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An imaret is one of a few names used to identify the Ottoman soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th into the 19th century.^[1] These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex known as a Waqf, which could include hospices, mosques, caravanserais and colleges. The imarets gave out food that was free of charge to specific types of people and fortunate individuals.^[1] Imarets were not invented by the Ottomans but developed under them as highly structured groups of buildings.^[2] Nonetheless imarets indicate an appreciation of Muslim religious teachings about charity found in the Qur'an.

Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Imarets as charity 3 The social hierarchy within the Imaret, and recipients of food 4 Recipes 5 Examples of Ottoman Public Kitchens 6 Imarets and the Imperial family of the Ottoman Empire 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 Bibliography

[edit]History

A Waqf is an “Islamic trust” ^[3] that had important associations to the imaret within the Ottoman Empire The Waqf helped the Sultan to provide essential services to citizens. It dealt with the operation and finances of institutions such as the soup kitchens, and hospitals. The author Amy Singer mentions that the first few imarets were built in Iznik and Bursa in the 1330s.^[4] After the first couple of centuries, the number of imarets grew in the cities because the Waqf complex expanded in size. She states that by the 1530s eighty-three imarets were located in the Ottoman Empire. In addition, imarets were urban institutions that were located in the capitals of the Ottoman Empire such as Bursa, Edirne, and Istanbul. The capitals were key locations for the Sultan to invest his time and money in. Places like Anatolia and the Balkans were also important locations for imarets because these were the centres of Ottoman rule. These three capitals all had something in common: each had a castle that took central positions, the bazaar was a few hundred metres from the castle, and Ottoman neighbourhoods grew up around imarets and religious community centres.^[5]

[edit]Imarets as charity

Imarets served many different types of people and came to be seen as “charitable and beneficent work”.^[6] They were philanthropic institutions because they were established as part of voluntary beneficence, which was considered charity in Muslim law. In addition, distribution of food was seen as charitable work in and of itself. Imarets belong to a particular category of voluntary charity, known as sadaqa. ^[6] Sadaqa as voluntary charity could take many forms, including a prayer or a blessing for the sick and disabled, or a selfless act, all contributed towards good deeds in Ottoman society.^[7]

[edit]The social hierarchy within the Imaret, and recipients of food

The importance of food in the imaret has strong implications of generosity because it demonstrates the distribution of food