Educational Waqfs Established in Cyprus that Can Be Seen in the Documents of Shaykh Al-Islam (Waqf of Kadi and Mufti of Cyprus Saadeddin Efendizâde Ahmed Efendi Madrasah)

Ottoman Empire developed the institution of waqf that has inheri-ted from Islamic states and carried to the submit point. It has de-monstrated a global understanding by embracing everyone especi-ally the needy persons without discriminating their color, language, religion, sect, authority or position. The waqfs, which are the basic dynamics of the Ottoman civilization, has been one of the decisive factors in the establishment of educational institutions in Cyprus. The waqfs constituted the basis for the formation of the institutions for the social life of the people in Cyprus and therefore the forma-tion of educational institutions. Shortly after the conquest infants' school and madrasah that are the most common educational insti-tutions started to be opened through waqfs. Also, mosque classro-oms, monks and libraries that function as common education-trai-ning institutions took their place in community life soon. In this concept, educational waqfs founded in Cyprus will be dis-cussed in the light of the documents of Shaykh al-Islam and Cyprus Court Records in this paper. As an example of these waqf, waqf of the madrasah founded by an education volunteer Saadeddin Efen-dizâde Ahmed Efendi who has been kadi and mufti in Cyprus in the 1640's for the education of people in Lefkosa will be evaluated, the content and semantic analysis of the waqf will be made. Thus, the applications and developments in the education system synthesi-zed with the Ottoman culture in Cyprus will be evaluated.