Over the course of centuries, charitable institutions such as schools, madrasas, caravansaries, public baths, mosques, and soup kitchens were built in the Seljuk and Ottoman lands as monuments of voluntary service to the people. Based on religious beliefs cast in the mold of beneficence, Anatolia was endowed with these monuments of compassion. One example of these institutions was the hospitals. In these institutions people were treated free of charge regardless of their religion, the language they spoke, or their race. Sifahenes were the hospitals of the time. They were treatment sanctuaries for travelers, merchants, and the homeless. These darüssifas, which assumed the role of hospitals, took shape during the era of Islamic civilization and continued to provide service throughout the Seljuk and Ottoman eras as wel. Sufahanes, regarded as "a house of healing" or "a refuge of health", were usually called a darüssifa (house of healing); however, in different eras and different places they were referred to as bîmarhâne (house for the sick), bîmâristan, mâristan (abode of the sick), dârülmerza (house of the sick), dârülâfiye (house of wellbeing), dârüssihha (house of health; Arabic) sifahane, (house of health; Persian) dârü't-tibb (house of medicine), sifaiyye (that which is for healing), and tîmârhâne (house of caressing). wHB / 1800 gr. / second edition. - from Amzon