Abstract
Women's endowment deeds are key sources for reconstructing the socio-economic, cultural, and religious landscape of Qajar-era Iran. Among the various social groups involved in endowment practices, female religious figures occupy a distinctive place. Analyzing the contents of their surviving waqf documents not only challenges views that marginalize women's roles but also sheds light on the extent and nature of their participation in social and cultural affairs of the time.This study uses content analysis to examine endowment deeds made by female religious donors in Mazandaran Province, aiming to assess their social status, types of endowments, and intended uses. The findings reveal that these women typically endowed land, residential houses, shops, and gardens, often for mourning ceremonies and charitable acts.According to the documents, their occupations were mainly rouzeh-khani (religious recitation) and ta‘ziyeh-khani (religious drama). The professions of their fathers and husbands included butchers, prayer leaders, scholars, and painters. Their social roles were commonly indicated by titles such as Molla, Agha, Ostad, and Karbalai. These findings underscore the active engagement of female religious figures in shaping public religious and charitable life during the Qajar period.
Keywords: Mazandaran Province, Qajar Period, Documents; Endowments, Female Donors, Female Religious Figures.
 
Introduction
The study of endowment (waqf) practices during the Qajar period has traditionally emphasized male benefactors and institutional frameworks such as mosques, madrasas, and Sufi lodges. These narratives often portray endowment as a male-dominated domain, marginalizing the contributions of women and obscuring the diversity of actors involved in charitable and religious patronage. However, recent developments in social and gender history have drawn attention to the active roles that women played in shaping religious and communal life, both within domestic settings and the broader public sphere.
Among the female donors in Qajar Iran, religious women—particularly rouzeh-khans (women who recited religious narratives, especially during mourning rituals) and ta'ziyeh performers (those involved in ritual drama centered on the martyrdom of Imam Husayn)—held a unique position. These women were not merely passive recipients of religious culture but active producers of spiritual capital. Through their waqf deeds, they contributed to the maintenance of religious rituals, commemorative ceremonies, and charitable networks that reinforced Shi‘i piety and communal solidarity.
This study focuses on endowment deeds created by female religious figures in the cities of Barforush (Babol), Sari, Ashraf (Behshahr), Amol, and Nur—important centers in the province of Mazandaran. Spanning from the reign of Naser al-Din Shah to the end of the Qajar dynasty (1264–1344 AH / 1848–1925 CE), these documents serve as valuable sources for exploring the intersections of gender, religion, and social status in a regional context. By analyzing the contents of these waqf deeds, the research not only highlights the visibility and agency of religious women but also examines the socio-economic structures, familial ties, and occupational backgrounds that enabled such philanthropic activity. This investigation, therefore, seeks to offer a more nuanced and inclusive account of endowment practices in Qajar Iran.
 
Materials & Methods
This study is grounded in systematic archival research based on the close examination of original endowment deeds (waqfnamas) preserved in the regional archives of the General Directorate of Endowments and Charity Affairs in Mazandaran. These archival materials—largely unpublished and handwritten in Persian—represent a critical body of primary sources for reconstructing women’s religious and socio-economic agency during the Qajar period.
To ensure both relevance and depth, a purposive sampling strategy was employed. The selection criteria focused on deeds explicitly attributed to women who identified themselves, or were identified by others, as engaged in religious functions. The final sample consisted of documents originating from five key urban centers in Mazandaran: Barforush (now Babol), Sari, Ashraf (now Behshahr), Amol, and Nur. Thes,e cities were selected not only for their archival accessibility but also for their documented historical significance as hubs of religious, commercial, and cultural activity during the Qajar era.
The research employed qualitative content analysis as its principal methodological tool. Each deed was systematically examined for the following key variables:
• The type, function, and approximate value or quantity of the endowed property (e.g., agricultural lands, residential structures, gardens, or commercial assets)
• Designated religious or charitable purposes, such as support for mourning rituals (azadari), almsgiving (kheyrat), or the maintenance of local hosseiniyehs
• Self-representations of the donors, particularly references to religious roles such as rouzeh-khan or taʿziyeh performer
• Occupational labels, honorifics, or social titles attributed to male relatives (fathers, husbands, or brothers), such as Molla, Ostad, Karbalai, or Agha
• Contextual religious and socio-cultural references embedded in the wording and formulae of the waqf deeds
Where possible, the language and discursive structure of the waqfnamas were interpreted through a historical-sociological lens. This involved situating the documents within the broader framework of Qajar-era legal, religious, and rhetorical conventions. Attention was paid to terminological formulas, honorific registers, and embedded Qur'anic and hadith references, all of which contribute to understanding the donors’ intentions and self-perceptions.
Moreover, the analysis was informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital, particularly in exploring how religious women negotiated authority, piety, and social respectability through the legal medium of waqf. This approach allowed for a more layered reading of the documents beyond their surface legal stipulations, offering insight into how gender, class, kinship, and ritual performance intersected in the production of religious space and social capital in late Qajar Mazandaran.
Discussion & Result
The analysis of endowment deeds attributed to female religious figures in the provinces of Barforush, Sari, Ashraf, Amol, and Nur during the Qajar period reveals a multilayered portrait of women’s participation in religious, economic, and communal life. These women, often engaged in ritual vocations such as rouzeh-khani (mourning recitation) and taʿziyeh-khani (passion play performance), utilized the waqf mechanism to assert both spiritual agency and socio-economic influence.
The most frequently endowed assets included agricultural land, residential properties, commercial shops, and gardens—forms of real estate that held both economic utility and symbolic weight. The intended uses of these waqf properties were often articulated in terms of supporting specific religious functions, such as azadari (mourning ceremonies for Shi‘a martyrs), kheyrat (alms and charitable acts), and the financial sustenance of small-scale religious institutions, such as local hosseiniyehs or shrines. These uses reflect not only an effort to gain religious merit (thawāb) but also a conscious intention to perpetuate Shi‘i rituals in a region where such traditions were tightly interwoven with communal identity.
What emerges from the occupational details in the waqf deeds is a socially and culturally specific profile of these female donors. Their familial environments were deeply embedded in networks of religious knowledge and artisanal skill. Male kin—fathers and husbands—frequently bore occupational titles such as ghassab (butcher), pishnamaz (prayer leader), scribe, and painter, occupations that straddled the line between manual labor and religious service. The repetition of honorifics such as Molla, Agha, Ostad, and Karbalai in the documents suggests that these families maintained a recognized position within their local communities, enjoying both moral and social capital.
Moreover, the female donors themselves, identified in some cases by their religious roles, contributed directly to the performative and oral transmission of Shi‘i devotional culture. Their involvement in rouzeh and taʿziyeh performances highlights the centrality of women’s voices and bodies in ritual spaces—realms often overlooked in more legalistic or patriarchal narratives of Islamic religiosity. Their endowments can thus be interpreted as extensions of this ritual agency into the economic domain.
The deeds also indicate that these women operated with a sophisticated understanding of legal and religious norms governing endowments. The precision with which they designated beneficiaries, outlined the permissible uses of income, and stipulated the conditions of waqf continuity points to their literacy in religious and administrative practices. This is particularly noteworthy given the prevailing assumptions about gendered access to education and legal authority in Qajar Iran.
Collectively, these findings offer compelling evidence of how religious women in late Qajar Mazandaran mobilized familial, ritual, and economic resources to embed themselves in the religious topography of their localities. Their activities exemplify a form of localized religious patronage that relied not on institutional authority but on kinship networks, performative ritual roles, and strategic economic investment. This multifaceted agency challenges reductive narratives of passive female religiosity and opens the door to a broader reconsideration of how gender operated within the public and sacred spheres of Qajar society.
 
Conclusion
The analysis of endowment deeds attributed to female religious figures in Mazandaran during the Qajar period offers critical insight into the multifaceted roles women played in the religious and social fabric of provincial Iran. Contrary to dominant historiographical narratives that often frame women as marginal or peripheral to public religious life, the evidence presented in these documents reveals that women—particularly those engaged in ritual vocations such as rouzeh-khani and taʿziyeh-khani—were active agents in structuring and sustaining religious practices within their communities.
These endowments were not arbitrary acts of piety but deliberate interventions aimed at preserving specific rituals, institutions, and charitable functions. Whether funding mourning ceremonies, supporting local mosques, or ensuring the distribution of alms, these women utilized the waqf institution to exert moral and social influence within a highly gendered society. The selection of endowed properties—such as residential homes, shops, agricultural land, and gardens—demonstrates both economic acumen and a strategic orientation toward perpetuating Shi‘i devotional life in tangible ways.
Moreover, the familial contexts of these women—marked by fathers and husbands engaged in religious, artisanal, and scholarly occupations—helped to anchor and legitimize their authority. Titles such as Molla, Agha, Ostad, and Karbalai linked these women to respected socio-religious networks, allowing them to operate within accepted cultural norms while also subtly redefining the boundaries of female religious agency.
This study not only recovers the voices of a historically overlooked group but also opens pathways for further comparative research. Future studies might examine similar patterns in other provinces, explore the legal mechanisms that enabled women to initiate and sustain waqf, or investigate how religious endowments intersected with shifting political and theological landscapes. Ultimately, the findings affirm that women’s religious and philanthropic activities in Qajar Iran were neither incidental nor exceptional but integral to the making of communal piety and religious infrastructure in the early modern Islamic world.