awqāf in persia- 6th-8th:12th-14th centuries

Awqāf in Persia: 6th-8th/12th-14th CenturiesAuthor(s): Ann LambtonSource: Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 4, No. 3, Islamic Law and Society (1997), pp. 298-318Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3399363 .

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AWQAF IN PERSIA: 6TH-8TH / 12TH-14TH CENTURIES

ANN LAMBTON

(Kirknewton)

Abstract

In this essay I have examined information on awqdf in the 6th-8th/12th-14th centuries contained in various historical texts, including the local histories of Yazd, Fars and Kirman, especially the anonymous Tdrlkh-i shdhi-i Qara Khita'iyan, the waqfiyya of Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah (dated 709/1309-10), the Jami' al-khayrat of Sayyid Rukn al-Din Yazdi and his son Sayyid Shams al-Din (dated 748/1347-8) and a number of collections containing documents on awqdf, notably the 'Atabat al-kataba of Mu'ayyad al-Dawla Muntajab al-Din al-Juwayni and the anonymous al-Mukhtdrdt min al-rasd'il. I have sought to show the purposes for which awqdf were consitituted, the motives of those who constituted them and their spread in the 6th-8th/12th-14th centuries.

A STUDY OF AWQAF AND THEIR HISTORY in Persia from the 6th/12th century to the end of Ilkhanate is limited by the somewhat patchy nature of the sources. The legal norms are set out in the law-books of the Sunni and Shi'i schools of law, of which the Hanafi and Shafi'i were the dominant schools under the Saljuqs and the Ilkhins. However, practice, affected by political, economic and social conditions at different periods and in different localities, tended to diverge from theory. By the 6th/12th century the legal theory that conquered territories became waqffor the Muslims, though still set out in the law-books, had

long since ceased to have any effect. With the rise of new dynasties, conquered territories, whether they had belonged to Muslims or infidels, fell to the conquerors and their military auxiliaries. Existing awqdf may or may not have continued in operation and many new awqdf were constituted. There does not appear to have been any limitation in practice on the type of land which could be made into a waqf. Legally it had to be land which was in the ownership of the founder.1

A number of waqfiyyas relating to the period have been published, among them the Rashidiyya waqfiyya, dated 709/1309-10.2 which lists

1 The Ustandarid Shams al-Mulfk Muhammad, who succeeded in 712/1312- 1313, is said by Awliyi Allah Amuli to have made villages and iqta'dt into waqf (Tdrikh-i Raydn, ed. Manfchihr Sutudeh [Tehran, AHS 1348/1969], 169).Whether he resumed iqtc'at or simply made land which could be assigned as iqtda't into wagf is not clear from the text.

Waqf-ndma-i Rab'-i rashrdi, ed. Mujtaba Minovi and Iraj Afshar (Tehran,

Islamic Law and Society 4,3 ? E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1997



AWQAF IN PERSIA: 6TH-8TH/12TH-14TH CENTURIES

the properties made into waqf by Rashid al-Din Fadl Allih, who was wazir first to Ghazan Khin (694-703/1295-1304) and secondly to Oljeitii (703-716/1304-1316), and the Jdmi'-i khayrdt of Sayyid Rukn al-Din Muhammad b. Qawim al-Din b. Nizam (d.732/1331-2) and his son Shams al-Din Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad (d. 733/1332-3), dated 748/1347-1348, which refers mainly to Yazd.3 Both are composite documents in that they list several awqdf and the purposes for which they were constituted. The Waqf-ndma-i sih dih-i Kdshdn4 also belongs to the period under review. The waqfiyya of the Shaykh al-Islam Ghiyith al-Din Muhammad Kajaji, dated Rabi' I 782/12805 falls outside the period.

Documents relating to awqdf are to be found in various collections, notably the 'Atabat al-kataba, compiled by Mu'ayyid al-Dawla

Muntajab al-Din Badi' Atabeg al-Juwayni, which contains documents belonging to the reign of Sanjar (511-552/1117-1157),6 the anonymous al-Mukhtdrdt min al-rasd'il, which contains documents of the 5th/l ith, 6th/12th and 7th/13th centuries,7 al-Tawassul ila 'l-tarassul, compiled by Baha' al-Din Muhammad b. Mu'ayyad al-Baghdadi, containing documents of the late Saljuq and Khwarazmshihi periods,8 and the Dastur al-kdtib fi ta'ytn al-marCtib by Muhammad b. Hindushah Nakhjivini, which is dedicated to the Jala'irid Shaykh Uways b. Shaykh Hasan-i Buzurg (757-777/1356-1375).9 Strictly speaking, the last named falls outside the period under review, but it is probable that it reflects late Ilkhanid as well as Jala'irid practice. Some of the documents in these collections are model documents and reflect ideal rather than actual practice.

There are frequent references to awqaf in historical, biographical and

literary works. Local histories are of special interest. But all provinces do not have local histories and so the spread of awqaf over the whole

country may not be fully recorded. For the period under review the various histories of Yazd, Fars and Kirman contain many details about

awqdf.10

AHS 1356/1977-1978). 3 Ed. Muhammad Taqi Danishpazhuh and Iraj Afshar, FIZ, vol. 9 (AHS 1345/ 1966-1967). A revised edition has been published by Afshar in Yddgdrhu-yi Yazd, ii (Tehran, AHS 1354/1975-6), 391-557. References below are to the FZ edition.

4 FIZ, vol. 4, pp. 122-38. 5 Waqfiyya kajajl, reprint from FIZ, vol. 21 (1354/1976), 1-38. 6 Ed. Muhammad Qazwini and 'Abbas Iqbal (Tehran, AHS 1329/1950). 7 Ed. Iraj Afshar (Tehran, AHS 1355/1976-1977). 8 Ed. Ahmad Bahmanyar (Tehran, AHS 1315/1935). 9 Ed. A.A. Alizade, vol. i, pt. 1 and 2, and vol. ii (Moscow, 1964-1976). 10 See especially Ahmad b. Husayn b. 'All al-Katib, Tarikh-i jadld-i Yazd, ed.

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Although the ultimate purpose of a waqf had to be charitable the objects to which, and the beneficiaries to whom, the proceeds might be given, were many and various. The founders of awqdf were both rich and poor, powerful and weak. Those for which we have records are mainly awqaf made by the rich and powerful for the benefit of madrasas, mosques, hospitals and other public buildings, often constructed by themselves-the age was one of great buildings. Many awqdf were founded by local rulers, their ministers and others in the 6th-8th/12th- 14th centuries in Yazd, Firs and Kirman. A notable feature is the number made by women.11 In Firs and Luristan'2 there seems to have been a proliferation of awqdf constituted for ribdts along the roads in the 7th/l lth and 8th/14th centuries. Perhaps this was the result of a spread of nomadism in these provinces and the need for security on the roads.

Wassaf states that the Sonqur ribat, built by Sunqur b. Mawdid (d. 558/1162-3) was still in good condition (ma'mur) when he was writing,13 and that the Ribat-i Shukr Allfh on the Nayriz road, built by Sa'd b. Zangi (d. 623/1226), who had constituted villages, hamlets, orchards, fields and a hammdm into waqffor it, was still in operation.14 Ibn 7arkflb (d. 789/1387-8) records that the revenue of the waqfwas to be shared between wayfarers, caravans and tribes (jamd'at-i ahshdm) passing through the neighbourhood and that in his day the ribdt was in good condition and wayfarers benefited from it.15 Abf Bakr b. Sa'd

Iraj Afshar (Tehran, AHS 1345/1966), Ja'far b. Muhammad b. Hasan Ja'fari, Tarlkh-i Yazd, ed. Iraj Afshar (Tehran, AHS 1338/1960), and Muhammad Mufid, Jmni'-i mufidl, vols. i and iii, ed. Iraj Afshir (Tehran, AHS 1340-1342/1961-1963) for Yazd; Ibn Balkhi, Fdrs-ndma, ed. G. Le Strange and R.A. Nicholson, (London, 1921), Ibn Zarkub, Shirdz-ndma, ed. Isma'il Wa'iz Jawadi (Tehran, AHS 1350/ 1971-1972), Shihab al-Din 'Abd Allah Sharaf Shirazi, commonly known as Wassif, Tajziyat al-amsar wa tazjiyat al-a'sdr, also known as the Tdrikh-i Wassdf, ed. M.M. Isfahani, lith. (Bombay, 1269/1852-1853), and Hajji Mirza Hasan Fasa'i, Fdrsnama-i ndisirl, lith. (Tehran, 1313/1895) for Fars; and Afdal al-Din Abu Hamid Ahmad b. HAmid Kirmani, 'Iqd al-'uld, ed. 'All Muhammad 'Amiri Na'ini (Tehran, AHS 1311/1932-1933), Muhammad b. Ibrahim, Tdrlkh-i Salju- qiydn-i Kirman (Histoire des Seljoucides du Kerman par Muhammad (b.) Ibrahim. Receuil de textes relatifs d I'histoire des Seljoucides), ed. M.Th. Houtsma (Leiden, 1886), Nasir al-Din Munshi, Simt al-'uld, ed. 'Abbas Iqbal (Tehran, AHS 1328/ 1949-1950), Tdrikh-i shdhi-i Qara Khita'iydn, ed. Muhammad Ibrahim Bastani Parizi (Tehran, AHS 1355/1976-1977), and Mazdrdt-i Kirman, ed. Sayyid Muham- mad Hishimi Kirmani and Husayn Kihi Kirmani (Kirman, n.d.) for Kirman.

11 Ann Lambton, Continuity and change in medieval Persia, the Persian Heritage Foundation (New York, 1988) 149ff.

12 Mu'in al-Din Natanzi, Muntakhab al-tawdrikh, ed. J. Aubin (Tehran, 1336/1957), 49.

13 Tdrlkh-i Wassdf, 149. 14 Ibid., 155. 15 Shirdz-nama, 77.

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established ribdts in Bayda, Abarquh and on the roads from Shiriz to Band-i Amir, the coast and Baghdad. For each of these he made fine estates into awqdf. They were separate from the public diwan and came under the Salghuri diwan.16

The beneficiaries in the case of charitable awqdf were mainly mem- bers of the religious classes or the poor. Many waqfiyyas stipulated in detail the sums and wages to be paid to those who served in one way or another in the charitable foundations for which awqdfwere founded. For the most part these sums were fairly modest and paid in cash or kind or both. The mutawalli of a rich waqf, on the other hand, received considerable sums by way of remuneration.

Sometimes the waqfiyya laid down that the first charge on the revenue should be the upkeep of the property. The Rashidiyya waqfiyya states that the mutawalli should be one who cares for agricultural development ('imdrat-dast). Citing the familiar tag, "no wealth without

agricultural development ('imdrat)," Rashid al-Din Fadl Allih stresses the need to look after the waqfi property because unless effort was exerted in development of the property its revenue would decrease. There was to be no fore-selling of agricultural produce or borrowing. Grain was to be stored to meet allowances in kind when they fell due and as a precaution against famine. Surplus revenue was to be spent on the purchase of estates to be made into waqf.'7

Sayyid Rukn al-Din and Sayyid Shams al-Din both insist in their

waqfiyyas that the first charge on the mutawalll was to spend, according to need, whatever he collected from the revenue of the awqdf first on the development of the waqfi properties (raqabdt) and secondly on the

upkeep of the buildings in the precincts of the charitable foundations for which the awqdf had been constituted.18 Rukn al-Din was also concerned that there should be capital investment in the awqdf. He made it a condition that any surplus remaining after the revenue of the Rukniy- ya mosque had been spent on its proper purposes should be handed over by the mutawalll to Sa'd al-Din Muhammad Shah b. Muhammad

16 Ibid., 85. 17 Waqf-ndma-i Rab'-i rashidl, 123-24. 18 Jdmi' al-khayrdt, 89. For a discussion of the lives and importance of Sayyid

Rukn al-Din and Sayyid Shams al-Din see J. Aubin, "Le patronage culturel en Iran sous les Ilkhans: une grande famille de Yazd," Le monde iranien et l'lslam, vol. 3 (1965), 107-18. The former was involved at one point in factional quarrels in Yazd and imprisoned. After his liberation he went on the pilgrimage. The latter was married to one of the daughters of Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah. He held office in Tabriz under the wazir Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, Rashid al-Din's son, and died there. (See Iraj Afshar, "Rashid al-Din wa Yazd," Iranshindsi, II/1, 29-30.

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Na'ini, who was to buy with it landed property (milk) in the environs (hawma) of Yazd and its neighbourhood for a just price and make it into waqf for the Rukniyya madrasa. After his death this charge was to pass to his son Sadr al-Din Muhammad and to the mutawalll after him.19 Similarly, Shams al-Din laid down that if the mindl (i.e. what remained after land taxes and dues had been deducted from the revenue of the awqaf) increased, it was to be spent on development.20 Further he stipulated that surplus revenue from one foundation should be spent on the needs of others.21

One of the advantages of constituting land into waqf was that it prevented fragmentation of land and water rights. Shams al-Din may well have had this in mind when he stipulated that none of the many pieces of property made into waqf for his sons was to be delimited but to be held jointly.22

For the most part awqdf were probably leased. There seems, however, to have been a general prejudice against long leases. A document in al-Tawassul ila 'I-tarassul for the appointment of Muhammad b. Khalaf al-Makki as qddl al-mamnlik enjoins him not to conclude long leases for the awqdf of which he was in charge.23 Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah lays down in the Rashidiyya waqfiyya that leases made for property belonging to the foundation should not be for more than three years.24 Sayyid Rukn al-Din Muhammad made a similar condition in the waqf which he constituted for his brother 'Ali25 as did Sayyid Shams al-Din in the waqf which he made for his sons.26 Shams al-Din also laid down that no crop-sharing agreement for a date plantation or orchard (musdqdt) should be for more than one year,27 and that a crop- sharing agreement was on no account to be made with a man of dominant influence (min al-mutaghallibin) or with persons of power, such as the governor of a town, the qddl or the naqib al-sddat.28 These pre- cautions did not, in fact, save the Rukniyya awqdf from despoilation. Muhammad Mufid, writing towards the end of the lth/17th century, states that Rukn al-Din's awqdf had been converted by various people

19 Jami' al-khayrat, 97. 20 Ibid., 260. 21 Ibid., 262. 22 Ibid., 262f., 269. 23 72. 24 122; see also 124. 25 Jdmi' al-khayrat, 118. 26 Ibid., 269. 27 Ibid., 174. 28 Ibid., 174, 260.

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into private property.29 It is perhaps noteworthy that memory of them survived some 350 years after they had been constituted. In the waqfiyya of Shaykh Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad al-Kajaji it is similarly stipulated that leases should be concluded for one year only.0

Private awqdf are seldom mentioned in the documents relating to the

Saljuq period. This may be because records have not survived or, and this is perhaps more likely, because legal theory, strictly speaking, did not distinguish between the public waqf, the waqf-i 'dmm or waqf-i khayr, and the private waqf, the waqf-i khdss or waqf-i ahll. It is also

possible that private awqdf were less common because the need to

protect property from usurpation was not so strongly felt as was the case in the Ilkhanate, when much property was constituted into waqfin the hope of preserving its use for the founder's heirs, a hope which often proved illusory. When Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah and his son

Khwaja Ibrahim were executed in 718/1318, the Rab'-i Rashidi, the

quarter which he had made in Tabriz, was sacked and the revenue of the awqdf which he had constituted for it was withheld from expenditure on its proper purposes and his estates taken for the diwan.31 Nevertheless it appears that Rashid al-Din's son Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad retained, or subsequently acquired, considerable wealth. It is perhaps significant that a distinction had apparently come to be made between public and private awqdf by the end of the Ilkhanate or

perhaps rather earlier.

Although usurpation of awqdf was common, wholesale resumption of awqdf by the state, as distinct from awqdf belonging to disgraced ministers or others, does not appear to have taken place. However, Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, who took Shiraz in 754/1353-4 from the

Inju'id Abf Ishaq (after the fall of the Ilkhanate), is alleged to have resumed awqdf for the diwan and as a result to have acquired a bad name for himself.32 His son Muhammad is also alleged to have converted many awqf into dlwdnl land.33

It would appear that waqfi property in the period under review consisted in general of landed estates. There are occasional references to real estate in towns being made into waqf 34 but for the most part it

29 Jdmi'-i mufidi, iii, 476. 30 8. 31 Hafiz Abri, Dhayl-i J.mi'-i tawdrikh-i rashldi, ed. Khan Baba Bayani

(Tehran, AHS 1350/1971) 129. 32 Mu'in al-Din Natanzi, Muntakhab al-tawdrrkh, 182. 33 Ibid., 185. 34 Cf. Mafarrfkhi's statement that Nizam al-Mulk made landed estates and

real estate (mustaghilldt) into waqf for the madrasa he built in Isfahan (Mahdsin

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would seem that it was revenue from landed property which had been constituted into awqdf that went to the upkeep of madrasas, mosques, and urban foundations. Rashid al-Din and Ghazan Khan's quarters in Tabriz seem to have been funded in this way. Urban awqdf, which became an important economic feature in later centuries,35 may have begun to proliferate towards the end of the Ilkhanate.

In the 6th/12th century the economy was land based (though busi- ness in goods and money was important), whereas in the 7th/13th and 8th/14th centuries trade and money-lending transactions were probably major sources of wealth.36 However, part of the wealth so gained was probably invested in land. But this is speculation. It was not only immoveable property and its usufruct which could be made into waqf, other forms of usufruct could also be used.

It is difficult to estimate the extent of waqfl land at any one time in the period under consideration, or how much land constituted into waqf continued as such over the years. It would appear that there was a proliferation of awqaf in the late 7th/13th and early 8th/14th centuries. Injunctions to prevent the usurpation of awqdf occur frequently in the documents and it seems probable that many awqdf disappeared over the centuries. This is likely to have been the case at the time of the Mongol invasions when much land was laid waste. Waqfi land in the path of the Mongol armies is unlikely to have escaped ruin. However, with the establishment of the Ilkhanate awqdf appear in theory at least to have been immune from despoilation, though prior to the conversion of the Ilkhans to Islam it is unlikely that their revenue was expended in all cases strictly in accordance with the terms laid down by the founders.37 Juwayni alleges that awqdf and charitable foundations were not subject to dues and contributions38 and Wassaf states that Baydu reaffirmed a yasa which exempted awqdf from taxation.39

Nasir al-Din Tusi, in an essay on finance composed for his patron (this was either Hiilegii as stated in the Tdrikh-i Shchl-i Qara Khita'i- ydn,40 or Abaqa), indicates that one type of property upon which the

Isfahdn, ed. Sayyid Jalal al-Din al-Husayni al-Tihrani [Tehran, n.d.], 105). See also below, the awqdf of Sayyid Rukn al-Din Muhammad and Sayyid Shams al- Din Muhammad.

35 Cf. R.D. McCheshney, "Waqf and public policy: The Waqfs of Shah 'Abbas: 1011-1023/1602-1619," Asian and African Studies (Haifa), 15, (1981), 165-90.

36 Lambton, Continuity and change in Medieval Persia, 334-5. 37 B. Spuler, Die Mongolen in Iran, 4th ed. (Berlin 1985), 199, 247. 38 Tdrikh-i jahdn-gushd, ed. Muhammad Qazwini (Leiden and London, 1912-

1937), i, 11. 39 Tdrikh-i Wassaf, 284. 40 39.

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ruler did not encroach was that constituted into awqaf for charitable purposes for it would be inauspicious to do so. "The proceeds of a waqf," he states, "should be devoted to the purposes laid down by the founder (wdqif) and if these purposes ceased or were reduced in magnitude so that it was no longer possible to use the proceeds in that way, they were to be expended on the poor and indigent or on other matters of general welfare, such as bridges and ribits, or the cure of the sick and other such purposes. [Former rulers] used not to allow anyone to take illegal possession of the proceeds of awqCf so that they might accumulate reward in the next world".41 This is standard theory, but how far Nasir al-Din's advice was carried out is a matter for conjecture.

Al-'Umari, quoting information given him by Nizam al-Din Abu'l- Fada'il Yah.ya al-Tayyari, who had been a secretary to Abfi Sa'id the last Ilkhan, and had gone to Cairo on the latter's death, states that all the awqdf in the Ilkhanate were in operation: "no one interfered with them either in the reign of Hiilegii or his successors. Every waqfwas in the hands of its mutawalll and whoever had authority over it. Whatever might be said with regard to any damage (naqs) to the affairs of awqdf [in Persia], such damage was entirely due to abuses committed by those in charge of the awqdf and not to anyone else".42 This would seem to be a rather roseate picture. Hamd Allah Mustawfi states that in Shiraz there were over 500 charitable foundations and that they had innumerable awqdf, but, he continues, "[the revenues] of few of these reach their proper purpose: for the most part the awqtf are in the hands of those who devour them".43 He also alleges that the Pishkil Darra district of Qazwin, which was waqf for the Friday mosque of Qazwin, had been usurped by the Mongols.44 Wassaf affirms that most of the awqdf of the empire and the buildings which they served were in a state of ruin and their revenues misappropriated. However he states that Kiirdiijin, the daughter of Tash Mongke and Abish Khatin, to whom Abi Sa'id (716-36/1316-1335), the last of the Ilkhans, had given the

41 Majmu'a-i rasd'il-i Khwdja Naslr al-Din TusT, ed. Mudarris Ridawi, Publications of the University of Tehran, no. 308 (1957), 34. The text was first published by V. Minorsky and M. Minovi with a translation in BSOAS, X/3 (1940), pp. 755-89.

42 Das monogolische Weltreich: al-'Umarl's Darstellung der monogolischen Reiche im seinem Werk Masdlik al-absdr fi mamdlik al-am.sdr with translation and commentary by Klaus Lech (Wiesbaden, 1968), Arabic text, 92.

43 Nuzhat al-qulub, ed. and tr. G. Le Strange (London and Leiden, 1915-1919), 2 vols., Persian text, 116.

44 Ibid., 67.

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taxes of Fars on a permanent contract (bar sabil-i muqdta'a-i abadi) three years after his accession, paid particular attention to the buildings of her forebears, increased their awqaf and devoted their revenues to their proper purposes.45 There is little doubt that in times of disorder illegal demands were frequently made upon officials in charge of awqaf which they would often be too weak to resist.46

One of the motives underlying the constitution of awqaf was the desire to preserve family fortunes. At the time of the Ilkhanate there appears to have been an increase in private fortunes, especially among high-ranking government officials, notably the Juwayni brothers, Shams al-Din Muhammad and 'Ata Malik,47 and Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah. Some private individuals also were very rich, as for example Sayyid Rukn al-Din Muhammad b. Qawam al-Din of Yazd. The founder of a waqf, by the terms of the waqfiyya could designate his children as the beneficiaries of the waqf, and by designating himself and his descendants after him as mutawalli he could retain in addition for his own use a proportion-usually 10%-of the revenue. Rashid al-Din stipulated in his waqfiyya that he should exercise the office of mutawalli during his lifetime and thereafter his sons and their descendants, generation after generation. The revenue of the waqfwas to be divided equally between his children and the charitable purposes laid down in the waqfiyya. The former were to benefit both from awqaf which had already been constituted and new awqdf. Should the family line become extinct, the half share belonging to his descendants was to go to the Rab'-i Rashidi and should the charitable foundations in that quarter be destroyed beyond repair, the revenue was to go to other such foundations in Tabriz and the neighbourhood and failing that to the tulldb, the poor, or such charitable foundations as the mutawalli saw fit.48

Rukn al-Din also made it a condition that he should hold the office

45 Tdrlkh-i Wass4f, 624-25. 46 A typical situation is, perhaps, that depicted in a document addressed to the

governors (hukkdm wa mutasarrifan) of Marand, contained in the Dastur al-kdtib, whether it was based on an actual occurrence or not. It states that complaints had been received that powerful persons (mutaghallibin) made illegal and improper demands on the mutawallls of the awqaf and took sheep and provisions, wine, hens and other foodstuffs (hawd'ij) from them. The mutawallis, being weak, were unable to resist the demands made upon them. Accordingly a certain Pahlawan Mahmud was sent to investigate and if the claims of the mutawallis were confirmed, whatever had been taken from them illegally by powerful persons was to be returned and Pahlawan Mahmid was to take for himself from them 1,000 dindrs as a warning to all tyrants (ii, 286-87).

47 See Juwayni, Tdrlkh-i Jahin-gushi, i, Intro., xxxiff. 48 Waqf-nama-i rashidl, 118ff.

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of mutawalll of the awqdf which he had constituted and that it should pass after him to his son Shams al-Din and his male heirs, and failing such, four persons, an 'Alawi Sayyid related to the founder, a righteous man from the town of Yazd, one of the 'ulama' and an expert (wdhid min arbdb al-kifdya wa'l-kiydsa wa 'l-khibra), were to appoint a mutawalli to act as their deputy. If none of them or their children survived, the office of mutawalll was to go to the hakim al-shari'a in the town of Yazd. He also stipulated that his son Husayn and his sons after him should hold the office of mushrif and be responsible for preparing the accounts of the awqdf, twice a year. The mushrif was allowed to take annually 4,500 mans of grain from the produce of the awqaf, one-third for himself and two-thirds for the mutawall.49 Shams al-Din stipulated that the office of mutawalll of the awqdf which he had constituted should pass down through his sons and failing them through his daughter Arslan Nasab Khatun and her son Amir Husayn, failing whom it was to go to the mutawalll of the Rukniyya madrasa. The office of mushrif was to be held by his sister's son, Diya' al-Din al- Husayn al-Radi al-Yazdi.50

Closely allied to the desire to preserve family fortunes was, perhaps, also the desire to prevent government interference in the way in which private fortunes were spent. By constituting property into waqfboth the capital and the way in which the revenue was spent were in theory placed outside the control of the government. Freedom to use the capital was thereby also limited, but so too was the freedom of the government to interfere in its use.

Small landowners and peasant proprietors who constituted their property into awqcf sometimes did so to obtain protection. For example, by making their property into waqf for the shrine of a sufi order they thereby placed themselves under the protection of the shaykh of the order. "Political" motives for the constitution of awqdf, especially in the case of rulers and their ministers, also, no doubt, played a part. Those who established charitable foundations and constituted awqdf for them might expect to gain public respect, which in turn brought followers and influence. Further, in return for contributions to the upkeep and subsistence of 'ulama' through charitable foundations, rulers might expect their help and support in time of need. Such support was vital for them because of the respect in which the 'ulama' were held by the common people. At the same time, the 'ulamd', for their part, had a vested

49 Jimi' al-khayrit, 99, 121. 50 Ibid., 138.

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interest in the continued existence of awqdf and were therefore, to some extent, united in solidarity with the ruling and land-owning classes, since it was mainly they who were able to constitute rich awqdf.

Though motives of personal gain and political influence were strong, the motive of piety was of importance, perhaps even paramount importance. The creation of awqaf and the intention of seeking qurba stemmed from the Muslim theory of society: obedience to God and acts of charity and worship were believed to be the keys which would un- lock the gates of eternal happiness. The introduction to the Rashidiyya waqfiyya mentions the reward accruing in the next world to those who founded awqdf,51 as do various other waqfiyya. Though it might be argued that such are standard formula with little meaning, yet the motive of piety should not be under-estimated. Awqaf constituted for graveyards, for example, can hardly have been made for reasons other than piety.52

Although, as stated above, awqdf were in theory placed outside the control of the government, a certain ambiguity prevailed because governments had a general interest in the proper administration of awqaf and a fiscal interest in their tax liability, for waqfi land was liable to taxation like other land. Under the Great Saljuqs and their succession states there was a diwan-i awqdf-i manmlik under a qadd al- qu.dt, who was in charge of the general administration of awqf in the empire. In a document in the 'Atabat al-kataba for the appointment of a certain Majd al-Din as q(adi 'laskar, he is given the general supervision of the awqdf of the empire and instructed to prevent their misappyopria- tion by those who would devour them.53

In most provinces there was a dlwan-i awqdf, under a qdad al-qudit or a qddl, who was in charge of the awqdf in the province. The relation between the diwdn-i awqdf-i mamrlik and the provincial dlwcns is not entirely clear: there was probably some overlapping of jurisdiction. In theory (though not necessarily in practice) the provincial qd.ds were ap pointed by the qadl al-qudat of the empire.54 However, there is at least one instance recorded in which the qa.dr al-qu.dat-i mamdlik was to be prevented from interfering in the administration of provincial awqdf.55

51 Waqf-ndma-i Rab'i rashldE, 5. 52 Cf. Ahmad b. Husayn, Tdrikh-i Yazd, 179ff. 53 'Atabat al-kataba, 58-59. 54 See the undated diploma for the appointment of Muhammad b. Khalaf al-

Makki as qadi al-quc.dt of the empire by the Khwarazmshah Tekish (al-Tawassul ila 'I-tarassul, 71, 74). 55 See the document appointing the qddl al-qu.dt Abu Sa'd Muhammad b. Isma'il qad. of Nawqan and the villages of Tfs ('Atabat al-kataba, 33).

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Rukn al-Din, in a waqf which he made for his manumitted slaves, stipulates that the qcdls and hukkam should in no way interfere in the

waqf, except in the case of one of the founder's children being a qddi.56 Similarly, in the waqfiyyas for the khdnaqdhs of Kashan and Na'in, he forbids the hukkam to demand the accounts for, or payment of, 'ushur and certain other dues from these awqaf.57 Shams al-Din also made it a condition for the awqdf he constituted in Yazd that the qddis and

governors (wuldt) of the city of Yazd and its neighbourhood should not interfere in any way in these awqdf, except where a qddl was appointed over a waqf by the terms of the waqf-ntma. The qddls and hukkam in

general and the hukkam al-waqf in particular and whoever was con- cered with the affairs of charitable awqdf (miman kdna lahu tasarruf aw madkhalfi'l-awqdf al-'amma) were not to demand the accounts or a statement of the income and expenditure of the awqf.58

If a mutawalll had not been appointed by the founder of a waqf, or if for some reason or other he was not in office, the q.dd would appoint officials over the waqf. The freedom of the mutawalll was limited by the terms of the waqf as laid down by the founder, by the concept of masla- ha, the well-being of the waqf, and by the fact that in certain circum- stances he could be removed by the qddi and replaced. In the event of disorder in the affairs of the awqif of a given district, it was not uncommon for the government to appoint a mutawall to supervise the

awqCf of the district, as distinct from the mutawallls of the individual

awqdf, and apart from the general supervision exercised by the dlwdn-i

awqdf.59 Disputes among the beneficiaries of a waqf, or between them and

others, concening the revenue of the waqf, if not settled by conciliation, were probably usually referred to the 'ulamd' for settlement according to the shar'a.60

56 Jami' al-khayrat, 142. 57 Ibid., 151. 58 Ibid., 236-37. 59 Cf. the document for the appointment of 'Aziz al-Din Athir al-Islam over the

awqdf of Gurgan, which were alleged to be in a state of disorder. He was instructed to revive them and prevent their being misappropriated. Local officials, muqta's and shihnas were not to interfere in the affairs of the dlwdn-i awqaf ('Atabat al- kataba, 53-5). See also an undated document in al-Mukhtdrdt min al-rasdil, which probably belongs to the late 6th/12th century, for the appointment of Muntajab al- Din Diya' al-Islam as mutawalli of the awqdf of Isfahan and its districts, though perhaps mutawalll here should be taken to mean "an official in charge of awqdf' rather than a mutawalli in the technical sense. He was to rectify irregularities in their administration. The mutawallis of the individual awqdf were to be subject to him (278-79). 60 Cf. al-Mukhtdrdt min al-rasd'il, 292.

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From the early years of the Ilkhanate there appears to have been a department of awqdf. When Hiilegii charged Nasir al-Din .Tusi with the establishment of an observatory at Maragha, the building of which was begun in 657/1259, he also appointed him over the awqdf of the empire. Nasir al-Din continued to hold this office under Abaqa, and finally died when on an inspection tour of awqf in 'Iraq. He appointed in each

locality an official responsible for the administration of the awqaf, allowing him to keep one tenth of the waqfi revenue for his salary; the diwan share was to be sent to Maragha for the observatory.61 Tegiider Ahmad, who succeeded Abaqa in 680/1282, appointed Kamal al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman al-Rafi'i shaykh al-islam and mutawalli of the awqaf of the empire "from the River Oxus to the boundaries of Egypt" and ordered that the proceeds of all awqtafwere to be expended according to the conditions laid down by the founders with the cognizance of Kamal al-Din and the great imams and 'ulamr'. The proceeds of the awqcf for the Haramayn were to be collected annually and sent to Baghdad at the time of the pilgrimage.62 Under Ghazan Khan, who succeeded to the throne in 694/1295 and who was converted to Islam in the same year, there was probably an attempt to tighten control over the administration of awqaf and their revenues.63

The practice of the 7th/13th and 8th/14th centuries is illustrated by the activities of Qutlugh Terken Khatun, Sayyid Rukn al-Din and Sayyid Shams al-Din, Ghazan Khan and Rashid al-Din in constituting awqdf, some details of which have already been mentioned. Those constituted by Qutlugh Terken Khatun, as recorded in the Tdrlkh-i ShdhP-i Qara Khita'iydn, have a number of interesting features.64 After the death of her husband, Qutb al-Din Muhammad, the Qara-Khitay ruler, in 655/1257, she obtained a yarligh from Htilegu authorising her to act on behalf of their sons, Hajjaj Sultan and Soyurghatmish, both of whom were minors at the time, and ruled the province of Kirman until her death in 681/1282. Piety would see to have been her primary motive in the constitution of awqdf, but it may be that she needed the public support that such actions gave. It is alleged that on her husband's death she claimed as her dowry (saddq) 10,000 dlndrs and obtained in exchange for this sum certain pieces of land (hi.sas wa ashqdsl chand)

61 See further Hassan Mahmud 'Abdel-Latif, "Nasir al-Din Tusi (d. 1274) and his Tajrid al-i'tiqad," unpublished PH. D. Thesis (London University, 1977), 70ff.

62 Wassaf, 110. 63 See further Lambton, Continuity and change, 152ff. 64 The author alleges that records of the awqdf of Kirmin had been kept in the

provincial diwdns (93).

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at the current price and constituted these into awqdf for the madrasa and tomb complex which she built in Bardsir.65

The fact that many of Terken Khatun's awqdf consisted of small shares in villages suggests that her awqdf were constituted out of her private property rather than from dlwani property. She had a private diwan (diwdn-i khdss), which was separate from the public or state diwan. In 672/1273-4 she appointed Majd al-Mulk over it and entrusted to him her estates (amldk wa asbdb), cash and valuables (nuqfd wa khazina), flocks and herds (galla wa rama), and the appointment and dismissal of her agents (wukald' wa 'ummdl) and their iqtd's and wages (kamiyyat-i iqtd'dt wa marsaumt-i ishdn). At the same time Fakhr al-Mulk Mahmfud was appointed over the dlwdn-i mamdlik.66 By this time Terken Khatuin had acquired many valuables and estates.67 Her sons, Sultan Hajjaj and Soyurghatmish, also appear to have made awqdf out of their private and inherited property. Nasir al- Din Munshi states that the former made awqdf for the madrasa built by Terken Khatin, and for ribdts, mosques, hospitals, bridges, khdnaqdhs, and charitable foundations which he had made in Bardsir and other parts of the kingdom out of estates he had purchased in the principal villages. These awqdf still existed thirty-five years later.68 Nasir al-Din Munshi also records that Soyurghatmish built a fine madrasa and hospital outside the New Gate of Bardsir and constituted awqdf for it out of his inherited estates and other property which he had acquired.69

Over the years Terken Khatin constituted many awqdf. In 659/ 1260-1 she completed the construction of a hospital and in Muharram of that year made two villages in Zarand with all their rights and appurtenances (ba jumla-i huquq wa mardfiq wa tawdbi' wa lawdhiq), and nine date plantations in the Khabis region, with all their rights and apurtenances, into waqf for it. In Ramadan of the same year she added one share of another village in the Bardsir district to its awqdf.70 She also built a ribat at Fahraj in the Baghin district on the road to Fars and made Fahraj with all its rights and appurtenances, together with 14.40 of the 40 shares of Ridan and 1.5 shares of the 30 shares of Raqabad-i Rudan into waqf for it.71 Similarly she made shares from a number of

65 Ibid., 100. 66 Ibid., 232. 67 Ibid., 138. 68 Simt al-'uld, 39-40. 69 Ibid., 58. 70 Ibid., 177-78. 71 Ibid., 179.

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villages into waqf for the ribdt of Khidrabad in Kuhbinat, adding them to other awqdf which had already been made in its favour, and 5 of the 141 shares of Rawar and 10 of the 140 shares of Raq&abad-i Rawar into waqffor the ribdt of Kuhanab.72

In 663/1264-5 she made 50 of the 52 shares of two villages into waqf for the Friday mosque outside Bardsir73 and five-sixths of another village into waqf for the ribdt situated outside the Khabis Gate of the city.74 In 674/1275-6 she added the FIuzzi garden and a kariz, with all their appurtenances, to the awqdf for the mausoleum of the madrasa complex of Bardsir and laid down the way in which the revenue was to be spent on the upkeep and personnel of the mausoleum after the deduction of the peasant's share, seed and whatever was customary (huquq wa insaba wa tukhm wa ancha ma'hud wa marsum ast); and appointed herself mutawall.75 Apparently about this time she bought, by a legal sale, a water-mill in Bahramjird. She had the mill, which was situated on a kariz, repaired and made it with all its parts (dlat wa adawdt), whether of wood, iron or stone, and appurtenances into waqf for the shrine in the village of Ardashir in Juwayn. In this case she laid down that the office of mutawalli was to be held by her children.76

Some ten years later, in 673/1274-5 Terken Khatin made the village of Shahrabad-i 'Ismati, with all its rights and appurtenances, into a waqf for Shaykh Sayf al-Din Bakharzi, one of the disciples of Najm al- Din Kubra, and another village into waqf for Shaykh Hasan Bulghiri, who had come to Kirman in 672/1373-4.77 It appears that she had asked Sayf al-Din Bakharzi, who was living in Bukhara, to send one of his sons or relations (a.hfdd) to Kirman. Accordingly he had sent his son Burhan al-Din Ahmad. Terken Khatun treated him with great respect, built khdnaqahs for him, his disciples and people and constituted many awqdf for them.78 By 938/1531-2 these foundations had fallen into disrepair.79

In 673/1274-5 Terken Khatun built a Friday mosque at the New Gate of Bardsir and made one-third of 7adan and one-third of Kisra-

72 Ibid., 180. 73 Ibid., 279. 74 Ibid., 279-80. 75 Ibid., 244-45. 76 Ibid., 225-26. 77 Ibid., 234. See O.D. Chekhovich, Bukharskie Dokumanty xiv, v (Tashkent

1965) on the awqf of the mausoleum of Sayf al-Din Bikharzi. 78 Mazdrdt-i Kirman, ed. Sayyid Muhammad Hashimi Kirmani and Husayn

Kuhi Kirmani (n.d.), 79ff. See also Nasir al-Din Munshi, 43-44. 79 Mazadrt-i Kirman, 81.

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abad, both in Juwayn, with an orchard and stable belonging to these two villages, into awqdf for it The office of mutawalli was entrusted to "the ruler who was on the throne of Kirman and [thereafter] to his/her children."80

Some of Terken Khatfin's awqdfwere concerned with administrative affairs and public welfare. For example in 673/1275 she made the

village of Sffiyan, situated in Rfidn, into waqf, stipulating that thirty men should reside there to protect the road and escort caravans. The leader of the troop was to receive 5,000 mans of grain annually by way of wages and each of the thirty soldiers 2,000 mans, two-thirds to be

paid in winter and one-third in summer. The tawliyat was entrusted, as in the case of the awqdf for the Friday mosque of Bardsir, to "the ruler who was on the throne of Kirmin and thereafter to his/her children."81

Others of Terken Khatfn's awqdf were of a more private nature. In 669/1270 she made 16 and one-sixth of the thirty-three shares of

Sahrij and the whole of 'Ismatabad-i Anar into waqf for thirty male slaves and thirty-four slave girls82 and in 674/1275-6 four villages in Dasht-i Ab and two qandts for seventeen male slaves and twenty-three slave girls.83 In either case each of the male slaves was to receive 720 mans of wheat annually and 15 dindrs and the slave girls 540 mans of wheat and 10 dinars in the former case and 500 mans of wheat and 10 dinars in the latter. In the first case the tawliyat was entrusted to Terken Khatin's children and in the latter to her daughter Padishah Khtuin. In the same year she made some villages in Rudbar and Jiruft into waqf for the sustenance of widows and the care and education of orphans, entrusting the office of mutawalll to Padishih Khatfn.84

Many charitable foundations were made in Yazd in the 8th/14th century. The most extensive were those constituted by Sayyid Rukn al- Din Muhammad and his son Shams al-Din Muhammad. Sayyid Rukn al-Din was a very rich man. Not only did he dispose of a great deal of

property-shares in qandts, lands and real property in Yazd-but he

apparently had considerable capital available with which he purchased new property with a view to making it into awqdf. According to the Jami' al-khayrdt the foundations of Rukn al-Din and Shams al-Din

80 Tdarkh-i Shahl-i Qara Khita'iyan, 235-36. 81 Ibid., 235. 82 Ibid., 224-25. 83 Ibid., 246-47. It is not unlikely that these slaves and slave-girls served

Terken Khtuin's mausoleum complex in Bardsir. The statement that she made the four villages in Dasht-i Ab into waqf follows immediately on the description of the Firizi garden waqf for her mausoleum (see above). 84 Ibid., 247.

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numbered forty-five. Twenty-three were founded by the former, namely four mosques in Yazd and its outskirts, three madrasas, two in Yazd and one in Isfahan, which had a library, a dar al-hadlth and a pharmacy attached to it, nine khanaqdhs, six in Yazd and the neighbourhood, and one in Kashan, one in Abarquh and one in Na'in, and four ribdts, two in Kashan and the neighbourhood, one in Ardistan and one outside Isfahan.85 Shams al-Din's foundations consisted of five mosques, three of which were in Yazd and two in Abarqfh, six madrasas or additions to existing ones (none of which were in the town of Yazd), five khanaqahs, one outside Yazd, two in 'Aqda, one in Abarquh, and one in Tabriz in the Rab'-i Rashidi, and seven ribdts, two in the Yazd district, one in 'Aqda, one in the Nuh Gunbad plain, and one in Na'in, one in Jawgand near Natanz and one between Qum and Awa.86 The property made into awqdf for these foundations included books, carpets, furniture, flocks, landed estates, qandts, khans, shops, and hammdms.87 Rukn al-Din had bought additional estates (amldk) and shares in estates (hisas) with the intention of making them into awqdf but he died before he was able to do so. These passed to his son Shams al-Din and his daughters Fatima Khatun and Sasan Khatuin. His daughters transferred their shares to their brother, who then made the property, together with other property which he had acquired, into awqdf for the foundations which he and his father had established.88 Much of the landed property and water rights made into awqaf by Rukn al-Din and Shams al-Din was highly fragmented, as for example that made for the madrasa, khainaqdh, pharmacy and library in Yazd by the latter89 and that made for the waqf for the khdnaqdh of Kashan built by Rukn al-Din.90

Another interesting feature of the awqdf for the madrasa in Yazd is the fact that Shams al-Din added to it 920 d[nars which he had by way of a pension (idrar) drawn on the revenue of the town of Yazd and registered in the diwan and 425 and five-sixths dinars which he had by way of a subsistence allowance (ma'isha) on the armoury (ddr al- sildah) of Yazd.91 He had a number of other pensions drawn on different funds. Among them was a pension for 360 dlnars on the revenue of

85 Ibid., 73-75. 86 Ibid., 75ff. 87 Ibid., 238ff. 88 Ibid., 124-25. 89 Ibid., 153-74, and cf. the qandts on pp. 81-82. 90 Ibid., 143-46. 91 Ibid., 174.

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Abarquh, which he added to the waqf for the Friday mosque which he had built in that town. He stipulated that this sum should be collected by the mutawalli and spent on the upkeep of the building.92 A second was for 520 dindrs allocated on the diwan taxes of Kazirin, which he assigned to the ddr al-hadith he had constructed there;93 a third for 500 dinars on the diwan taxes of Qum he added to the awqaf of the ribdt between Qum and Awa;94 and a fourth was for 720 dinCars on the diwan taxes of Tabriz. This sum he made into waqf for the khdnaqdh which he had built in the Rab'-i Rashidi and stipulated that it should be collected and expended by the shaykhs, Sifis, sweepers, doorkeepers and inmates of the khdnaqdh on their subsistence.95 A fifth, for 301.6 dinars, drawn on the diwan of the S.hibi inju in the city of Yazd, he added to the awqdf he had made for the khtnaqdh of 'Aqda.96 It is probable that this money was from estates which had been confiscated from Baha' al-Din the Sahib Diwan and made into inju (crown land) and that part of the pension of Rukn al-Din or Shams al-Din, or some debt owed to them by the diwan, had been allocated on the revenue of the Sahibi inju.

It appears that pensions (idrdr) were normally heritable. Rukn al- Din had one for 1,000 dinars drawn upon the revenue of Yazd, which he had inherited in part from his forefathers and in part from the sayyids and imams of Yazd. After his death this was added to awqdf made by Shams al-Din, to whom it had presumably passed by inheri- tance.97

In addition to their charitable awqf Rukn al-Din and Shams al-Din also made various family awqdf and awqdf for slaves, some of whom they had manumitted.98

The most important and, perhaps, the richest awqdf of the 8th/14th century were those constituted by Ghazan Khan, his successor Oljeitii and their wazir Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah. Ghazan Khan's foundations were mainly in the Shanb-i Ghazan quarter which he had built in Tabriz. They included a Friday mosque, a mausoleum, a khanaqdh, a dar al-siydda, an observatory, a hospital, a library and a bayt al-

92 Ibid., 213. 93 Ibid., 214. 94 Ibid., 216. 95 Ibid., 214. 96 Ibid., 203. This consisted of 166 dinars in lieu of pieces of land which had

belonged to the Sahib Diwan Baha' al-Din in the town of 'Aqda and 135 dinars on the town of Haftadar.

97 Ibid., 140. 98 Ibid., cf. 116-17, 135, 139-42, 150, 216ff.

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qdnun. Funds were allocated for their upkeep-for carpets, lighting and in some cases for the provision of syrup (mudbhb) for refreshment and perfume ('atr-and for the wages of the officials and attendants who served in them. In the case of the observatory these funds covered the wages of the mudarris, the mu'ld and students as well as repairs to the instruments and to the observatory itself; and in the case of the hospital the money was for drugs, clothes for the sick, and the burial expenses of those who died within its confines. Funds for the library covered the cost of repairing, copying and purchasing books.99 Seven copies of the waqfiyya were to be made. One was to be deposited with the mutawalll, and the remainder in Mecca, Tabriz, Baghdad and elsewhere.1??

Rashid al-Din records also that several faddans of land and a canal made by Ghazan on the Euphrates were constituted into waqf for the shrine of Sayyid Abu'l-Wafa. As a result of bringing sweet water to the district, gardens and orchards were planted and a settlement grew up.10' Al-Qashani mentions that Ghazan issued a yarligh for a ddr al- siydda to be built in every province of Persia and for estates and villages to be made into waqf for them, so that the annual income of each would be 10,000 dinars, 102 and Rashid al-Din states that he made such buildings in Isfahan, Shiraz, Baghdad and various other towns.103

Included among the purposes on which the revenue of Ghazan's charitable foundations were to be spent were a number of subsidiary matters. Some were matters of pietas, such as the provision of gruel (ash) for Mongol and non-Mongol amirs and others who came to the Kushk-i 'Adliyya which Arghun had built in Tabriz, as well as for the imdms and notables of Tabriz and deserving persons when they assembled on the anniversary of the founder's death and read the khatm; there was also a provision for the distribution of sadaqa to the deserving on that occasion. Other matters included the provision of sweetmeats (halwa) on Thursday evenings and on feast days and days of mourning for the people of the mosque, khdnaqdh and madrasa, orphans and others. Still other provisions were connected with public welfare, such as the distribution of 2,000 woollen cloaks which were to be bought annually for the deserving poor. Funds were also provided for orphans and waifs. One hundred orphans were to be taught the

99 Tdrlkh-i mubdrak-i ghazdnl, pp. 208ff. 100 Ibid., 215. 101 Ibid., 203-4. 102 Tdarkh-i Uljayta, ed. M. Hambly (Tehran, AHS 1348/1969), 93-94. 103 Tdrlkh-i-mubdrak-i ghzdnm, 190-91.

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Qur'an in a special maktab. When they had memorized it they were to be dismissed with a present and others were to take their place. Wages for a teacher and five women to care for the orphans were provided as were wages for foster mothers of children taken off the street, who also received money towards the education of their charges, so that when they grew up and reached the age of discretion they could learn a trade or craft. Money to cover the funeral expenses of strangers who died in Tabriz without funds was also provided and four mans of carded cotton were to be given annually to each of five hundred destitute widows. Grain (china), wheat and millet were to be scattered on the roofs of the buildings in the precincts of Ghazan's charitable foundations in Tabriz for different kinds of birds during the six months of winter. The mutawalll and those who lived there were to prevent anyone seizing the birds. Funds were also set aside for the replacement of broken water-pots and ewers of slaves, slave girls and children. The mutawalll was to appoint a trusted person in the town of Tabriz to

investigate such breakages. If some child, having broken a water-pot or ewer, was in fear of his or her master, the mutawalll was to replace it. Nor were public works forgotten: funds were set aside for the collection of stones from the roads, and for making bridges over canals up to a distance of eight farsakhs from the town of Tabriz; and also for the wages (marsiumt) of the officials and workmen of the diwdn-i awqdf belonging to Ghazan's charitable foundations and for the upkeep of the mausoleum which Ghazan had built, for the Kushk-i 'Adliyya and for the repair of landed estates and real estate which had been made into

waqf for charitable foundations.104 Rashid al-Din mentions various vows which Ghazan made in

Damascus after he had defeated the Mamlfik army. One was to give 20 tumdns from the inju lands of the empire as pensions, waqf, sadaqa and presents (in'm) to the umard', the humble and the noble, the rich and the poor, and the soldiers who annually assembled at the quriltay. According to Rashid al-Din, Ghazan fulfilled this vow.105

Oljeitii followed the example of Ghazan. His foundations were

mainly in Sul.tniyya and included a jdmi', a khdnaqdh, a madrasa and a dcr al-siyada. He constituted many valuable estates into waqf for them, such that in his reign their revenue reached 100 tumdns.'06

The great majority of the property which Rashid al-Din constituted

104 Ibid., 212-14. 105 Ibid., 216. 106 Muhammad b. Mahmud Amuli, Nafd'is al-funan, ii, ed. Sayyid Ibrahim

Miyanji (Tehran, AHS 1379/1959), 258.

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into waqf was for the benefit of the Rab'-i Rashidi, but he also constituted waqf for foundations in Yazd,107 Hamadan, Shiriz and Kirman. His foundations in the Rab'-i Rashidi included a tomb (rawda), a khdnaqdh, a dining-hall (ddr al-diycfa), a hospital, houses for the mutawalll, mushrif and nazir, rooms (hujras) for the inmates, a hammdm, hawdkhdnas and storehouses.108 Lists of the properties made into waqf for these foundations, set out in the waqf-ndma dated 709/1309-10, include property in Yazd, Hamadin, Sharrfh, Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan and Mawsil. Property in the first four towns had also apparently been made into awqdf by Rashid al-Din at an earlier date, for which special waqfiyyas had been drawn up.109

It is difficult to gauge the effect of awqdf on the economy of the country in the period under review. In the towns there was some development associated with awqdf constituted for mosques and madrasas; bazaars not infrequently developed around them. In rural districts new land was sometimes brought under cultivation. On the other hand, experience shows that the practice of leasing awqdf was not conducive to agricultural development-the lessee had no permanent interest in the land and tended to exploit its resources without putting anything back into the land and if he was a powerful man he often usurped the property. The tendency of waqfi land to fall into a state of decay in the Ilkhanate period has been noted above, and Hamd Allah Mustawfi has a cryptic sentence to the effect that "it is observed that every place which belongs to the diwan or to a waqf does not enjoy the prosperity of land which belongs to private persons"."0l Be that as it may, awqdf were an enduring feature during the rule of the Great Saljuqs, their succession states and the Ilkhanate. It would seem therefore that the institution answered a need felt in society. As suggested above, it enabled the individual to exercise a certain freedom in the disposal and management of his property, a freedom which was often denied him in other fields because of the intermittent insecurity of political life. But more importantly, it gave some degree of satisfaction to the individual in his search for qurba. I would suggest that it was for these reasons rather than economic reasons that the institution endured.

107 See Ja'far b. Muhammad, Tarikh-i Yazd, 92-93, Ahmad b. Husayn, Tarikh-ijadld-i Yazd, 134-35. See also Iraj Afshar, 'Rashid al-Din wa Yazd', 23-36.

108 Waqf-ndma-i Rab'i rashidi, 42-44. 109 Ibid., 37, 44. See also Parwiz Achka'i, Tdrikhnigairn-i Iran (Tehran, AHS

1373/1994-5), 336-41, 344-46. 110 Tdrlkh-i guzida, ed. 'Abd al-Husayn Nawa'i (Tehran, AHS 1336-9/1958-

61), 480.

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