In 1517, after the Syria, Egypt and Hijaz expeditions of Yavuz Sultan Selim, the city of Hebron joined the Ottoman lands. Necessary repairs were made in the city visited by Sultan Selim I. The southwestern part of western Palestine, or Damascus province, was then divided into four main sanjaks at that time: Gaza, Laccun (northern valleys), Nablus, and Jerusalem. In this administrative and military structure of the Ottoman administration, alKhalil was transformed into a township linked to the Sanjak of Jerusalem. The borders of the Jerusalem sanjak extending to al-Khalil in the south stretched from Ramlah in the north and from Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast to the east of the city from the valley of Jericho and Jordan. Throughout the century, minor border changes have occurred, but in general, this administrative and military division remained largely unchanged from the Ottoman conquest until the 18th century.

With the conquest of Syria, Egypt and Hejaz during the reign of Selim I, the administration and organization of the pilgrimage passed to the Ottoman State. After that, the Ottomans had an empire spanning three continents and had achieved the status of being the religious leader of Muslim countries. The mid-16th century was a turning point in the attitude of the Ottoman administration center towards the south of Bilad al-Sham as a whole. The activities of Suleiman the Magnificent in these areas should be seen within the framework of practices aimed at integrating the region into a developing Ottoman state and administration approach. The most important part of the ideal of integrating this newly conquered geography into the imperial imagination was the pilgrimage organization. In the half century after the conquest, a significant number of attempts were made by the imperial center to attract pilgrims or facilitate travel in these areas. The activities carried out in Khasseki Sultan Imâret (Public Kitchen) in Jerusalem and Simât al-Kalîl (Table of Abraham) in Hebron should be seen as important components of this ideal. Because the public kitchens in Jerusalem and al-Khalil were quite large and they played important roles in ensuring the continuity of the pilgrims coming to the holy cities and meeting their needs. Moreover, caravanserais, inns and baths built in the 18th century, -along the roads passing passing from Istanbul to Damascus, from there to Madinah and Mecca, Jerusalem and al-Khalil within the framework of the pilgrimage organization operated with a certain degree of order. The construction of cities, towns and ranges is important in terms of showing the point this viewpoint has reached.

The Halilurrahman Waqf, which was also known as the Table of Abraham, was a waqfcomplex that also included the al-Halil Mosque, which was built on the tombs of many prophets, importantly, Abraham the Prophet.

Muslim pilgrims who visited Mecca and Medina for centuries with the intention of pilgrimage came to Bayt al-Mukaddis, whose virtues were praised in verses and hadiths,and which were recommended to be visited, with the intention of gaining more rewards. The abundance and contact with mi‘râc of this town, which is “blessed” in the Qur’an, has always been a center of attraction for all Muslims and especially Sufis. The importance of these towns, which have held a special and sacred place for Muslim visitors since the early years of Islam, was fixed with hadiths and was shaped by local traditions. Since the route from Istanbul to Mecca is close to the route, Ottoman pilgrims also frequently visited the cities of Jerusalem and al-Khalil while going on pilgrimage. Due to the location of the city of al-Khalil on these pilgrimage roads and the graves of the prophets found here, visitors from all over the Islamic world were welcomed at the Table of Abraham because they were regarded as guests of Allah. Although it was not a sultan or vizier waqf, the Halilurrahman Waqf was a large-budget waqf, which had important income sources in terms of both the city of al-Khalil and the region in which it was located, and those who came to the city, especially the pilgrims, sufis and travelers, were fed in the Table of Abraham. The inn, baths and shops allocated of the cities of the waqf al-Khalil, Jerusalem, Gaza and Ramlah constitute the revenues of the foundation for urban origin. These revenues were around 103,572 para in 1117-1118 / 1705-1707. However, the waqf obtained revenues in excess of 900,000 para in the same year mainly from rural sources. With this budget size, the services it saw and the employment volume of more than two hundred people, the foundation provided serious amounts to the economy of the city of al-Khalil through purchases of goods and services and salary payments. With the enormous revenues of the villages devoted to it, the foundation had a central position and an important weight in the agricultural economy of the region. With these assets, the foundation was in a position to affect and support the regional and urban economy.

For this reason, the control and monitoring mechanism of this waqf, which was controlled by the Ottoman central administration, was more careful and versatile than the mechanism of ordinary waqfs. The most effective tool in this mechanism was the accounting system, which consisted of the annual main accounting book and various detailed records kept according to the standard posting principles. Depending on the accounting, the control and monitoring mechanism had been effective according to the standards of its time, thanks to the officers and auditors responsible for waqf accounting. In addition, although the waqf’s accounts were submitted to the mutawalli of the waqf every year, it was always possible to supervise the waqf accounting by the representatives of the supervisory authorities, and by local judges, usually following a complaint.

Accounting records are important as they are one of the main archive sources to reestablish an organization’s actual functioning. Moreover, accounting records have entered the workspace of the historian, considering that the effectiveness of accounting control is seen as a factor that leads to institutional effectiveness and that accounting records reflect corporate development and change. Recently, international publications and symposiums on accounting applications with different approaches and conceptual frameworks have increased and created a new literature. However, it is noteworthy that there are few investigations regarding the accounting practices of the Ottoman Empire, which had a well-established accounting tradition and kept its records in archives. This may be due to the fact that researchers of accounting origin rather than historians turn to the history of accounting, while historians see only the records as material of institutional, economic and financial history.

On the other hand, independent studies on Hebron and its waqfs in the Ottoman period are few in number. In addition, there are studies examining Jerusalem and al-Khalil within the framework of the surras sent to “al-Haramayn”. In this context, it is aimed to determine the financial status of the waqf at the beginning of the 18th century by examining the subsequent accounting records of the current study Halilurrahman Waqf. Thus, within the framework of the study aiming to contribute to the existing literature on the city and waqfs of al-Khalil in the Ottoman period, accounting books have been included, which are valuable resources for waqfs as well as for social and economic history, in terms of providing information about the social and economic conditions of the waqf. The records were applied within the boundaries of this article in the context of the Halilurrahman Waqf.

As a result of the current study, the total income and expense figures in the two accounting records of the Halilurrahman Waqf dating to the beginning of the 18th century were created and then the method of decomposing them was used to develop a detailed analysis. Thus, foundation village revenues, cash surplus and uncollected revenues from the previous year, which constituted waqf revenues, are stated separately. Personnel expenses, storehouse, kitchen, lighting expenses, repair expenses and miscellaneous expenses, which constituted the waqf expenses together, are also expressed. These accounts show us the diversity and composition of the income sources of the Halilurrahman Waqf in Hebron. In addition, the data obtained from these income records enable us to follow the financial status of the waqf. Examination of the expense side of the accounting books completed the waqf financial statement. Expenditures for food and other products consumed regularly in the public kitchen provided us with important information in terms of the operation and services of the waqfcomplex of Hebron.