A little over a quarter (28%) of the total area of taxed property in the study region is made up of private land and real estate. As was already said, Jerusalem has a much smaller percentage of private land ownership than other ancient towns in Greater Syria and Palestine. An astounding 66 percent of the Old City’s total surface area is made up of total endowed (Waqfiyya) properties, which is significantly greater than any other similar urban area in the entire Middle East. 16 percent of the study area is taken up by Family Waqf, which accounts for more than half of the “private domain” space. In terms of usage, we observe that residences make up 50% of all family Waqf endowments (48 percent). Most of the occupants of these residences are renters who are not related to the endowing family. Regarding other uses, we observe that 11% of the area of family endowments, and 56% of the units are leased for commercial use.
When comparing the utilization of family endowments and private holdings, not much of a difference is seen. A little less than half (49%) of the private properties in the Old City are categorized as private residences, while around half (47%) have been repurposed for commercial purposes. However, in this instance, the locations affected are different. Ten percent of the total space in this category is used for commercial purposes by private owners, while 83 percent is taken up by residences. This indicates that small stores make up the majority of commercial buildings. 95 percent of the land in the Old City that is used for commercial purposes falls into units of less than 100 square meters, of which 37 percent is designated as private property, 13 percent as Islamic Waqf, 18 percent as family Waqf, and 30 percent as church Waqf, according to calculations based on the size of all properties.
Due to the implications of this classification, the distinction between “appropriate Waqf” and “improper Waqf” (Waqf Sa and Waqf Ghayr Sa) has been the subject of intense dispute in the legal community. Proper Waqf, also known as “genuine” Waqf, refers to previously privately owned lands and properties that the owners recognized as given for public charity or for the family’s collective usage. Y. Improper Waqf, often known as “untrue” Waqf, refers to royal estates that have been set aside by the government or the monarch for private or charitable purposes. The establishment of royal feudal estates (Iqtaiyyat Amriyya) during the Ottoman era and likely in earlier Islamic periods are among those titles. Iods. Since these distinctions are absent from the endowment records for Jerusalem, we believe that inappropriate Waqf designations are the exception to the rule.
More recently, a legal controversy has surfaced regarding the nature of endowments made in honor of Hasseki Sultan by Roxelana, the Sultan Süleiman’s wife, in Jerusalem and other nearby cities (Izmir, Ramla, Jaffa, and Medina). Schools, public baths, and soup kitchens (Takaya) in Jerusalem’s Old City and other locations nearby are among the endowments. Iskandar Salameh observes the following in his analysis of Hasseki Sultan endowments:
“Improper waqf lands in Palestine include the Jiftlik [agricultural] lands which were ceded originally from state lands (arādi amīriyya) by the Sultan as [feudal] awards to public servants and military commanders. Some rulers set aside some of these properties to themselves as Sultanic areas – such as the properties known as Khaseki Sultan, and the Jiftlik land which was registered in the name of Sultan Abdülhamid II.” Salameh then concludes that: “the claim that Hasseki Sultan is proper (“true”) waqf is based on a mistaken assumption and is aimed at securing an equal exchange of value (ḥikr property) from the owners of these endowed properties, in a manner that will render them as tenants, and subsequently to impose the authority of the waqf administration on the properties so that they can claim the value of the ḥikr from previous years.”
This evaluation of Hasseki Sultan (and other allegedly improper endowments) appears to apply to endowments for businesses in Bethlehem, where ownership claims are in question, but not to endowments for Hasseki Sultan takaya and schools in the Old City of Jerusalem, where the commercial use of the endowments has long since vanished.
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