AN OTTOMAN FIRMAN, 16TH CENTURY

An Ottoman Arabic manuscript on paper, 7lines to the page, written in diwani script in black ink, surmounted by a large tughra in black, framed.

The present firman was issued during the reign of Sultan Selim.In this document, Fatima Khatoun transfers her ownership of a small village in Gaziantep to the Waqf of Al-Haramayn, as its rent can be used for restoration of the walls of the Masjid Al-Haram,the dome of zamzam, dome of Al-Abbass grave and other locations.

Fatima Khatoun; daughter of Muhammed pasha son of Price Hasan son of Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri. She was very well-known for her charity as she built many mosques and schools during her Hajj pilgrim to Mecca in 1566. Her husband, Lala Mustafa Pasha, was an Ottoman general and Grand Vizier of ethnic Bosniak descent. Mustafa Pasha briefly served as kaymakam (acting governor) of Egypt Eyalet in 1549. He had risen to the position of Beylerbeyi of Damascus and then to that of Fifth Vizier.