Waqf of the town of Tešanj

With special emphasize on money based waqf

Abstract

The town of Tešanj belongs to the type of town which was developed in Oriental-Islamic style with recognizable elements of urban structure and sacral architecture thanks to the endowments (waqfs). Despite very turbulent period through which town has passed, it has preserved many feature of those times.

This work is an attempt to redefine already existing claims in lit- erature about some well known endowers (waqfs) in town of Tešanj. Based on newly discovered primary sources it is possible to prove a new time of establishment of these waqfs and also closely look at their functioning during centuries of the Ottoman reign. It has been proven that certain number of waqf was not yet recorded in literature. Special attention is given to the money based waqf, their role in up keeping of functioning of some endowments. Analysis of money amounts shows that they had very wide social importance in town. First of all is, cash money from the endowment (waqf) in town of Tešanj was very respectable, it was given under same conditions to men and women, Muslims and non Muslims.

In this work we have tried to follow functioning of some waqfs, its services, changes which appeared during their functioning. Our intention was to pay attention to a new waqf as well, regardless whether they were sacral, educational or other objects or money-based waqf.