Waqf

This article is about the religious endowment. For the Armenian village, see Vakıflı.

Part of a series on Islamic Jurisprudence – a discipline of Islamic studies

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A waqf (Arabic: وقف‎, pronounced [ˈwæqf]; plural Arabic: أوقاف‎, awqāf; Turkish: vakıf) is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes.

Definitions

The term waqf literally means detention. The legal meaning of Waqf according to Imam Abu Hanifa is the detention of specific thing in the ownership of waqif and the devoting of its profit or products "in charity of poors or other good objects".

Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad Says: Waqf signifies the extinction of the waqf`s ownership in the thing dedicated and detention of all the thing in the implied ownership of God, in such a manner that its profits may revert to or be applied "for the benefit of Mankind".

There is no direct injunction of the Quran regarding Waqf, but there is a hadith which says "Ibn Umar reported, Umer-Ibn-Al- Khitab got land in khyber, so he came to the prophet Muhammad Swl and asked him to advice him about it. The Prophet said, if you like, make the property inalienable, and give the profit from it to charity." Waqf means the permanent dedication by a Muslim of any property for any purpose recognized by the Muslim law as religious, pious or charitable.

Funding of schools and hospitals

After the Islamic waqf law and madrassah foundations were firmly established by the 10th century, the number of Bimaristan hospitals multiplied throughout Islamic lands. In the 11th century, every Islamic city had at least several hospitals. The waqf trust institutions funded the hospitals for various expenses, including the wages of doctors, ophthalmologists, surgeons, chemists, pharmacists, domestics and all other staff, the purchase of foods and medicines; hospital equipment such as beds, mattresses, bowls and perfumes; and repairs to buildings. The waqf trusts also funded medical schools, and their revenues covered various expenses such as their maintenance and the payment of teachers and students.^[1]

See also

• Charitable trust
• Islamic economic jurisprudence
• Islamic economics in the world
• Trust law
• Vakuf
• Zakah

Notes

References

• Gaudiosi, Monica M. (April 1988), "The Influence of the Islamic Law of Waqf on the Development of the Trust in England: The Case of Merton College", University of Pennsylvania Law Review 136 (4): 1231–1261
• Hudson, A. (2003), Equity and Trusts (3rd ed.), London: Cavendish Publishing, ISBN 1-85941-729-9
• Morelon, Régis; Rashed, Roshdi (1996), Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, 3, Routledge, ISBN 0415124107

External links

• Islamic Law of waqf according to Five Islamic schools of jurisprudence
• Islamic Law According to Five schools of jurisprudence
• Islamic law concerning waqf (Public Trust).[1]
• Encyclopaedia of the Orient article on waqf
• The Hoda Center in Gainesville, FL is also known (lovingly) as "The Waqf"
• Es Seyyid Osman Hulûsi Efendi Waqf in Darende, in Turkiye.
• Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation [2]
• Waqfuna موقع " وقفنا "[3]
• Huge properties, little earnings: What ails the Waqf Boards in India?