Imaret
Encyclopedia
An imaret is one of a few names used to identify the Ottoman soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire
from the 14th into the 19th century. These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex known as a Waqf, which could include hospice
s, mosque
s, caravanserais and colleges. The imarets gave out food that was free of charge to specific types of people and fortunate individuals. Imarets were not invented by the Ottomans but developed under them as highly structured groups of buildings. Nonetheless imarets indicate an appreciation of Muslim religious teachings about charity found in the Qur'an.
is an “Islamic trust” that had important associations to the imaret within the Ottoman Empire
The Waqf helped the Sultan
to provide essential services to citizens. It dealt with the operation and finances of institutions such as the soup kitchens, and hospitals. The author Amy Singer mentions that the first few imarets were built in Iznik
and Bursa in the 1330s. After the first couple of centuries, the number of imarets grew in the cities because the Waqf
complex expanded in size. She states that by the 1530s eighty-three imarets were located in the Ottoman Empire
. In addition, imarets were urban institutions that were located in the capitals of the Ottoman Empire
such as Bursa, Edirne
, and Istanbul
. The capitals were key locations for the Sultan
to invest his time and money in. Places like Anatolia
and the Balkans
were also important locations for imarets because these were the centres of Ottoman rule. These three capitals all had something in common: each had a castle that took central positions, the bazaar
was a few hundred metres from the castle, and Ottoman neighbourhoods grew up around imarets and religious community centres.
has strict regulations on removing food from the imaret, but these regulations were not the same at every imaret in other places. At times there were strangers who came to imarets with buckets to collect food to take home, but these people were not on the approved list or recipients, which meant they could not take food away. Poor people who were scholars, or disabled were an exception to this rule and received food that was taken to them. People who belonged to a low economic status ate with people of the same social class as them. In addition, because there was such a wide distribution of food to various citizens of the Ottoman Empire
, sometimes there would be an inadequate amount of food remaining after the notable people were fed. In this case, at times, poor women and children would go unfed.
, in Iznik
, Anatolia
. Ever since, such imarets became an inseparable part of the urban landscape in most of the Muslim cities of the Ottoman empire.” Although many Imarets sprung up across the empire after the first one in 1336, one of the most famous was that of Hurrem Sultan, a wife of Suleiman I. Established in the late 16th century city of Jerusalem, this imaret distributed around 1,000 loaves of bread daily. The recipients of bread and soup included employees, people living in the caravansary of the imaret, the followers of a local sufi shaykh, and 400 people characterized as “poor and wretched, weak and needy." This imaret ended up becoming one of the largest and best known throughout the empire, serving a wide variety of people, including the ulema
, the poor, pilgrims
and the wealthy and prominent members of Jerusalem.
Another institution was the Fatih complex that was constructed in Istanbul
between 1463 and 1471 by Mehmed I
the Conqueror. The imaret located within this complex served a diverse group of people including dignitaries, travelers, scholars, and students from the Fatih colleges. “ The hospital staff members and the workers of the mosques and tombs were also fed in this complex. Once these people were fed, the food left over was given to the poor. Similar to other imarets, the Fatih imaret served rice soup in the morning and wheat soup in the evening. Travellers who stayed overnight at the hotel within the complex received honey and bread to help revitalize them after a long journey. The Fatih complex has provided meals for over 160 high ranking guests. They received meals such as dane and sometimes zerde as well. These dishes were given to the other members of the imaret only once a week. Those who were noble in rank were treated to dishes that included pumpkin jam, cinnamon and cloves. They also ate considerable portions of meat and rice.
s and members of the imperial household were icons of charitable donations as well as imperial power. Each institution was named after the founder; these places could not maintain the connection between those who provided charity and those who received it, as established in private homes. The imarets and the imperial household created connections to the Ottoman dynasty as a whole and the legitimacy of the empire. The public kitchen illustrated how the Ottoman Empire was able to provide benefits for different sectors of people within the empire.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
from the 14th into the 19th century. These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex known as a Waqf, which could include hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
s, mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s, caravanserais and colleges. The imarets gave out food that was free of charge to specific types of people and fortunate individuals. Imarets were not invented by the Ottomans but developed under them as highly structured groups of buildings. Nonetheless imarets indicate an appreciation of Muslim religious teachings about charity found in the Qur'an.
History
A WaqfWaqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
is an “Islamic trust” that had important associations to the imaret within the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
The Waqf helped the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
to provide essential services to citizens. It dealt with the operation and finances of institutions such as the soup kitchens, and hospitals. The author Amy Singer mentions that the first few imarets were built in Iznik
Iznik
İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...
and Bursa in the 1330s. After the first couple of centuries, the number of imarets grew in the cities because the Waqf
Waqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
complex expanded in size. She states that by the 1530s eighty-three imarets were located in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. In addition, imarets were urban institutions that were located in the capitals of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
such as Bursa, Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
, and Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. The capitals were key locations for the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
to invest his time and money in. Places like Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
were also important locations for imarets because these were the centres of Ottoman rule. These three capitals all had something in common: each had a castle that took central positions, the bazaar
Bazaar
A bazaar , Cypriot Greek: pantopoula) is a permanent merchandising area, marketplace, or street of shops where goods and services are exchanged or sold. The term is sometimes also used to refer to the "network of merchants, bankers and craftsmen" who work that area...
was a few hundred metres from the castle, and Ottoman neighbourhoods grew up around imarets and religious community centres.
Imarets as charity
Imarets served many different types of people and came to be seen as “charitable and beneficent work”. They were philanthropic institutions because they were established as part of voluntary beneficence, which was considered charity in Muslim law. In addition, distribution of food was seen as charitable work in and of its self. Imarets belong to a particular category of voluntary charity, known as sadaqa. Sadaqa as voluntary charity could take many forms, including a prayer or a blessing for the sick and disabled, or a selfless act, all contributed towards good deeds in Ottoman society.The social hierarchy within the Imaret, and recipients of food
The importance of food in the imaret has strong implications of generosity because it demonstrates the distribution of food by wealthy people to meet the needs of neighbours, fellow families, and servants. The different types of people fed in the imarets were divided along the lines of class and profession, but there were those who came to imarets as regular recipients and travellers on the move. Nonetheless, imarets were strictly run establishments that carefully evaluated and observed the movement of people and the benefits they received from eating there. Although food was distributed to different types of people, strict regulations defined who ate, what they ate, how many portions they ate, and in what order, this was the case in an imaret located in Jerusalem. For example, employees of the imaret would receive one ladle of soup and two loaves of bread. Guests would receive one ladle of soup and one loaf of bread. The poor would receive the least amount of food with only one half ladle of soup and one loaf of bread per meal. The more distinguished and prominent members would receive larger portions of food and a variety of different meals to choose from. They could also take their food home and eat it at their own tables. The Süleymaniye complex in IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
has strict regulations on removing food from the imaret, but these regulations were not the same at every imaret in other places. At times there were strangers who came to imarets with buckets to collect food to take home, but these people were not on the approved list or recipients, which meant they could not take food away. Poor people who were scholars, or disabled were an exception to this rule and received food that was taken to them. People who belonged to a low economic status ate with people of the same social class as them. In addition, because there was such a wide distribution of food to various citizens of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, sometimes there would be an inadequate amount of food remaining after the notable people were fed. In this case, at times, poor women and children would go unfed.
Recipes
A special menu was concocted for holidays and other special days on the Ottoman calendar. These special meals were based on ceremonial staples that were enjoyed across the empire. On occasional events everyone was entitled to dishes such as “dane (mutton and rice) and zerde (rice colored and flavored with saffron and sweetened with honey or sugar).” On regular days the food served in imarets changed seasonally. The morning meal consisted of rice soup that contained butter; chickpeas; onions; salt. The evening meal consisted of a crushed wheat soup that was made with butter.Examples of Ottoman Public Kitchens
The first institution of this kind is said to have been founded in 1336, by Sultan Orhan IOrhan I
Orhan I or Orhan Bey was the second bey of the nascent Ottoman Empire from 1326 to 1359...
, in Iznik
Iznik
İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...
, Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. Ever since, such imarets became an inseparable part of the urban landscape in most of the Muslim cities of the Ottoman empire.” Although many Imarets sprung up across the empire after the first one in 1336, one of the most famous was that of Hurrem Sultan, a wife of Suleiman I. Established in the late 16th century city of Jerusalem, this imaret distributed around 1,000 loaves of bread daily. The recipients of bread and soup included employees, people living in the caravansary of the imaret, the followers of a local sufi shaykh, and 400 people characterized as “poor and wretched, weak and needy." This imaret ended up becoming one of the largest and best known throughout the empire, serving a wide variety of people, including the ulema
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
, the poor, pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
and the wealthy and prominent members of Jerusalem.
Another institution was the Fatih complex that was constructed in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
between 1463 and 1471 by Mehmed I
Mehmed I
Mehmed I Çelebi was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. He was one of the sons of Bayezid I and Valide Sultan Devlet Hatun Mehmed I Çelebi (Ottoman: چلبی محمد, Mehmed I or Mehmed Çelebi) (1382, Bursa – May 26, 1421, Edirne, Ottoman Empire) was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
the Conqueror. The imaret located within this complex served a diverse group of people including dignitaries, travelers, scholars, and students from the Fatih colleges. “ The hospital staff members and the workers of the mosques and tombs were also fed in this complex. Once these people were fed, the food left over was given to the poor. Similar to other imarets, the Fatih imaret served rice soup in the morning and wheat soup in the evening. Travellers who stayed overnight at the hotel within the complex received honey and bread to help revitalize them after a long journey. The Fatih complex has provided meals for over 160 high ranking guests. They received meals such as dane and sometimes zerde as well. These dishes were given to the other members of the imaret only once a week. Those who were noble in rank were treated to dishes that included pumpkin jam, cinnamon and cloves. They also ate considerable portions of meat and rice.
Imarets and the Imperial family of the Ottoman Empire
Imarets established by SultanSultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
s and members of the imperial household were icons of charitable donations as well as imperial power. Each institution was named after the founder; these places could not maintain the connection between those who provided charity and those who received it, as established in private homes. The imarets and the imperial household created connections to the Ottoman dynasty as a whole and the legitimacy of the empire. The public kitchen illustrated how the Ottoman Empire was able to provide benefits for different sectors of people within the empire.
See also
- WaqfWaqfA waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
, charitable and religious endowment in islam - ZakatZakatZakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
, a welfare contribution to the poor and deprived people of Muslim lands - So Others Might EatSo Others Might EatSo Others Might Eat is a non-profit organization which seeks to help deal with poverty in Washington, D.C.. SOME provides food, clothing, and health-care services to the poor and homeless...
, an organization seeking to deal with poverty in Washington D.C. - MasbiaMasbiaMasbia is a network of kosher soup kitchens in New York City. Its four locations in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Boro Park, Williamsburg, and Midwood, and Rego Park, Queens, serve over 500 free, hot kosher meals nightly. Masbia is the only free soup kitchen serving kosher meals in New York City...
, an organization in New York devoted to feeding the hungry in a dignified manner
Further reading
- Barkhan, Lutfi. McCarthy, Justin. “ The Price Revolution of the Sixteenth Century: A Turning Point in the Economic History of the near East.” International Journal of Middles East Studies, Vol 6, No.1 (1975): 3-28.
- Barnes, Robert. 1986. An Introduction to Religious Foundations in the Ottoman Empire. Leiden: Brill.
- Griswold, William J. 1984. “A Sixteenth Century Ottoman Pious Foundation.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 27, 2: 175-198.
- Jennings. Ronald C. 1990. “Pious Foundations in the Society and Economy of Ottoman Trabzon, 1565-1640.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 33, 3: 271-336.
- Singer, Amy. 2002. Constructing ottoman beneficence: An imperial soup kitchen in Jerusalem. Albany: State University of New York Press.
- Shaham, Ron. “ Christian and Jewish “Waqf” in Palestine during the Late Ottoman Period.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol 54, No. 3 (1991): 460-472.