote ones. This linkage is an important example of how insti‐ This book does not fully spell out the conse‐ tutional bonds were conceptualized through per‐ quences of some of its fndings. The kinds of rev‐ sonal connections in pre-modern Ottoman society. enue sources--that is, taxes and tithes from land The reports by and about these administrators do that had been miri land, the supervision of all im‐ not easily add up to a coherent picture, as collec‐ perial waqfs by the dar= s-sa'ade agasi, and the tors boasted of their own successes in collecting appointment of military personnel to collect rev‐ revenue, and accused their predecessors (who in enues--demonstrate the overlap of "state" func‐ turn had claimed to have done outstanding ser‐ tions with the endowment. Singer argues that vice) of neglect. Distinctions between a truthful beneficent works of the sultan "were not only report, opportunism, and rhetorical topoi of loyal‐ those of individuals, but also the work of their of‐ ty towards the central supervisor at the Porte are fices" (p. 166). The ease with which state land and almost impossible to distinguish (see pp. 100, 116, state sources of income are assigned to a waqf and passim). Such contradictions call for height‐ which is set up in the name of an individual mem‐ ened care in the use of seemingly objective ber of the dynasty calls into question the notion of archival sources. a state as an institution distinct from the persons Due to the detailed documentation, Singer who embody it. can give the reader a colorful picture of the day- This link becomes clear also in the discussion to-day problems encountered in running a waqf. of the business of the administrators, as Singer These range from obtaining supplies for the traces the career and performance of the fve ad‐ kitchen, including expensive frewood, to the wa‐ ministrators of the endowment in the years ter supply for the public bath which was sup‐ 1550-58. Each administrator had his independent posed to yield income for the 'imaret, to collection income from a ze'amet, which, at least in one of revenues from peasants and bedouins. Despite case, was carved out of the waqf properties. He the precise specifications in the waqfiye, adminis‐ had to take care of collecting revenues, expanding trators often had to act on their own, which gave the sources of income, overseeing new construc‐ greater importance to their local and personal tions, ordering repairs, and allocating resources. ties. One of these administrators was a local notable, Starting from the logistic problems of the who invested some of his personal funds in the 'imaret, Singer turns to the broader issue of provi‐ Hasseki 'imaret.

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