Waqf E Nau
Gunilla
A waqf (Arabic: وَقْف; [ˈwɑqf], plural awqaf أَوْقَاف), also called a ḥabs (حَبْس, plural ḥubūs حُبوس or aḥbās أَحْباس), 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.[1] A charitable trust may hold the donated assets. The person making such dedication is known as a waqif ('donor') who uses a mutawalli ('trustee') to manage the property in exchange for a share of the revenues it generates.[2] In Ottoman Turkish law, and later under the British Mandate of Palestine, a waqf was defined as usufruct state land (or property) from which the state revenues are assured to pious foundations.[3] It allows the state to provide social services in accordance with Islamic law while contributing to the preservation of cultural and historical sites.[4] 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 AD (see History and location below).
In older English-language law-related works in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, the word used for waqf was vakouf;[7] the word, also present in such French works, was used during the time of the Ottoman Empire, and is from the Turkish vakıf.[8]
The term waqf literally means 'confinement and prohibition', or causing a thing to stop or stand still.[9] According to Islamic law, once an asset has been donated as waqf it cannot be sold, transferred or given as a gift.[10] Once a waqif has verbally or in writing declared a waqf property, it is legally conceived as the property of Allah (swt) and must be used to "fulfill public of family needs" as a charitable social service.[11] 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 madrasahs (Islamic schools) or mosques.[citation needed] 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).[12]
Although there is no direct Quranic injunction regarding waqf, it can be inferred from Surah Al-i'-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.[14]
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."[15]
Although waqf is an Islamic institution, being a Muslim is not required to establish a waqf, and dhimmis may establish a waqf. Finally, if a person is fatally ill, the waqf is subject to the same restrictions as a will in Islam.[18]
Some of the founders of Ottoman waqfs were women, with their establishments having a crucial impact on their communities' economic life.[19] Out of 30,000 waqf certificates documented by the GDPFA (General Directorate of Pious Foundation in Ankara), over 2,300 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 waqfs that belonged to women.[20]
The property (called al-mawqūf or al-muḥabbas) used to found a waqf must be objects of a valid contract. The objects should not themselves be haram (e.g. wine or pork). These objects should not already be in the public domain: public property cannot be used to establish a waqf. The founder cannot also have pledged the property previously to someone else. These conditions are generally true for contracts in Islam.[18]
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 Hanafis, however, also allow 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.[18]
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.[21] [22]
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, travelers). Public utilities such as mosques, schools, bridges, graveyards, and drinking fountains can be the beneficiaries of a waqf. Modern legislation divides the waqf into "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.[18]
The declaration of founding is usually a written document, accompanied by a verbal declaration, though neither are required by most scholars. Whatever the declaration, most scholars (those of the Hanafi, Shafi'i, some of the Hanbali and the Imami Shi'a schools) hold that it is not binding and irrevocable until actually delivered to the beneficiaries or put to their use. Once in their use, however, the waqf becomes an institution in its own right.[18]
Usually, a waqf has a range of beneficiaries. Thus, the founder makes arrangements beforehand by appointing an administrator (called nāẓir or mutawallī or ḳayyim) and lays down the rules for appointing successive administrators. The founder may choose to administer the waqf during their lifetime. In some cases, however, the number of beneficiaries is quite limited. Thus, there is no need for an administrator, and the beneficiaries themselves can take care of the waqf.[18]
The administrator, like other persons of responsibility under Islamic law, must have the capacity to act and contract. In addition, trustworthiness and administrative skills are required. Some scholars require that the administrator of this Islamic religious institution be a Muslim, though the Hanafis drop this requirement.[18]
The two oldest known waqfiya (deed) documents are from the 9th century, while a third one dates from the early 10th century, all three within the Abbasid Period. The oldest dated waqfiya goes back to 876 CE and concerns a multi-volume edition of the Qur'an currently held by the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum in Istanbul.[25] A possibly older waqfiya is a papyrus held by the Louvre Museum in Paris, with no written date but considered to be from the mid-9th century. The next oldest document is a marble tablet whose inscription bears the Islamic date equivalent to 913 CE and states the waqf status of an inn, but is in itself not the original deed; it is held at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.[26][self-published source]
In the 16th century, the Haseki Sultan Complex charitable complex was founded by the wife of Suleyman the Magnificent and serviced 26 villages; the institution also included shops, a bazaar, two soap plants, 11 flour mills and two bathhouses located in Ottoman Syria (now Palestine, Israel and Lebanon.[14] For several centuries, the income generated by these businesses contributed in the maintenance of a mosque, a soup kitchen, and two traveler and pilgrim inns.[14]
The earliest pious foundations in Egypt were charitable gifts, and not in the form of a waqf. The first mosque built by 'Amr ibn al-'As is an example of this: the land was donated by Qaysaba bin Kulthum, and the mosque's expenses were then paid by the Bayt al-mal. The earliest known waqf, founded by financial official Abū Bakr Muḥammad bin Ali al-Madhara'i in 919 (during the Abbasid period), is a pond called Birkat Ḥabash together with its surrounding orchards, whose revenue was to be used to operate a hydraulic complex and feed the poor.
Early references to waqf in India can be found in the 14th-century work Insha-i-Mahru by Aynul Mulk ibn Mahru. According to the book, Muhammad of Ghor dedicated two villages in favor of a congregational mosque in Multan, and, handed its administration to the Shaykh al-Islām (highest ecclesiastical officer of the Empire). In the coming years, several more waqf were created, as the Delhi Sultanate flourished.[28]