Zeliha Suad Hanım

Zeliha Suad Hanım, whose date of birth has not been identified, was the daughter of Ahmed Reşad Paşa, a member of the Şûrâ-yı Devlet and former Minister of Finance. Ahmed Reşad Paşa was a late Ottoman statesman who served for a long period as Minister of Finance during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II.

Zeliha Suad Hanım married Mehmed Said Bey, commissioner of the Public Debt Administration. The Düyûn-ı Umûmiye, or Public Debt Administration, was established after 1881 to manage the payment of the Ottoman Empire’s foreign debts and held an important place in the state’s financial structure.

The memory of Zeliha Suad Hanım, who died at a young age, also lived on in Istanbul’s district memory. Ahmed Reşad Paşa and his son-in-law Mehmed Said Bey built Suadiye Mosque in Erenköy in her name; the area around the mosque gradually came to be known as Suadiye.

Zeliha Suad Hanım died on the night of Mevlid Kandili, 12 Rabi‘ al-awwal 1323, corresponding to 17 May 1905, and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.