The Founder of the Kizlaraga Mosque in Ljubinje, Kajiš Mustafa-Agha Son of Mahmud, Kapuagha at the Ottoman Court in Istanbul, and His Waqf

Abstract

In the collective memory of the local people, the founder of the Kizlaraga mosque in the town of Ljubinje remained recorded as originating from the surroundings of Ljubinje. Based on the writings of Evliya Çelebi, it was assumed that the founder was Hajj Mustafa-agha, the kizlaragha of sultan Osman II (1618-1622). However, while investigating his life and work, no archive documents were found to confirm this. In addition, the mentioned Mustafa-agha could not have originated from Ljubinje since he was a black court eunuch, originally from Africa. This paper presents unambiguous indicators of the real founder of the mentioned mosque. It was Kajiš Mustafa-agha, babussaade agha or kapuagha at the court of Sultan Mehmed III (1595-1603). Namely, based on his waqfiyye, which specifies the provisions of the mentioned benefactor related to his mosque and maktab in the town of Ljubinje, and some other documents related to his vakuf, the paper provides data on the fact that the benefactor, in addition, left the funds for the construction of a Madrasah (Dar al hadis) in Istanbul, and for some other purposes also.