A waqf (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or mortmain property, is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitable purposes with no intention of reclaiming the assets. A charitable trust may hold the donated assets. The person making such a donation is known as a ('donor') who uses a mutawalli ('trustee') to manage the property in exchange for a share of the revenues it generates. A waqf allows the state to provide social services in accordance with Islamic law while contributing to the preservation of cultural and historical sites. Although the waqf system depended on several hadiths and presented elements similar to practices from pre-Islamic cultures, it seems that the specific full-fledged Islamic legal form of endowment called waqf dates from the 9th century CE (see below).
Terminology
In Sunni jurisprudence, the waqf ()Hisham Yaacob, 2006, Waqf Accounting in Malaysian State Islamic Religious Institutions: The Case of Federal Territory SIRC, unpublished Master dissertation, International Islamic University Malaysia. is synonymous with the (, also called or , and commonly rendered in French). Habs and similar terms are used mainly by Maliki jurists. In Twelver Shiism, is a particular type of waqf, in which the founder reserves the right to dispose of the waqf property. The person making the grant is called (or ) while the endowed assets are called (or ).
In older English-language law-related works in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, the word used for waqf was vakouf; - Translation inclosed in dispatch No. 113 in the MS. Records, U.S. Department of State, dated 26 December 1876 (PDF version) the word, also present in such French works, was used during the time of the Ottoman Empire, and is from the Turkish .
Definition The term waqf literally means 'confinement and prohibition', or causing a thing to stop or stand still.Hassan (1984) as cited in HS Nahar and H Yaacob, 2011, Accountability in the Sacred Context: The case of management, accounting and reporting of a Malaysian cash awqāf institution, Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 87–113. According to Islamic law, once an asset has been donated as waqf, it cannot be sold, transferred or given as a gift. Once a waqif has verbally or in writing declared a waqf property, it is legally conceived as the property of Allah and must be used to "fulfill public or family needs" as a charitable social service. A waqf property can fall into one of two categories: movable or immovable. A 'movable' asset includes money or shares which are used to finance educational, religious or cultural institutions such as madrasas or mosques. The madrasahs and mosques themselves are an example of an 'immovable' asset, which refers to land or structures open for public use. An important function of the latter is also to provide shelter and community spaces to the poor, also known as the mawquf 'alayh (beneficiaries).
Bahaeddin Yediyıldız defines waqf as a system comprising three elements: , , and waqf. , the plural form of , means 'goodnesses' and refers to the motivational factor behind the organization; refers to corpus and literally means 'real estates,' implying revenue-generating sources such as markets (, , , etc.), land, and baths; and waqf, in its narrow sense, is the institution(s) providing services as committed in the deed, such as , public kitchens (), , mosques, libraries, etc.
Generally, the waqf must fulfill three primary constraints: The one endowing the waqf, and its subsequent maintainers, should sequester the principal and allocate the proceeds to charity. The endowment should legally be removed from commodification, such that it is no longer on the market. Its sole purpose must be charitable, and the beneficiary group must be named.
Origin in Islamic texts Although there is no direct Quranic injunction regarding awqāf, it can be inferred from Surah Al Imran (3:92): "You will never achieve righteousness until you donate some of what you cherish. And whatever you give is certainly well known to Allah." Their formal conception in Islamic society has been derived from a number of hadiths. It is said that during the time of Muhammad, after the Hijrah, the first waqf was composed of a grove of 600 date palms. The proceeds of this waqf were meant to feed Medina's poor.Khan, 2020, "Reviving the Waqf Tradition: Moral Imagination and the Structural Causes of Poverty",
In one tradition, it is said that: "Ibn Umar reported, Umar Ibn Al-Khattab got land in Khaybar, so he came to Muhammad and asked him to advise him about it. Muhammad said, 'If you like, make the property inalienable and give the profit from it to charity.' It goes on to say that Umar gave it away as alms, that the land itself would not be sold, inherited, or donated. He gave it away for the poor, the relatives, the slaves, the jihad, the travelers, and the guests. It will not be held against him who administers it if he consumes some of its yield in an appropriate manner or feeds a friend who does not enrich himself by means of it."Ibn Ḥad̲j̲ar al-ʿAsḳalānī, Bulūg̲h̲ al-Marām, Cairo n.d., no. 784. Quoted in Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Waḳf".
In another hadith, Muhammad said, "When a man dies, only three deeds will survive him: continuing alms, profitable knowledge, and a child praying for him."Ibn Ḥad̲j̲ar al-ʿAsḳalānī, Bulūg̲h̲ al-Marām, Cairo n.d., no. 783. Quoted in Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Waḳf".
Life cycle
Founding
Islamic law places several legal conditions on the process of establishing a waqf.
Founder
A waqf is a contract; therefore, the founder (called or in Arabic) must be capable of entering into a contract. For this, the founder must: be an adult be sound of mind be capable of handling financial affairs not be under interdiction for bankruptcy
Although waqf is an Islamic institution, being a Muslim is not required to establish a waqf, and may establish a waqf. Finally, if a person is fatally ill, the waqf is subject to the same restrictions as a will in Islam.
Characteristics of a waqf
The waqf must be established by someone who is legally capable of disposing of their property, which means they must be an adult of sound mind and a responsible person. It cannot be done by a minor, someone whose mental faculties prevents them from comprehending their choice, or someone lacking legal capacity. The person establishing the waqf (the waqif) must designate a specific beneficiary or recipient for the waqf, such as a mosque, a specific individual, or an institution. It cannot be left in his or her discretion. The waqf should not be subject to any conditions, hanging or temporary clauses, or be contingent on certain events, like the option to revoke it. The waqif (the one establishing the waqf) should not include any conditions that are contrary to the essential conditions, like a condition that allows them to sell or gift the endowed property whenever they wish, or a condition that grants them personal choice or discretion over it. The waqf should be of a virtuous and moral nature, reflecting what is ethical and righteous, and it should not support or be associated with corrupt or unethical activities. It should be established with the intention of promoting goodness and benefiting society. The property being endowed in the waqf should either be owned by the waqif (the person establishing the waqf) or acquired with the waqif's own funds. It should not involve borrowed money or property that the waqif does not own outright.
Waqfiyya (endowment document) Each waqf is supposed to be recorded in an endowment deed, called a waqfiyya. Waqfiyyas follow "Islamic legal and fiscal-geographical conventions." They include the names of the property, the endowed fraction (in 24–qarats), and additional descriptions, most often delimitation of their boundary.R. Marom, "Sukayk and al-Summāqah: Mamluk Rural Geography in the Northern Jawlān/Golan Heights in the Light of Qāytbāy's Endowment Deeds," in K. Raphael and M. Abbasi (ed.s), The Golan in the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods: an Archaeological and Historical Study: Excavations at Naʿarān and Farj, In Honour of Moshe Hartal, Yigal Ben Ephraim and Shuqri 'Arraf, Annual of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion Volume xiv (2024): 60
Women's contribution to the waqf system
Some of the founders of Ottoman awqāf were women, whose establishments had a crucial impact on the economic life of their communities. Out of 30,000 waqf certificates documented by the Directorate General of Foundations, over 2300 of them were registered to institutions that belonged to women. Of the 491 public fountains in Istanbul that were constructed during the Ottoman period and survived until the 1930s, nearly 30% of them were registered under awqāf that belonged to women.
Property
The property (called or ) used to found a waqf must be objects of a valid contract. The objects should not themselves be haram (e.g. khamr or pork). These objects should not already be in the public domain: public property cannot be used to establish a waqf. The founder cannot have pledged the property previously to someone else. These conditions generally apply to contracts in Islam.
The property dedicated to waqf is generally immovable, such as an estate. All movable goods can also form waqf, according to most Islamic jurists. The Hanafi school, however, also allows most movable goods to be dedicated to a waqf with some restrictions. Some jurists have argued that even gold and silver (or other currency) can be designated as waqf.
Documents listing endowments (waqfiyyas) often include the name of the endower, the listed property or fiscal unit, the endowed fraction (in 24-qarats), and a description of its boundary. The boundary descriptions start in Islamic direction of prayer and go counterclockwise by listing different landscape elements. Endowment deeds most often include the conditions of the endowment and its administration.
Beneficiaries
The beneficiaries of the waqf can be individuals and public utilities. The founder can specify which persons are eligible for benefits (such as the founder's family, the entire community, only the poor, or travellers). Public utilities such as mosques, schools, bridges, graveyards, and drinking fountains can be the beneficiaries of a waqf. Modern legislation categorizes the waqf into two types: "charitable causes," where the beneficiaries are the public or the poor, and "family" waqf, where the founder designates their relatives as beneficiaries. There can also be multiple beneficiaries. For example, the founder may stipulate that half the proceeds go to their family, while the other half goes to the poor.
Valid beneficiaries must satisfy the following conditions: They must be identifiable. At least some of the beneficiaries must also have existed at the time of the waqf's founding. The Maliki school, however, hold that a waqf may exist for some time without beneficiaries, and the proceeds accumulated are given to beneficiaries once they come into existence. An example of a non-existent beneficiary is an unborn child. The beneficiaries must not be at war with the Muslims. Scholars stress that non-Muslim citizens of the Islamic state (dhimmi) can definitely be beneficiaries. The beneficiaries may not use the waqf for a purpose in contradiction of Islamic principles.
There is dispute over whether the founder themselves can reserve exclusive rights to use waqf. Most scholars agree that once a waqf is founded, it cannot be revoked.
The Ḥanafīs hold that the list of beneficiaries includes a perpetual element; the waqf must specify its beneficiaries in case.Waḳf, Encyclopaedia of Islam
Declaration of founding