The Self-Fashioning Of An Ottoman Urban Notable: Ahmad Efendi Tahazade (d. 1773)

Abstract

On 15 February 1765, Ahmad Efendi Tahazâde, a prominent member of the legal and religious establishment of Aleppo and a wealthy businessman, went to the main law court of that city and founded his third and final pious endowment, or waaf.Consisting of over sixty commercial properties, numerous agricultural tracts, and an extensive library, the endowment provided for the distribution of very considerable funds and resources to Ahmad Efendi’s college (madrasa), various mystical organizations, and members of his family. Indeed the magnitude of the Ahmad Efendi’s act prompted many local dignitaries to gather that day in the court and witness the legal proceeding.