The Family endowment in the City of Algiers in the late Ottoman era through Sharia court documents

Abstract

The endowment is an ancient Islamic social phenomenon that was clearly widespread in Algeria, especially in the late Ottoman era, and this is what we noticed through the documents of the Sharia court. Thanks to these contracts, we were able to learn about the nature of the doctrines followed at that time, the type of real estate ownership, the procedures for transferring it within a single family, and how it is distributed among the different social segments within the city of Algiers. .Due to the importance of the Sharia court documents pertaining to the endowment, in terms of the information provide, we made them a basic material for starting this work, These documents have revealed to us the types of endowments through which the donors reserved their properties, including the progeny or family endowment. What is the nature of this type of endowment? Why did some residents of Algiers prefer it in their endowments?