Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
retinues to feed (in Umar Paa's case,
220 persons) but also because they were
expected “to keep the house open” to
visitors.
In the houses of the élite and well-to-
do, the
maba
and the
furūn
(oven) were
to be found often as separate construc-
tions in the courtyard.
čirā
(candlelighter),
kāse-kes
(waiter),
ferrā
(sweeper) and
mezbele-ke
(carrier
of garbage). At smaller
imārets
or
zāwiye
s,
there were to be found only a
ay
, cooks,
bakers and a store-keeper. At the derwish
zāwiye
s, the main services were assumed
by the
babas
and others by dervishes, in a
hierarchical order. According to the ūfī
interpretation, each service represented
a station in the training of a disciple. In
the Bektāī order, the
ekmeki-baba
and
ā-baba
came second and third after
the
pust-niīn
in the hierarchy, which cor-
responded to the
ekmek-evi
and
ā-evi
in
the
tekke
. The administrators comprised
a
mutawallī
(trustee and administrator), a
nāir
(supervising trustee), a
kātib
(secre-
tary) and
ābī
s (collectors of revenues).
All this gives an idea of how an
imāret
or
zāwiye
was organised and functioned.
The word
imāret
is sometimes used syn-
onymously with
ānaāh
or
zāwiye
; but in
all categories, the running of a
maba
and cooking and distributing food for
the needy constituted the most important
function.
Imāret
s founded by the sultans in large
cities were the most developed form of
public soup kitchen. The
imāret
of Fāti,
part of the charitable complex established
by Meemmed II, had an annual income
of about 20,000 gold ducats. This income
was derived from 57
waf
villages and
the
izya
tax of the non-Muslims (8,677
taxpayers) of Istanbul. At least, 1,117 per-
sons received food from this
imāret.
The
figure included 957 students, employees
and servants of the
imāret
and 160 travel-
lers. For better service, a
tawzī-nāma
, or
regulation for distribution was drawn in
952/1545. The food, when left over, was
further distributed among the poor in the
neighbourhood, with widows and orphans
getting priority. Those benefiting from an
imāret
are listed, in order, as the
fuarā
(destitute) coming first, and then
masākīn
c.
The
Imāret
and
Zāwiye
The
imāret
s functioned as an extensive
network of social aid in Ottoman soci-
ety, particularly in the cities. Numerous
imāret
s provided food for thousands of
people who did not have an independent
source of income. Charity, materialised
through the institution of
imāret
, was
accepted as an integral part of the Islamic
waf
system, but considered extensively,
the imāret system might also be related
to pre-Islamic Turkish traditions.
Through this system, the immense
wealth, which was accumulated in the
hands of the ruling élite, was redistributed
among the unprivileged and dependent
people. Built within a religious complex,
an
imāret
compound usually included a
maba
, a
aām-āne
or
dār al-iyāfa
(eat-
ing hall ),
uras
(rooms for visitors), an
anbār
or
kilār
(larder), a
furūn
(oven), an
isabl
(stable) and a
maab
or
odunlu
(store
for firewood). The entire
imāret
compound
was put under a
ay-i imāret,
while each
section came under the responsibility of
an employee specialising in that service.
The
Maba
personnel of a large
imāret
included first a
wakīl-ar
(steward),
kilārī
(larder attendant),
anbārī
(keeper of the
storeroom for bulky provisions),
naībs
(distributors and supervisors),
abbās
(cooks), a head cook, and
abbāz
s (bakers);
in the second category came a
gandum-kūb
(wheat-pounder), a
kāse-ūy
(bowl-washer),
ammāls
(porters) and
bostānī
s (gardeners).
There were also
ap
s (gate-keepers),
teberdār
s (halberdiers),
āūrī
(stable boy),
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