A Major Witness of the Relationship between the Ottoman State and Tekke: Sheikh Bali Efendi of Sofia from the Halveti Order and His Waqf

Abstract

The city of Sofia which was conquered by Ottoman armies at the end of the XIVth century, symbolized the down of a new era for Turks. Thanks to much used roads and productive lands, the city became the center of the Rumelia Province in a short while. The process of building suitable to religious and cultural values beginning from conquest of the city proceeded increasingly throughout the next centuries. Through those buildings sustained by the waqf system the city of Sofia transformed into a more livable place. In this work, it is dealed with the waqfs of Sheikh Bali Efendi, who was a scholar, poet and the sheikh of the Halvetiyye order living in the XVIth century and famous for his arguments about legitimacy of the money waqfs. It is emphasized the condition of Şeyh Bali Efendi waqfs near Sofia which consisted of dervish lodge (tekke), mosque, tomb, fountain, roadhouse and madrasah in the XVIII and XIXth century. In the research, Ottoman archive documents, tax registers (tahrir), waqf charters (vakfiye) and for the first time Sofia kadi registers are used applying a chronological horizontal method.