Title: An introduction to religious foundations in the Ottoman Empire
Description: There has hitherto been no overview of the Islamic institution of vakif (pl. evkaf) from its beginnings until the present century - this book is intended to fill that gap. The author sets the scene by considering various views on the origins of vakif and the legal conditions which defined it. He then deals with the question of whether conquered lands may legally be held as private property in Islam, and concludes that they may not. This is of particular relevance since the geographic scope of the study is the area covered by the Ottoman Empire - an entity existing as a result of conquest - and it was under the Ottomans that the institution of vakif was most fully developed. It was in the reign of Suleyman I, during the tenure of the office of seyhulislam by the formidable legist Ebussuud, that the law concerning evkaf was formalised. Following the logic of introducing the miri land system into Rumeli and Anatolia, an action he sought to justify by proposing its similarity to seriat provisions on land tenure, Ebussuud rendered it lawful to exact dues on vakif property. Mehmed IPs earlier attempt to seize such property for the state had demonstrated the political unacceptability of such a bold act - instead, evkaf property, which had come to be regarded as private, was not threatened by Ebussuud, but the taxing of revenues was allowed. The subsequent history of Ottoman evkaf is the story of the struggle between the state and the beneficiaries of the charitable foundations for control over the use of the revenues. -- From http://www.jstor.org/ (July 6; 2012.).
Subjects: Religious institutions, Religious trusts, Waqf, Islam, history, Turkey, religion, Land trusts (Islamic law), Charitable uses, trusts, and foundations (Islamic law), History, Turkey. Evkaf-i Hümayun Nezareti
Places: Turkey