Osmanlı Kıbrıs'ında Gayrimüslim ve Kilise Vakıfları

Having emerged out of the notions of doing good and gaining good deeds, the institution of waqf, which is as old
as the history of humanity, gained a legal basis with Islam and became a perpetual institution. The institution of
waqf which is concerned with undertaking socio-cultural and religious services, or similar acts, were common
not only among Muslims but also among people belonging to other religions. For example, it is known that Indian
kings donated villages to Brahmans who were clergymen. While the Brahmans did not own the property of these
villages, they received the income of the lands cultivated by the peasants, and thus had revenues. The waqf
institutions established by both Muslim and non-Muslim subjects in Dar al-Islam operated under the Shari’ah
law. It is known that many institutions of waqf were established in the context of the same Shari’ah provisions
in Cyprus, where the Ottoman Empire ruled for three hundred and seven years. Although there have been many
studies on the institutions of waqf in Ottoman Cyprus, only one of them deals with non-Muslim foundations. That
study goes into only seven private foundations, while not mentioning pre and post-conquest institutions of waqf
belonging to churches. This present study aims to contribute to this gap in the literature. It is based on the
analysis of the Cyprus Shar'iyyah records in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as the main source of the
study, in addition to the documents from the Ottoman archive and the Archives of the Directorate General of
Foundations. First, by explaining the concepts of non-Muslim and dhimmī, it will address the individuals in this
category in Cyprus and their legal rights, and will focus on the rights of non-Muslims to establish foundations
according to the Islamic law. It will examine in detail eleven private foundations, one of which was abolished, in
addition to twenty-one church and monastery foundations belonging to different congregations.