Waqf

For the Jordan-appointed Jerusalem waqf, seeJerusalem Waqf.For the Turkish neighbourhood, seeVakıf, Akyazı.

Awaqf(Arabic:وَقْف;[ˈwɑqf],pluralawqafأَوْقَاف), also called aḥabs(حَبْس,pluralḥubūsحُبوسoraḥbāsأَحْباس), ormortmainproperty, is aninalienablecharitableendowmentunderIslamic law.It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets forMuslimreligious or charitable purposes with no intention of reclaiming the assets.Acharitable trustmay hold the donated assets. The person making such dedication is known as awaqif('donor') who uses amutawalli('trustee') to manage the property in exchange for a share of the revenues it generates.InOttoman Turkish law,and later under theBritish Mandate of Palestine,awaqfwas defined asusufructstate land (or property) from which the state revenues are assured to pious foundations.It allows the state to provide social services in accordance with Islamic law while contributing to the preservation of cultural and historical sites.Although thewaqfsystem depended on severalhadithsand presented elements similar to practices from pre-Islamic cultures, it seems that the specific full-fledged Islamic legal form ofendowmentcalledwaqfdates from the 9th century AD (see§ History and locationbelow).

Terminology

In Sunni jurisprudence,waqf,also spelledwakf(Arabic:وَقْف;pluralأَوْقاف,awqāf;Turkish:vakıf)is synonymous withḥabs(حَبْس,also calledḥubsحُبْسorḥubusحُبْوسand commonly renderedhabousin French).Habsand similar terms are used mainly byMalikijurists.InTwelver Shiism,ḥabsis a particular type ofwaqf,in which the founder reserves the right to dispose of thewaqfproperty.The person making the grant is calledal-waqif(oral-muhabbis) while the endowed assets are calledal-mawquf(oral-muhabbas).

In older English-language law-related works in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, the word used forwaqfwasvakouf;the word, also present in such French works, was used during the time of the Ottoman Empire, and is from the Turkishvakıf.

Definition

The termwaqfliterally means 'confinement and prohibition', or causing a thing to stop or stand still.According to Islamic law, once an asset has been donated aswaqfit cannot be sold, transferred or given as a gift.Once awaqifhas verbally or in writing declared awaqfproperty, 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.Awaqfproperty 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 asmadrasahs(Islamic schools) ormosques.Themadrasahsandmosquesthemselves 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 themawquf 'alayh(beneficiaries).

Bahaeddin Yediyıldız defineswaqfas a system comprising three elements:hayrat,akarat,andwaqf.Hayrat,the plural form ofhayr,means 'goodnesses' and refers to the motivational factor behind thevakıforganization;akaratrefers to corpus and literally means 'real estates,' implying revenue-generating sources such as markets (bedestens,arastas,hans,etc.), land, and baths; andwaqf,in its narrow sense, is the institution(s) providing services as committed in thevakıfdeed, such asmadrasas,public kitchens (imarets),karwansarays,mosques, libraries, etc.

Generally, thewaqfmust fulfill three primary constraints:

1. The one endowing thewaqf,and its subsequent maintainers, should sequester the principal and allocate the proceeds to charity.
2. The endowment should legally be removed from commodification, such that it is no longer on the market.
3. Its sole purpose must be charitable, and the beneficiary group must be named.

Origin in Islamic Texts

Although there is no direct Quranic injunction regardingwaqf,it can be inferred fromSurah 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 ofhadiths.It is said that during the time of Muhammad, after theHijrah,the firstwaqfwas composed of a grove of 600 date palms. The proceeds of thiswaqfwere meant to feed Medina's poor.

In one tradition, it is said that: "Ibn Umar reported,Umar Ibn Al-Khattabgot land inKhaybar,so he came toMuhammadand 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, thejihad,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. "

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."

Life cycle

Endowment Deed ofMihrimah Sultan.This document concerns the endowment of properties in Anatolia and Rumelia, from which revenues were used to meet the expenses of theMihrimah Sultan Mosquecomplex. April–March 1550.Sadberk Hanım Museum

Founding

Islamic lawplaces several legal conditions on the process of establishing awaqf.

Founder

Awaqfis a contract; therefore, the founder (calledal-wāqiforal-muḥabbisin Arabic) must be capable of entering into a contract. For this, the founder must:

• be anadult
• besound of mind
• be capable of handling financial affairs
• not be under interdiction for bankruptcy

Althoughwaqfis an Islamic institution, being a Muslim is not required to establish awaqf,anddhimmismay establish awaqf.Finally, if a person is fatally ill, thewaqfis subject to the same restrictions as a will in Islam.

Characteristics of al 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, an insane person, 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.

Women's contribution to thewaqfsystem

Some of the founders of Ottomanwaqfswere women, with their establishments having a crucial impact on their communities' economic life.Out of 30,000waqfcertificates 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 underwaqfsthat belonged to women.

Property

The property (calledal-mawqūforal-muḥabbas) used to found awaqfmust be objects of a valid contract. The objects should not themselves beharam(e.g.wineorpork). 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.

The property dedicated towaqfis generally immovable, such as an estate. All movable goods can also formwaqf,according to most Islamic jurists. The Hanafis, however, also allow most movable goods to be dedicated to awaqfwith some restrictions. Some jurists have argued that even gold and silver (or other currency) can be designated aswaqf.

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 itsboundary.The boundary descriptions start inIslamic direction of prayerand gocounterclockwiseby listing differentlandscapeelements. Endowment deeds most often include the conditions of the endowment and its administration.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of thewaqfcan 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 awaqf.Modern legislation divides thewaqfinto "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 exist at the time of the founding of thewaqf.The Mālikīs, however, hold that awaqfmay 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 thewaqffor a purpose in contradiction of Islamic principles.

There is dispute over whether the founder themselves can reserve exclusive rights to usewaqf.Most scholars agree that once thewaqfis founded, it cannot be taken back.

The Ḥanafīs hold that the list of beneficiaries includes a perpetual element; thewaqfmust specify its beneficiaries in case.

Declaration of founding

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 theHanbaliand 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, thewaqfbecomes an institution in its own right.

Administration

"Mutawallī" redirects here. Not to be confused withMutawālī.

WaqfWriting Room inMevlana Museum

Usually, awaqfhas a range of beneficiaries. Thus, the founder makes arrangements beforehand by appointing an administrator (callednāẓirormutawallīorḳayyim) and lays down the rules for appointing successive administrators. The founder may choose to administer thewaqfduring 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 thewaqf.

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 theHanafisdrop this requirement.

Extinction

Awaqfis intended to be perpetual and last forever. Nevertheless, Islamic law envisages conditions under which thewaqfmay be terminated:

• If the goods of thewaqfare destroyed or damaged. Scholars interpret this as the case where goods are no longer used in the manner intended by the founder. The remains of the goods are to revert to the founder or their heirs. Other scholars, however, hold that all possibilities must be examined to see if the goods of thewaqfcan be used at all, exhausting all methods of exploitation before termination. Thus, land, according to such jurists, can never become extinguished.
• Awaqfcan be declared null and void by theḳāḍī,or religious judge, if its formation includes committing acts otherwise illegal in Islam, or it does not satisfy the conditions of validity, or if it is against the notion of philanthropy. Sincewaqfis an Islamic institution, it becomes void if the founder converts to another religion.
• According to the Mālikī school of thought, the termination of thewaqfmay be specified in its founding declaration. As thewaqfwould expire whenever its termination conditions are fulfilled (e.g., the last beneficiary). Thewaqfproperty thenrevertsto the founder or to their heirs.

History and location

Uthmanwaqf(Medina)

The practices attributed to Muhammad have promoted the institution ofwaqffrom the earliest part of Islamic history.

The two oldest knownwaqfiya(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 datedwaqfiyagoes back to 876 CE and concerns a multi-volume edition of the Qur'an currently held by theTurkish and Islamic Arts MuseuminIstanbul.A possibly olderwaqfiyais a papyrus held by theLouvreMuseum inParis,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 thewaqfstatus of an inn, but is in itself not the original deed; it is held at theEretz Israel MuseuminTel Aviv.

Saudi Arabia

The total number of registered endowments in Saudi Arabia is 33,229.

Jerusalem

Main article:Jerusalem Waqf

In the 16th century, theHaseki Sultan Complexcharitable 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 inOttoman Syria(nowPalestine,IsraelandLebanon.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.

Egypt

The earliest pious foundations in Egypt were charitable gifts, and not in the form of awaqf.The first mosque built by 'Amr ibn al-'Asis an example of this: the land was donated byQaysaba bin Kulthum,and the mosque's expenses were then paid by theBayt al-mal.The earliest knownwaqf,founded by financial official Abū Bakr Muḥammad bin Ali al-Madhara'i in 919 (during theAbbasid 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.

India

Further information:Central Waqf Council

Early references towaqfin India can be found in the 14th-century workInsha-i-Mahruby Aynul Mulk ibn Mahru. According to the book,Muhammad of Ghordedicated two villages in favor of acongregational mosqueinMultan,and, handed its administration to theShaykh al-Islām(highest ecclesiastical officer of the Empire). In the coming years, several morewaqfwere created, as theDelhi Sultanateflourished.

As per the Wakf Act 1954 (later Wakf Act 1995) enacted by the government of India,waqfare categorized as (a)waqfby user such as graveyards,Musafir Khanas(Sarai) andChowltriesetc., (b)waqfunderMashrutul-khidmat(Service Inam) such asKhaziservice,Nirkhiservice,Pesh Imamservice andKhateebservice etc., and (c)Wakf Alal-auladis dedicated by the Donor (Wakif) for the benefit of their kith and kin and for any purpose recognised by Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable. After the enactment Wakf Act 1954, the Union government directed to all the states governments to implement the Act for administering the wakf institutions like mosques,dargahs,hussainiyas,graveyards,takhiyas,eidgah,anjumans,and various religious and charitable institutions.A statutory body under Government of India, which also overseesState Wakf Boards.In turn the State Wakf Boards work towards management, regulation and protect the Wakf properties by constituting District Wakf Committees,MandalWakf Committees and Committees for the individual Wakf Institutions.As per the report ofSachar Committee(2006) there are about 500,000 registered Wakfs with 600,000 acres (2,400 km²) land in India, andRs.60 billion book value.

Zanzibar

While it is difficult to pinpoint the historical origins ofwaqfin East Africa, the practice began to formalize in the 17th Century after theSultan of Oman, Sayyid Saïd,had cemented his control over Zanzibar and the East African coastline.Until this point, archeological evidence has unearthed several old mosques along the Swahili Coast which are believed to be informalwaqfdating as far back as the 8th Century.The formalization ofwaqfcan be traced back to 1820 when Sultan Said moved the Omani Sultanate to Stone Town, Zanzibar. This marked a shift fromwaqfas an Islamic scriptural imperative to a local and centralized institutional practice legitimated by the royal family. From this point onward, the urban development of the port city of the East African archipelago was shaped bywaqfpractices. As such, the majority of greater Stone Town becamewaqfproperty made available for free habitation or cemeteries by noblemen, approximately 6.4% of which was public housing for the poor.

It is important to note that economic changes in Zanzibar shapedwaqfpractices overtime. Under Omani rule slavery and the cash crop industry was booming, specifically because of the exportation of spices, which strengthened the elite class of the Omani aristocracy.In the context of growing inequality, the nobility usedwaqfto provide public housing to slaves and peasants as well mosques, madrasahs and land for free habitation and cultivation. For instance, all 66 mosques in Stone Town were waqf privately financed and owned by noble waqif as a display of social status and duty to their neighborhood.Under this system, the architectural configuration of Stone Town was entirely managed by the Sultanate and its network of nobility. This effectively allowed elites to practicezakatthroughwaqfwhile doubling as a means to secure control over the local population.

The East African archipelago underwent an economic recession from 1860 to 1880 that threatened the private property of the elite class.In a time when landowners were forced to sell or mortgage their properties to foreign investors,waqfbecame a means to legally safeguard properties under conditions of debt. In donating assets to the public, the aristocracy managed to preserve their wealth while providing land, financial support and community spaces such as mosques to the general public.

When Zanzibar became a British protectorate in 1890, almost half the island waswaqfproperty.In order to establish control, the British realised that they would either have to privatisewaqfor gain administrative control over them. A series of decrees were subsequently issues to incorporate allwaqfproperties into the colonial bureaucracy. The Waqf Property Decree which formed the Waqf Commission in 1905 was composed of a majority of British officials and a minority of Islamic authorities to represent the Sultanate who maintained a degree of influence over the island.This shift marked the further formalization ofwaqfinto the state apparatus, a move which allowed the English to directly control the preservation and maintenance of publicly used assets as well as the surplus revenues generated from them. It was also part of whatAli Mazruicalls the 'dis-Islamization' and 'de-Arabization' of Swahili culture by British colonialism, a strategy used to rid the territory of Omani influence.While Mazrui speaks of this in the context of the Swahili language, it can also be seen by the way in which the British deviated from the Islamic values underpinningwaqfpractices. What was initially intended as a charitable practice that would provide social services was replaced by a focus on profit over public welfare.This ruptured the social and political relations that were formed between the upper and lower classes during Omani rule as the underlying values used to manage waqf were lost in translation.

The Zanzibari Revolution which followed a year after independence in 1963 installed a new government under the helm of the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP).An important part of the revolution was the prosecution of the Zanzibari elite of Arabic descent. This left a significant portion of land, much of which waswaqf,to be nationalised by the newly independent state as part of their socialist development programme.The revolution highlights a crucial turn point inwaqfinstitutions in Zanzibar, namely the 'public' ownership of these assets that disposed of the need for awaqif.In this way,waqfwas further cemented as a political institution regulated by a centralized state while being managed bymutawallis.It allowed the poorest inhabitants of Stone Town to reside inwaqfbuildings that were previously reserved for the relatives ofwaqiffamilies. While this may appear to be an act of good fortune, the nationalisation of allwaqfassets led to the loss and destruction of many properties because of a lack of funding because the state did not have the means to preservewaqfas effectively as it were under the private control ofwaqifnobility.

According to Bowen, when practicing Islam, Muslims "engage in a dialogue between potentially conflicting cultural orders: the universalistic imperatives of Islam (as locally understood) and the values embedded in a particular society".While Bowen analyzes how Islamic rituals are practiced in context, this logic can arguably be applied to how the history of waqf in Zanzibar is shaped by "local cultural concerns and to universalistic scriptural imperatives".In fact, this conflict is evident in the way in whichwaqfhas historically served a dual purpose in Zanzibar; to satisfy the inalienable Islamic law ofwaqfas a source of charity and thereby public welfare while doubling as a tool of domination used by the ruling class to maintain the dependence of the lower classes. While the former was somewhat preserved as a scripture-based normative foundation ofwaqfinstitutions, the nature and dynamics of the latter was contingent on the nature and dynamics of regime changes in Zanzibar. Under Omani rule,waqfwas practiced by the aristocratic class as an outward demonstration of Islamic piety while simultaneously serving as a means to control slaves and the local population through social housing, educational facilities and religious institutions like mosques. When an economic recession threatened the position of the elite, noblemen usedwaqfto maintain ownership of their properties to avoid selling or mortgaging their land thereby altering the economic function of the practice. After the British gained control of Zanzibar and further formalizedwaqfas a political institution, it was used to culturally subvert the local population and gradually rid it off its Arabic origins. This persisted after independence when the newly independent state sought to further eliminate Arabic influence by nationalizing all waqf properties as a means to gain control of private property.

Other

Thewaqfinstitutions were not popular in all parts of the Muslim world. In West Africa, very few examples of the institution can be found, and were usually limited to the area aroundTimbuktuandDjennéinMassina Empire.Instead, Islamic west African societies placed a much greater emphasis on non-permanent acts of charity. According to expert Illife, this can be explained by West Africa's tradition of "personal largesse." The imam would make himself the collector and distributor of charity, thus building his personal prestige.

According to Hamas, all of historic Palestine is an Islamic waqf.This belief, a relatively recent one, forms part of the group's mythology.

InSoutheastern Europe,there are several places inBosnia and Herzegovinathat were originally built under the waqf system, such asGornji Vakuf,andDonji Vakuf.

Funding of schools and hospitals

Endowment Charter (Waqfiyya) ofHürrem Sultan.The deed mentioned the buildings known from later sources as the Haseki Hürrem Sultan Mosque, Madrasa andImaret(soup-kitchen), and contain a detailed explanation as to how expenditures will be made to take care of the endowment's operations, such as the care and cleaning of the buildings, the salaries of the people who worked in them, and so forth. AD 1556-1557 (AH 964).Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts

After the Islamic waqf law andmadrassahfoundations were firmly established by the 10th century, the number ofBimaristanhospitals multiplied throughout Islamic lands. By the 11th century, many Islamic cities had several hospitals. The waqf trust institutions funded the hospitals for various expenses, including the wages of doctors,ophthalmologists,surgeons,chemists,pharmacists,domesticsand all other staff, the purchase of foods andmedicines;hospital equipment such as beds, mattresses, bowls and perfumes; and repairs to buildings. The waqf trusts also funded medical schools, and theirrevenuescovered various expenses such as their maintenance and the payment of teachers and students.

From the more peculiar examples of healthcare-related waqfs, in the city of Tripoli, a man had set up a waqf which employed two people who would "walk through the hospitals every day and speak quietly to one another in the patients' hearing, remarking on their improvement and good colour".

Comparisons with trust law

ThewaqfinIslamic law,which developed in themedieval Islamic worldfrom the 7th to 9th centuries, bears a notable resemblance to the Englishtrust law.Everywaqfwas required to have awaqif(founder),mutawillis(trustee),qadi(judge) and beneficiaries.Under both awaqfand a trust, "property is reserved, and itsusufructappropriated, for the benefit of specific individuals, or for a general charitable purpose; the corpus becomesinalienable;estatesfor life in favor of successive beneficiaries can be created "and" without regard to the law ofinheritanceor the rights of the heirs; and continuity is secured by the successive appointment of trustees ormutawillis."

The only significant distinction between the Islamicwaqfand English trust was "the express or implied reversion of thewaqfto charitable purposes when its specific object has ceased to exist ",though this difference only applied to thewaqf ahli(Islamic family trust) rather than thewaqf 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 does not differ significantly from that of themutawalli."

Personal trust law developed in England at the time of theCrusades,during the 12th and 13th centuries. The Court of Chancery, under the principles of equity, enforced the rights of absentee Crusaders who had made temporary assignments of their lands to caretakers. It has been speculated that this development may have been influenced by thewaqfinstitutions in theMiddle East.

See also

• Central Waqf Council(India)
• Jerusalem Islamic Waqf
• Charitable trust
• Islamic economic jurisprudence
• Islamic economics in the world
• Private foundation
• Trust law
• Zakah
• Waqf of Ibshir Mustafa Pasha Complex
• AWQAF Africa
• Haryana Waqf Board(India)
• Ministry of Awqaf (Egypt)
• Ministry of Evkaf(Ottoman Empire)
• Office of the Waqf Administrator(Bangladesh)

Further reading

• Arjomand, Said Amir; Feierman, Steven; Ilchman, Warren Frederick; Katz, Stanley Nider; Queen, Edward L. (1998),Philanthropy in the World's Traditions,Indiana University Press,ISBN978-0-253-33392-6
• 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,doi:10.2307/3312162,JSTOR3312162,S2CID153149243
• Hudson, A. (2003),Equity and Trusts(3rd ed.), London: Cavendish Publishing,ISBN978-1-85941-729-4
• Morelon, Régis; Rashed, Roshdi (1996),Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science,vol. 3,Routledge,ISBN978-0-415-12410-2

• Real property, mortgage and wakf according to Ottoman law,by D. Gatteschi. Pub. Wyman & Sons, 1884.
• Waqf in Central Asia: four hundred years in the history of a Muslim shrine, 1480–1889,by R. D. McChesney. Princeton University Press, 1991.ISBN069105584X.
• Wakf administration in India: a socio-legal study,by Khalid Rashid. Vikas Pub., 1978.ISBN0-7069-0690-X.
• ′′Le vakif – un aspect de la structure socio-économique de l'Empire Оttoman (XV-e - XVIII-e s.)′′, by Vera Moutaftchieva. Sofia-Press, 1981
• ′′Inventory of Ottoman Turkish documents about waqf preserved in the Oriental Department at the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library. Part 1- Registers′′, by Evgeni Radushev, Svetlana Ivanova, Rumen Kovachev, Rossitsa Gradeva, Vera Mutafchieva. Sofia, IMIR, 2003.ISBN954-8872-50-1http://veramutafchieva.net/pdf/198.pdf
• ′′Agrarian Relations in the Ottoman Empire in the 15th and 16th Centuries′′, by Vera P. Mutafchieva. New York, Columbia Univ. Press (East European monographs; CCLI) 1988.ISBN0880331488

External links

• [2],Muslim Philanthropy Digital Library, an open-source Library managed by the research program at the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo
• Islamic Law of waqf according to Five Islamic schools of jurisprudenceArchived4 September 2006 at theWayback Machine
• Islamic Law According to Five schools of jurisprudenceArchived4 September 2006 at theWayback Machine
• Islamic law concerning waqf (Public Trust)Archived4 September 2006 at theWayback Machine
• Encyclopaedia of the Orient article on waqf
• TheHoda Centerin Gainesville, FL is also known (lovingly) as "The Waqf"
• Es Seyyid Osman Hulûsi Efendi Waqfin Darende, in Turkiye.
• Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation
• Waqfunaموقع "وقفنا"
• Huge properties, little earnings: What ails the Waqf Boards in India?