Aziza Othmana

Early life

She was the daughter of Ahmed Dey (full name Abul Abbas Al- Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Ibn Othman Dey) and the granddaughter of Othman Dey, as suggested by some manuscripts in which his name is reproduced "Aziza Bent Ahmed Ben Othman Dey." Both were Tunis military commanders of the militia of the Janissaries. It is not possible to know her date of birth but from her date of death, it is reasonable to estimate that she was born during the seventeenth century.

She grew up in the palace of her grandfather where she was educated by masters and scholars in Islamic civilization, sharia and the Qu'ran. Her father married Hammouda Pasha Bey Dynasty Mouradites.

Later

She left the palace to live with her husband. She performed her Hajj, taking her servants and slaves with her.

She remains famous for her charitability. Late in her life, she freed her slaves and donated more than 90 000 hectares of land sown or planted for the benefit of charities: funds to free slaves, redeem the prisoners and provide the wedding trousseau of poor girls. Wills wrote that she relinquished all that she had. She founded and participated in the financing of hospital Bimaristan in Arabic in Tunis, which later became the current hospital Aziza Othmana.

She eventually died at the end of 1669 AD, which corresponds to the year 1080 of the Muslim calendar. Her grave is located at a place called Al- Halqat Naal, deep in the Ech Chamaiya impasse in the Medina of Tunis, near the Ech Chamaiya madrasa. The building has two domes in which the graves of her relatives line up. A wooden screen displays Zaouia Sidi Ben Arous (famous saint of Tunis). In his will, the princess expressed her wish to see flowers - roses, violets and jasmine with the seasons - laid on her tomb