{"id":6803,"date":"2025-12-06T10:45:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T10:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=6803"},"modified":"2025-12-06T10:45:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T10:45:34","slug":"from-zubaydas-canal-to-hurrems-soup-kitchen-the-enduring-waqf-legacy-of-muslim-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=6803","title":{"rendered":"From Zubayda\u2019s Canal to Hurrem\u2019s Soup Kitchen: The Enduring Waqf Legacy of Muslim Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new historical spotlight underscores how Muslim women have long shaped public welfare through <strong>waqf<\/strong>\u2014perpetual charitable endowments regarded in Islamic tradition as <em>sadaqah jariyah<\/em> (ongoing charity). From the Prophet\u2019s era to the Ottoman court, women endowed land, waterworks, schools, hospitals and shelters, leaving infrastructures that served communities for centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tradition begins at the source. Among the Mothers of the Believers, <strong>Aisha (ra)<\/strong> endowed land for two displaced families; <strong>Umm Habiba (ra)<\/strong> set aside assets for freed persons; <strong>Safiyyah (ra)<\/strong> endowed for the Banu Abdan; and <strong>Umm Salama (ra)<\/strong> also created charitable endowments. Companion <strong>Asma bint Abu Bakr (ra)<\/strong> made her home inalienable charity\u2014neither to be sold, gifted nor inherited\u2014setting an early precedent for women\u2019s independent philanthropy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across the Islamic world, female patrons translated piety into public goods. In Morocco, <strong>Fatima al-Fihri<\/strong>\u2019s endowment founded the Qarawiyyin, often cited among the world\u2019s oldest universities. In Egypt, <strong>Princess Fatma Ismail<\/strong>\u2019s gifts of land, funds and jewelry were pivotal to establishing what became Cairo University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods, women\u2019s waqf activity flourished. Abbasid queen <strong>Zubayda bint Ja\u2018far<\/strong> financed the famed <strong>Nahr Zubayda<\/strong>, a roughly 40-mile hydraulic project channeling water to Mecca, Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat, and built wells and caravanserais on the Baghdad\u2013Mecca route for pilgrims. In Aleppo, Ayyubid princess <strong>Dayfa Khatun<\/strong> founded <strong>Madrasa al-Firdaws<\/strong> in 1235, endowing it generously; the institution still functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ottoman <strong>Hurrem Sultan<\/strong> (Roxelana) endowed the <strong>Haseki Sultan Complex<\/strong> in Istanbul (mosque, schools, a women\u2019s hospital) and established the <strong>Haseki Sultan Imaret<\/strong> in Jerusalem in 1552, which fed hundreds of vulnerable people daily; she supported a similar kitchen in Mecca and attached facilities like a madrasa, mosque, stables and a wayfarers\u2019 lodge. Ayyubid princess <strong>Rabi\u2018a Khatun bint Ayyub<\/strong> endowed <strong>Madrasa al-Sahibah<\/strong> on Damascus\u2019s Mount Qasioun and funded parallel institutions for <strong>Hanafi, Shafi\u2018i and Hanbali<\/strong> juristic schools\u2014an early model of intra-Sunni pluralism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mamluk-era <strong>Tizkar Khatun<\/strong>, daughter of Sultan Baybars, committed her wealth to a <em>ribat<\/em> (women\u2019s shelter) for destitute, widowed or abandoned women and endowed it to ensure sustainability after her death. In Khorasan, <strong>Asma bint Mustafa<\/strong> endowed orchards\u2014<strong>Bustan al-Shukr<\/strong> and <strong>Bustan Umm Inab<\/strong>\u2014and farmland, stipulating that a portion of annual yields support Baghdad\u2019s poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chroniclers noted the scale of this culture of giving. The traveler <strong>Ibn Jubayr<\/strong> famously observed that in Damascus \u201cwaqf seems to encompass nearly everything,\u201d reflecting how endowments\u2014often initiated or expanded by women\u2014underwrote education, health, water and social protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Historians say the record challenges modern assumptions about women\u2019s roles in Islamic societies. It also offers a tested blueprint for today: community-run endowments with clear deeds, dedicated revenue streams and concrete social mandates. As public sectors strain and philanthropy searches for lasting models, these women\u2019s waqf legacies remain a living reminder that durable social welfare can be both faith-rooted and institutionally robust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new historical spotlight underscores how Muslim women have long shaped public welfare through waqf\u2014perpetual charitable endowments regarded in Islamic tradition as sadaqah jariyah (ongoing charity). From the Prophet\u2019s era to the Ottoman court, women endowed land, waterworks, schools, hospitals and shelters, leaving infrastructures that served communities for centuries. The tradition begins at the source. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6807,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions\/6807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}