The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) consist of 17 interconnected goals which, according to the UN, were set up to “meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world.” This article highlights the similarities between the UN SDGs and the goals of waqf. It also explains how waqf can fulfil some of the SDGs.

Waqf is indeed related to the first SDG which is ‘No Poverty’. As at 2019, about 600 million people in the world live in extreme poverty (Brookings Institute, 2020). Majority of these people live in Muslim countries. With waqf, voluntary donations by Muslims which are perpetual can alleviate poverty when properly…

Even though it is estimated that the world’s Muslim population is 24%, half of global poverty resides in the Muslim world (Al Huda Cibe, 2018). Also, 25 out of the 57 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries are the most poverty-stricken in the world (Islamic Markets, 2020). These statistics should worry Muslims but there is a way out. The way out is through Islamic Social Finance.

As an Islamic Social Finance instrument, waqf is useful in eradicating poverty in a multi-dimensional way. The first dimension is by addressing issues of social service poverty such as providing health and education services. It is well-known that waqf can complement…

The notion of waqf is not unique to Islam or Muslims alone. The concept of waqf has been adapted by the West also. By adaptation, we mean modification of waqf tenets to suit the needs and characteristics of the society in which it is adapted. The concept of waqf spreading to the West can be traced to the English Crusades (1095-1291) who brought it to the West after observing it in the Middle East in the 13th century. For this reason, waqf law has some similarities with the English trust law. One of the Crusaders who observed how waqf operated in Syria thereafter set up Merton College, Oxford University’s oldest college, based on his knowledge of charitable madrasahs as awqaf (plural of waqf)…

By now, a lot of you humble readers have been educated by the peripheries of Waqf, as a few of the previous articles have addressed it. However, if that is not the case, a fleeting summary is that Waqf is an endowment undertaken by a Muslim to a Shariah complaint charity cause. Four components need to be present to validate a Waqf contract and they are: the Waqf giver (Waqif), the subject matter (Mawquf), the Waqf recipient (Mawquf’alaih) and, lastly, the offer and acceptance.

In Arabic, the term “Waqf asset” is referred to as ‘Mawquf’, which briefly refers to the subject matter in a Waqf contract. According to the Islamic practice, a Mawquf has certain conditions to fulfil that would deem it appropriate to be used as subject matter…

One of the major improvements of waqf principle in the contemporary Muslim world is the movement away from using fixed assets as waqf. In modern times, other kinds of awqaf such as cash waqf, waqf shares, corporate waqf and books have evolved.

Cash waqf is an innovative waqf model which offers mobility. Its origins can be traced to the 15th Ottoman empire. According to the New Strait Times, cash waqf offers flexibility and simplicity in waqf management since it does not require the waqif to be so wealthy. A very good example of cash waqf is in making cash donations to maintain a mosque established through waqf. Indeed, cash waqf has the potential to solve the problems…

Islamic Finance News (IFN) defines waqf as an endowment or charitable trust involving the tying up of property in perpetuity so that it cannot be sold, inherited or donated to anyone. The use of waqf property should be shariah-compliant. Waqf can be used to provide services (e.g. schools, hospitals and mosques), infrastructure (e.g. roads, bridges and railway) as well as social services (e.g. orphanages, old peoples’ homes and shelters for the homeless). Waqf (plural: awqaf) is one of the Islamic social finance instruments which, if properly implemented, can alleviate poverty in the Muslim world. This article points out some examples of awqaf…

A common problem that people have with giving charity in the traditional sense is that when you put your money in the donation box, you never know where it goes afterwards. In the fast-paced, highly digitized world that we live in today, the services we choose are based on ease and trust. Ease comes from a smooth user experience and trust comes from the level of transparency and clarity provided as to how funds are used. Some charitable platforms have generic donation options that only function as a drop point for donations with a vague usage plan…

The current status of poverty in the global scale is alarming with latest statistics of United Nations Global Issues reporting that almost half the world live on less than $2.50 a day, 640 million people live without adequate shelter, 925 million people suffer from hunger, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services, 10.6 million died before they reached the age of 5 and 1 billion are illiterate ^[1]. And Muslim countries are not exceptional where poverty is widely spread, which manifests in starvation, malnutrition, diseases, illiteracy, imparity in income levels as well. Most of the countries in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are generally poorer…