Everything about Waqf totally explained
A
waqf (
plural,
awqāf; ) is an inalienable religious endowment in
Islam, typically devoting a building or plot of land for
Muslim religious or charitable purposes. It is conceptually similar to the
common law trust.
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 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
remedies; 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.
Comparisons with trust law
The
waqf in
Islamic law, which developed in the
medieval Islamic world from the 7th to 9th centuries, bears a notable resemblance to the English
trust law. Every
waqf was required to have a
waqif (founder),
mutawillis (trustee),
qadi (judge) and beneficiaries. Under both a
waqf and a trust, "property is reserved, and its
usufruct appropriated, for the benefit of specific individuals, or for a general
charitable purpose; the corpus becomes
inalienable;
estates for life in favor of successive beneficiaries can be created" and "without regard to the law of
inheritance or the rights of the heirs; and continuity is secured by the successive appointment of trustees or
mutawillis."
The only significant distinction between the Islamic
waqf and English trust was "the express or implied reversion of the
waqf to charitable purposes when its specific object has ceased to exist", though this difference only applied to the
waqf ahli (Islamic family trust) rather than the
waqf khairi (devoted to a charitable purpose from its inception). Another difference was the English vesting of "legal estate" over the trust property in the trustee, though the "trustee was still bound to administer that property for the benefit of the beneficiaries." In this sense, the "role of the English trustee therefore doesn't differ significantly from that of the
mutawalli."
The trust law developed in
England at the time of the
Crusades, during the 12th and 13th centuries. The trust was introduced by Crusaders who may have been influenced by the
waqf institutions they came across in the
Middle East.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Waqf'.
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