Westerners in Vakifs: Endowments and Infidels in the Ottoman Empire (Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries)

The Ottoman authorities explicitly allowed Westerners residing in the Ottoman empire to produce and consume wine in their own homes. But what if these foreigners lived in a pious endowment (vakif) established by Muslims? And could Christian religious services be conducted in Muslim foundations without offending Islamic sensitivities? Islamic court records from Istanbul and Aleppo, as well as European records from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries will be examined here to answer these questions. The outcome sheds light on the business side of Ottoman vakifs.