Petitioning the Waqf Cases: Conflict over the Abū Madyan Waqf, Old City of Jerusalem, at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Memiş Ş.

Welt des Islams, vol.62, no.2, pp.220-251, 2021 (AHCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 62 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.1163/15700607-61040013
  • Journal Name: Welt des Islams
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, ATLA Religion Database, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Linguistic Bibliography, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Political Science Complete, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Page Numbers: pp.220-251
  • Keywords: Abū Madyan, Jerusalem, Maghribī, Maghāriba, Ottoman history, petition, Tanzimat, waqf
  • Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This article analyzes twenty-two petitions, held at the Ottoman Imperial Archives (boa) in Istanbul, submitted to the Council of State Registers (Şūrā-yi Devlet) at the beginning of the twentieth century by the mutawallīs (supervisors) of the Abū Madyan waqf, as well as by residents and representatives of the Maghāriba neighborhood in Jerusalem. These petitions concern the alleged mismanagement of the waqf by the mutawallīs, including the embezzlement of funds and violation of the conditions stipulated in the waqf's endowment deed (waqfiyya). Through this analysis, the study aims to show how the waqf's supervisors and the representatives of local political and religious authorities contributed to the confiscation of property, allocated to a waqf, for personal gain or to serve common interests, and, thus to the gradual disintegration of the waqf system in early twentieth-century Jerusalem. It also sheds light on the networks between local citizens (Maghribīs), waqf mutawallīs, local qāīs, and the central Ottoman administration and the sultan. Keywords