At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the house of rule in Tunisia was busy removing the traces of the Spanish occupation, when the Turkish ruler, Osman Day, received the news of the birth of his granddaughter, Aziza, who was dubbed "Othmana".

Historians say that Aziza was beautiful and with multiple talents, and that her father, Aba al-Abbas Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Othman Day, was very attached to her, considered her the jewel of his house, and her nickname "Othmana" relative to her grandfather.

They also say that the pampered princess later became "the princess of charity" and "the bearer of charity", and "the abundance of good things" and "the white hand", as it left no trail in charity work but went in it, so that some of its impact is still extended to our time. This.

Meditation and worship approach

At an early age, Aziza (1606-1669) showed a rare willingness to study literature and receive religious sciences, and she studied and absorbed it at the hands of an elite group of distinguished scholars and jurists at the time. She memorized the Qur’an, and taught literature and the principles of education and home administration, jurisprudence of religion and its acquaintances, and it was an example of piety and righteousness since its childhood.

We know from the book “Figures Tunisiennes”, which was written by the French historian Al-Sadiq Al-Zumorli, and translated by the writer and historian Hammadi Sahili into Arabic entitled “Tunisian Flags”, that Aziza showed during her adolescence a clear tendency to meditate and worship, and was never filled with what surrounded her from Ease and luxury is evident in the multiple and varied parties of the same class. On the contrary, what she witnessed of opulence and luxury made her think about the poor, the benevolence and their righteousness.

House wife

Princess Aziza married at an early age from one of the senior officers of her father’s entourage, called Hamouda Pasha El-Mouradi, lived beside him an ideal life, and devoted her entire life to worship and charity. She was fond of worship and giving, and she was also a housewife keen, above all, to manage the affairs of her palace.

Tender Lady Bidding

Her “charity owners” were not concerned with the hardships of travel to the holy Bekaa and its inevitable dangers, so she decided to perform the rituals of Hajj with a large number of male and female servants, and after she returned to Tunisia she released the Mamluks and freed the slaves for the sake of God.

In his book, “Shahriat Al-Tunisiyat”, the writer Hassan Hosni Abdel-Wahab states that “the surplus of good things” has willingly abandoned all her wealth and property and stopped her for the righteous and well-known aspects of charitable projects devoted to the poor, the provision of girls who are burdened with poverty and prevent their marriage, spending on emancipation and redemption Prisoners.

It also stopped a number of lands and properties, and its proceeds were spent on circumcising the children of the poor and their clothing on Ashura every year.

The "white hand" was keen on treating the poor, so it devoted part of its endowment to building a "pemaristan", that is, a hospital to treat the poor and sheltering the elderly. In 1960 his name was changed for the second time and it was called "Aziza Othmana Hospital" to commemorate the improved princess, for whom it had suspended part of its properties, and it still exists under the same name.

The "violet" will

The improved princess was sincere, thin-minded, loving to give and contemplate the universe, she loved nature and plants, and recommended, before her death, the proceeds from spending stopping her to buy roses in various seasons and placing it on her grave every morning from Violet Rose and Jasmine. In 1669, Princess Aziza Othmana died, and she was buried along the mausoleum of the Governor Ahmed bin Arous.