Soup and sadaqa: charity in Islamic societies

Charity, both obligatory almsgiving and voluntary donations, was and is an important practice of Muslims throughout the world. Historically, charity addressed poverty, but also reached a much broader spectrum of recipients. Soup served both as a literary image of giving and as a concrete means of distributing assistance, particularly in the Ottoman world. There, enormous purpose-built kitchens distributed soup and bread to a broad spectrum of people deemed needy and/or deserving. This article examines key aspects of charity in Islamic societies through an investigation of these kitchens. It demonstrates that charity overlapped with hospitality and patronage to create webs of responsibility and obligation in Islamic societies.