Şebsefa Fatma Hatun Waqf and Waqf Complex

Abstract

Şebsefa Fatma Hatun, the sixth lady-wife of Sultan Abdulhamid I, founded a waqf and had a social complex built for the benefit of her son, Prince Mehmet, whom she lost at an early age. Other than Şehzade Mehmet, Şebsefa Fatma Hatun's other known child is Hibetullah Sultan. The fact that, in her waqfiya, she stipulated that a hatim be sent on behalf of four children who died at an early age, in addition to his two children, strengthens the possibility that the mothers of the children whose mothers were not known by Sultan Abdulhamid the first, according to the Sicill-i Osmani were also Şebsefa Fatma Hatun. Located on Istanbul Unkapanı Atatürk Boulevard, the social complex named after Şebsefa Fatma Hatun was completed in 1787. The complex, which consists of a mosque, hazire, primary school, shops and fountains, has some units that have not survived to the present day due to road construction works. Şebsefa Fatma Hatun's waqf deed dated 10 Rajab 1202 H./A.D. It was recorded in the embezzlement book on 16 April 1788. While the main revenues of the waqfiya were the rents of shops and the revenues of some of Abdulhamid the first’s own waqfs, additional revenues from Sultan Abdulhamid the first’s farms were recorded in the supplementary waqfiyya.

This study was prepared as a general evaluation of the master's thesis titled "Şeb-i Sefa Hatun Mosque Foundation and the Effect of Environmental Regulations Made in the Region During the Republican Era" and focused on the examination of Şebsefa Fatma Hatun's waqfiyya.