vakuf

Religious charity foundation which was meant to ensure the maintenance of djamis, mosques, dervish monasteries, sepulchral chapels, schools, libraries, soup kitchens and other religious and social institutions, and to cover the payments of their workers. Originally, the vakuf-lands and vakuf-incomes were private properties which were ordered to serve the purpose of the running and maintenance of the grantee institution by the benefactor in a deed of foundation. This kept the vakuf-incomes intact, and even the treasury was not permitted to touch it. They could not be sold or inherited. The most well-known benefactors were the sultans and their families, the more famous pashas and beys who in this way made sure of the survival of religious institutions they built. Under the Turkish occupation, the operation of several djamis, dervish monasteries, medrese-schools and soup kitchens were also perpetuated by this type of foundation-income in Hungary

ÁG