The Imaret in the Ottoman Caliphate, a model of compassionate society.

What is a Wakf? The first wakf model recorded in Medina Al-Munawara was the one created by Abu Talha and known from the following hadith: “Anas related: Abu Talha had more properties in palm groves than any other Ansar of Medina. His favorite property was Bayruha which was situated next to the Mosque. The Messenger of Allah, s.a.w.s., used to enter and drink from its sweet water. Anas related: When the verse descended, “You will not attain righteousness until you give of that which you love.” (3-92) Abu Talha went to the Messenger of Allah, s.a.w.s. and said to him: Messenger of Allah, Allah, may He be praised, says: “You will not get righteousness until you give of what you love”, the property that I love most is Bayruha, I give it as sadaqa by Allah, from Whose Goodness I hope and trust that Allah will take it into account for me. Messenger of Allah, dispose of it as you deem best” The Messenger of Allah said: “Excellent, that is a good property. I have heard what you have told me and I think you should give it to your relatives” Abu Talha said, “So I will do so Messenger of Allah!” And Abu Talha distributed it among his relatives and cousins.” In other words, it was given from sadaqa to his relatives. The Arabic word “wakf” literally means “to set aside” or “prohibition.” The founding of a wakf involves the voluntary donation of agricultural or urban property, or of specified wealth, for a definite social purpose. In legal terms, it implies the non-negotiability of a property, whose value and profitability is directed to the benefit of a social cause, and set aside from the rights of heirs. In the Islamic tradition, basically two types of awkafs have been established:

1. Those created for the benefit of an individual or a family, which may be one’s own.
2. Those that have been founded to cover social needs in general.

And it usually has two basic elements:

1. The charity itself.
2. Properties that generate income on an ongoing basis to support the charity.

When making the donation, the mutawik – the donor – formalizes in writing and before witnesses a document in which he defines:

• The social mission you wish to fulfill with your contribution.
• Who are the potential beneficiaries.
• The terms of the Institution’s operation that it considers should be made explicit

After which, the property becomes wakf forever and neither the donor nor his family can claim it or have any rights over it.
The donor can reserve, if he so wishes, the performance of some of the functions of the Institution, but after his death, the Cadi will be responsible for ensuring that the terms of the Founding Document continue to be fulfilled and for choosing those who will perform the necessary functions, always in accordance with the terms established by the mutawik.
The Foundational Document sometimes went so far as to define in great detail all aspects of its functioning.
For example, in the case that the Institution was to establish a free canteen for the poor, it would determine not only who the primary beneficiaries were – it could refer to orphans, women, travelers… – but also the ingredients of the food. -but also the ingredients of the food, its quality and quantity, as well as the minimum number of daily rations, or the schedule of meals.
We can also see in founding documents, very strict rules for the qualifications that the wakf workers had to possess.
For example, in the case of a hospital, the experience required of its doctors, the good character of the employees….
In an Ottoman document we read: “The directors of the wakf must be honest, kind, dutiful, docile, restrained, modest, gentle, balanced and not nervous. He must be of good character and avoid harming the hearts of others…” “The doctors must have qualifications in medicine, experience in dissection, be respectable, have experience in the manufacture of medicines and in their application, have a good level of practical and theoretical knowledge, be ready to visit immediately whoever required it, should take into account the psychological state of the patients and treat them well by showing compassion and tenderness”.
The Foundational document established certain rights for the beneficiaries and in the event that they believe they have been defrauded of them, they can go to the Cadi to make their claim.
The greatest development of this type of institutions took place within the framework of the Ottoman Caliphate, although it was present throughout the Islamic world and in fact the Ottomans inherited it from their ancestors, the Seljudiks, we can study them and use them as a point of reference to clarify their functions, their scope and their social repercussion.
The type of wakf that became more relevant in their domains was the one they called Imaret.
The Imaret had as axis a Mosque, around which different services were settled.
Let us use as a reference the first Imaret founded in the city of Istanbul.
It was established by its conqueror, Sultan Mehmed II, and some of its original facilities can still be visited.
“It had a large Mosque with 8 Madrasahs, a hamam, a school for children, a library, a hospital, a dining hall and two guest houses for travelers, each with a capacity for 160 travelers. Six hundred students attended classes in the Madrasahs”. “The construction began, as was customary in this type of facility, by committing water, the construction of public fountains and the hammam to facilitate the work of the workers. The end of the construction were always the gardens and the cemetery. In parallel, the economic support of the Imaret was built in the Galata district, which consisted of: 4250 stores, 3 large office buildings, 4 Turkish baths, 7 villas, a covered market including 9 gardens and 1130 houses”.
The rents and other profits accrued from these properties were what made it possible to operate the Imaret permanently and free of charge for its users.
Since the aim of the founder of a wakf is to please Allah, the social services that were first covered were those of greatest urgency.
Schools, hospices, free canteens, inns for travelers, orphanages….
Then followed in importance the public works also undertaken by the same system of awkafs, bridges, roads, even small cities were built.
Famous were the caravanserais that covered the routes of the travelers.
They provided the traveler, regardless of his social status, color or religion, with lodging for three days for himself and his animals.
He was entitled to food, Turkish bath, washing of clothes, repair of footwear or, failing that, new footwear, stores for his merchandise, medical care including medicines or treatments that were necessary, extending his stay in the caravanserai in case he was sick until recovery, his animals also received the necessary care, including veterinary care.
There are records of awkafs that covered the expenses of the damages that a servant could cause by accident, some that took care of putting honey and sweets in the outskirts of some cities to avoid the profusion of wasps and mosquitoes inside it; also to avoid that the wolves approached the populations others were in charge of putting meat in the outskirts, in the places of access.
Huge open cages in the woods fed and protected the birds’ offspring.
There came to be such social coverage through the awkafs that someone could be born in one of them, fed during his life in others – in Istanbul in the 15th century 30,000 people ate in these institutions – he could study, be cured, and be buried in one of them.
They were also a source of employment.
In the fourteen Imarets built by the architect Sinan by order of various wakfis, once completed, 2,529 people worked in their maintenance.
The wakfs dedicated to research, art, maintenance of various army corps, zawiyyas for the teaching of Sufi masters also had a great boom and covered the entire vast expanse of the Ottoman territory, there are still remains of them in Bosnia, Albania, Romania…
As we see, most of the social services that today are -or pretend to be- covered by the State, were covered by private initiative.
Part of the wealth was redistributed in an organic and voluntary way within the framework of a society governed by Islamic principles and laws.
Its ethical values and social objectives were based on the fear of Allah and trust in His reward. It is not a utopia, it is centuries of history of all areas of the planet in which Islam has been ruling without pretending to “modernize” by copying the model of a society whose god is very clear by now that it is the Golden Calf.
In the modern state, the redistribution of wealth through taxes creates a gigantic structure to “impose” on citizens to “contribute” their wealth to social works.
I do not intend to make a critical analysis of the State, but it is evident that through this system questions arise such as:

• In order to collect the money, an immense parasitic machinery is set up, including tax police services and prisons for those who do not wish to make the “civic contribution”.
• Redistribution is totally separated from the “taxpayer”, who never has any knowledge of where his money goes directly, nor any contact with the purpose for which it was spent.
• The large budgetary allocations dedicated to armaments, atomic power plants, genetic engineering, military campaigns, espionage…. could hardly be carried out if the “taxpayers” could have a minimum incidence on the destiny of the wealth that they were “imposed” to contribute.
• The state machinery not only spends the income from “taxes”, it also has the authority to put us all in debt, creating situations like those of a large part of the so-called Third World, which is plundered of its wealth to pay not only the debt, but also the interest on the interest of unpayable debts.

The modern State is a tax collection machine and a guarantor of the country’s debt, that is, the debt of all citizens, vis-à-vis the banks.
Jadiya Martinez