Ertu?rul & The Revived Love of The Ottomans

Dirili?: Ertu?rul is a Turkish historical fiction and adventure television series created by Mehmet Bozda?, that centres around the life of Ertu?rul, the father of Osman I, who was the founder of the Ottoman Empire. Since its arrival on Netflix it has become a global phenomenon and Muslim communities around the world have become the most loyal viewers. From scholars to schoolboys it inspires audiences and gives people a glimpse, be it slightly romanticised of the lives and times of the Muslims who laid the foundations of one of the largest and most successful empires the world witnessed.

One of the things which undoubtedly excites people the most about this era, has to be its remnants. A visit to modern day Turkey and specifically Istanbul allows you to see the fruits of the labour of Ottomans in their architecture and unquestionably the civil society infrastructure they introduced.

The waqf system was one of the corner stones of the Ottoman economic and social order. Much of the Istanbul skyline is actually a product the Ottoman culture of endowing wealth and assets for the sake of God and preserving the faith and its faithful.

They provided large employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled workers and transferred regular purchasing power to them. For instance, the large waqf complex of Süleymaniye in Istanbul employed more than 700 persons in various offices of employment. Together with the families of waqf workers, the livelihood of thousands of people depended on the waqf of Süleymaniye.

The call to endowing wealth though was not so much an idea of the Ottomans but rather from their love of our Prophet, and his companions, Upon Whom Be Peace. As the origins for endowing for civil society goes back to our companions:

The oldest surviving Waqf is the well (bi’rr) of Uthman Ibn Affan (RA) known as the well of Roumah and located near Masjid Qiblatayn. During the Prophet’s lifetime a severe draught in Madinah caused the surrounding wells to dry up. Consequently, the community had to pay the non-Muslim owner (of the well of Roumah) for water. To mitigate this Uthman (RA) brought the well for the Muslims thereby gaining a spring in Jannah and creating one of the Ummah’s first endowments.

The Waqf – and the well – still exists until the present day and continues to grow, as exemplified by a hotel in the vicinity of Masjid Nabawi that is being constructed with proceeds from the Waqf.

Likewise, during Prophethood Umar ibn Khattab (RA) the second Khalifah of Islam had attained some land in Khaybar (an oasis north of Madinah). He then sought advice from the Prophet, Upon Whom Be Peace, about what he should do, mentioning he had never had such valuable real estate. Our Prophet answered, ‘If you want, sequester its principal and dedicate (the profits) for charitable purposes.’ Umar ibn al khattab did as the messenger instructed, his son narrates that the earnings of the land were donated as charity on the condition that the estate itself would not be sold, given away as a gift, or bequeathed. The beneficiaries included those eligible to receive Zakat and the estates administrators.

In the recent past we also have illustrious examples of Awqaf. In Masjid Al Haraam Makkah and Masjid Nabawi Madinah the dates for Iftar and pilgrims who visit for Umrah are provided by the Batin project. The estate is located in the Qasim region (Saudi Arabia) to the south east of Buraidah. It covers nearly five and a half thousand hectares containing over two hundred thousand date palms with a variety of forty-five different trees. The project began in the 1990s as the brain child of the banking tycoon Shaykh Saleh ibn Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi who along with his brother Sulaiman built the Rajhi endowments administration.

Today there are many lessons to be taken from these case studies. Not from a view of lamenting the past and the achievements of a ‘golden era’ but rather to take those lessons and make them alive.

Today, The National Waqf Fund and The One Endowment Trust are reviving the very principles of endowing wealth and bringing them into the modern financial environment of today. Both organisations are committed to help educate Muslims in Britain on this wonderful yet forgotten tradition and create waqf based giving options for our time. Both organisations are also committed to not only working together, but to support others with an interest in developing endowment-based structures to serve Muslims and wider civil society.

There is no reason why we should simply feel an emotional high from visiting the great endowments that grace the Muslim world. From the wonderful endowment of the Istanbul Foundation for Science And Culture in Fatih to the enormous Zam Zam towers complex in Makkah, we can see contemporary endowments are still growing across parts of the world. It is time that the Muslims of Britain consider the long-term needs of the community and society as a whole and start endowing wealth.

Since launching over the last twelve months we have seen phenomenal interest from key figures from finance, investment and philanthropy come to contribute their skills and experience. This is something that should give great confidence to the Muslim community, as we can all be assured the best technical and philosophical expertise is being deployed at the very foundational stages of our first endowment initiatives.

The Waqf is the ultimate form of Sadaqah Jariyah. Sadaqah Jariyah can be defined as ongoing charity i.e. charity that continues to accumulate reward after someone passes away. Abu Huraira (May Allah be pleased with him) reported, that Allah's Messenger, Upon Whom Be Peace, said:

"Among the good deeds that continue to benefit a believer after death are: a knowledge that he taught and disseminated, a righteous child who lived after him, a Quran book that he left as inheritance a masjid that he built, a house that he built for the two wayfarers, a stream that he ran, or a charity that he gave from his wealth during his healthy lifetime so that it would reach him (in rewards) after death."

Thus, Waqfs are the most efficient mechanisms of posthumous deed accumulation as once they are established, they theoretically are meant to be untouchable and exist – in the worldly sense – forever.

Throughout history Muslims enacted this Prophetic advice by housing the wayfarer via building caravanserais, running a stream or endowing water taps known as Sabeels and bequeathing millions of Quran as done by the King Fahd printing press (Madinah).

What is also exciting for us leading these initiatives is the wonderful hadith of those who will be given the Shade of the throne of Allah, on the day there will be no shade, recorded by Bukhari, where it is mentioned that one such fortunate person to have this privilege will be, “…A man who gives in charity and hides it, such that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives in charity’. Undoubtedly the beauty of contributing to an endowment is that once the first contribution is made the wealth that will grow from that and support good works will not be known to anyone but those directly involved who gave it. What an honourable way to give?

These are exciting times and The One Endowment Trust and The National Waqf Fund are eager to work with the community and take this journey to self-sustainability, strength and dignity with those individuals and organisations wanting to work together for a higher purpose.

Let us not only enjoy the Ertu?rul resurrection in our daily viewing, let us make for an endowment resurrection in our community right here.

Azim Kidwai Umer Suleman

One Endowment Trust National Waqf Fund