“Concealed Donation or a Sale: The Acquisition of Monastic Property (15th – 17th C.)” (original) (raw)

Having adapted themselves to the new, Sharia, terms and Ottoman institutions, the Christians resumed the earlier tradition of making donations to monasteries. Although Christian bequests and donations were registered by the kadi, only few such documents have survived. That the practice was not that infrequent is indirectly evidenced by other documents. That fact raises the question of the possible concealment of donations under unmistakable sales contracts. It is obvious why the assets classified as the state-owned land were not donated – it was forbidden to turn the latter into a vakıf. Tapunāme had to be issued, but there is no answer to the question as to why the hüccet covered the sale of the entire mülk part of the property. The “purchase-and-sale” action seems to have been generally accepted as a form of expressing a donation. Such form was considered, with or without reason, as being legally safer, both from the authorities and from subsequent claims by the donor’s heirs. When studying monastic archives, we must always bear in mind that many Shariah contracts for realty transactions actually conceal donations.