The Waqf formation by Tuzla’s beneficiary Tahira-hanuma Tuzlić property

The paper reviews the procedure of waqf formation of Tahira-hanuma Tuzlić, widow of Gradaščević from Tuzla. Based on the presented contents, this endowment (waqf) did not pass without certain difficulties. Namely, Tahira-hanuma Tuzlić comes from a well-known bey Tuzla family, and on that basis she inherited significant land holdings and numerous other real estates. She was married to Bećir-bey Gradaščević and they had no children. At the age of over 60, she decided to endow a significant part of her property in an “evladijet waqf”. Since Esad ef. Kulović, the mayor of Sarajevo, was married to Tahira-hanuma Tuzlić's sister, Rashid hanuma, he was appointed as mutevelija (guardian) of the said waqf. It was planned to include in the endowment significant land holdings located in the cadastral municipalities: Pasci, Husino, Bistarac and Donja Tuzla, as well as several houses and shops in Donja Tuzla. Bakir-beg Tuzlić, the only male descendant of the prominent bey family Tuzlić at the time, opposed this endowment. When he found out about the endowment, Bakir-bey Tuzlić tried in every possible way to prevent the same. For these reasons, he addressed the Sharia Court in Tuzla, the Village District Office of Donja Tuzla, and later the Provincial Government for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Joint Ministry in Vienna. In the above-mentioned petitions, Bakir-bey Tuzlić pointed out that he had learned from the Bazaar conversations that his aunt Tahira-hanuma Tuzlić had planned to endow most of the property she owned. In his explanations, he pointed out that she was doing it outside the law and domestic customs, all with the aim of preventing him, as the closest descendant of the respectable Tuzlić family, from reaching his inheritance. In addition, he stated that in the past few years, his aunt Tahira-hanuma Tuzlić has been behaving wastefully, giving away parts of her property without a valid reason. He especially pointed out the unjustified donation of a large property in the village of Dubravice in the Brčko district, as well as other property of Esad ef. Kulović, which Bakir-beg Tuzlić objected to, because he believed that Esad ef. Kulović has an obligation to Tahiri-hanuma, and not she to him, because thanks to Tahiri-hanuma Tuzlić, he married her sister Rashid hanuma and thus inherited significant property. In his petitions, Bakir-beg Tuzlić pointed out that Tahira-hanuma Tuzlić was a mother-in-law and that she was not capable of making valid decisions, which could put her in an unenviable position. In addition, he said that she was doing it in spite of him, so that he would not have the said property, as the only male heir. After the above-mentioned institutions determined that there were no obstacles to the endowment, the Provincial Government finally, on November 2, 1907, gave approval for the endowment of the said property. The process of endowment was confirmed at the Sharia Court in Tuzla by a waqfnama, which appointed the mutevelija “Evladijet vakuf Tahire-hanume Tuzlić”, and established the rules of its use for humanitarian, religious-educational and economic-social purposes. In this way, this waqf was given to the community for use, and it served its intended purpose for several decades, until the establishment of communist rule after World War II, when this waqf, like many others in Bosnia and Herzegovina, came under fire from numerous processes. This waqf is interesting for several reasons. It was one of the larger waqfs created in Austro-Hungarian times, and behind the said waqf stood a woman as a waqif. Therefore, we considered it important to give some important facts related to the procedure of endowment of the endowment, and to point out some important characteristics of the same.