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Endowment (waqf)

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Endowment (waqf) (Arabic: الوقف), to allocate some property to be used — whether the very property or its profit — by certain people or for a public cause. Endowment is among Islamic contracts and is to give a physical property for using its benefits with nothing to receive in return. The word “waqf” is not mentioned in the Qur'an; but, many hadiths have mentioned its recommendation and have explained its rules. Endowment can be made for a certain person or group, or for a general purpose and for all people.

Meaning

In fiqh terminology, it means blocking a property and allowing others to have its benefits or usages without receiving anything in return.[1] Blocking the property here means that after making the endowment, the transfer and wastage of the property will be prevented and its benefits will be used for the intended purpose.[2] Therefore, sometimes, the endowment is called “running charity”,[3] because its benefits remain forever.[4] Endowment has four elements:

  • Formula, is the wording which implies the endowment.
  • The endower, is the person who endows his property and receives no interest or anything in return for himself.
  • A person, persons or purpose for which the endowment is made.
  • The physical endowment: is the property or capital which is endowed.[5]

Significance

In the Qur'an, there is no verse implying the endowment. But, in books known as Ayat al-ahkam (verses of ruling), endowment is introduced in the level of sukna (using the benefits of a property for a certain period of time[6]), charity, gift, etc. and it is categorized under general titles of “perfect gifts” (a property given in return for nothing).[7] For example, in verse 92 of Qur'an 3, we read, “You will never attain piety until you spend out of what you hold dear”. For the significance of endowment they also refer to verse 20 of Qur'an 73 and verse 177 of Qur'an 2. In hadiths, endowment is mentioned explicitly;[8] while, in hadith collections, the word “sadaqa” (alms) is common and the word “waqf” is used less.[9] Hadiths about endowment are generally divided in two categories:

  • Hadiths about the recommendation of endowment
  • Hadiths about the rules of endowment

Types

Based on purposes specified for endowment, it is divided to three types:

  • Endowment for specified person or persons
  • Endowment for general titles such as poor people
  • Endowment for a certain purpose and cause: such as preaching religion and holding mourning ceremonies for the Infallible Ones (a)[10]

In the books of fiqh, endowments are divided into two types of private and general and they put the above examples under one of the two types; because, sometimes an endowments is made for one certain person or group and sometimes for a general purpose or all people.[11]

Rules

Endowments comprise a chapter in jurisprudence, in the section of transactions. Most important rules of endowment are:

  • The endower should be mature, free and having free will and should not be prohibited from using his properties.[12]
  • Formula of the endowment should be mentioned using words close to the intention of the endowment; and it is to note that, for the formula of endowment, no certain words are instructed.
  • The extent of the endowed property should be clarified. Thus, endowing a part of the properties without mentioning its exact amount is not valid.
  • The one for whom the endowment is made should be specified; therefore, endowing for some people without exactly specifying them is not permissible.
  • Endowment is valid when the endowed property remains for a considerable period of time. Therefore, endowing the fragrance of a flower, etc. is not valid.
  • Time-limited or conditioned endowment is void.
  • It is permissible to endow books, weapons, etc. in a manner that they remain and their benefits would be used.
  • Endowing with the intention of assisting sinning is not permissible.
  • If an endowment is made for people such as one's relatives, close people, etc., their extent is based on the the view of common people.
  • Before the endowment is handed over to the one for whom the endowment is made, the property belongs to the endower. If the endower dies before handing over the endowment to the one for whom the endowment is made, what he intended to endow will be held by his heirs and the endowment will be canceled.
  • The endower can assign himself or another as the supervisor of the endowment and this person is called “custodian”. Also, the endower can assign a person as the supervisor over the custodian and determines the extent of the supervisor's privileges.
  • If the endower sets the condition that in case of necessity, the endowed property should return to him, the endowment is invalid; but, his action is considered as “blocking the property” and if it is done with the intention of closeness to God, it will have rewards.
  • The endowment of a mosque is accomplished when people perform prayer there. Also, the endowment of a grave is accomplished when a dead person is buried there. An endowed property cannot be sold.
  • If an endowed property is about to be damaged or is actually damaged, it is permissible to sell and replace it with a better property which has more benefits for the one for whom the endowment is made.[13]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Ḥillī, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām, vol. 3, p. 289; Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 165.
  2. ↑ Mishkinī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 567.
  3. ↑ Mishkinī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh, p. 567; Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Takmila al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 184.
  4. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Takmila al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 184.
  5. ↑ Jannātī, Adwār-i fiqh, p. 433.
  6. ↑ Muʾassisat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Fiqh al-Islāmī, Farhang-i fiqh-i muṭābiq bā madhhab-i Ahl al-Bayt (a), vol. 4, p. 495.
  7. ↑ Fāḍil Miqdād, Kanz al-ʿirfān, vol. 2, p. 113.
  8. ↑ Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 4, p. 237- 243; Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 7, p. 35- 38.
  9. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Takmila al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 189.
  10. ↑ Salīmīfar, Nigahī bi waqf wa āthār-i iqtiṣādī- ijtimāʿī-yi ān, p. 145- 146.
  11. ↑ Jannātī, Adwār-i fiqh, p. 433.
  12. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 2, p. 167.
  13. ↑ Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marajiʿ, vol. 2, p. 630- 638.

References

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  • Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥasan. Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil-i marajiʿ. 8th edition. Tehran: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī affiliated to Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmīyya-yi Qom, 1424 AH.
  • Fāḍil Miqdād, Miqdād b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Kanz al-ʿirfān fī fiqh al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Maktaba al-Murtaḍawīyya, [n.d].
  • Jannātī, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. Adwār-i fiqh wa tahawwulāt-i ān. [n.p], [n.d].
  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Taḥrīr al-aḥkām al-sharʿiyya ʿalā madhhab al-imāmiyya. 1st edition. Edited by Ibrāhīm Bahādurī. Qom: Muʾassisat Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1420 AH.
  • Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan al-. Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAlī Baqqāl. Second edition. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Ismāʿīlīyān, 1408 AH.
  • Ibn Abi al-Jumhūr, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. ʿAwālī al-liʾālī al-ʿazīzīyya fī al-aḥādīth al-dīnīyya. Edited by Mujtabā Irāqī. Qom: Dār Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, 1405 AH.
  • Ibn Ḥayyūn al-Tamīmīyy, al-Nuʿmān b. Muḥammad. Daʿāim al-Islām wa dhikr al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām fī al-qaḍāyā wa al-aḥkām. 2nd edition. ٍEdited by: Āṣif Fayḍī .Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt, 1385 AH.
  • Kabīsī, Muḥammad ʿUbayd al-. Aḥkām-i Waqf dar sharīʿat-i Islām: Fiqhī, Ḥuqūqī, qaḍāʾī. Translated by: Aḥmad Ṣadiqī. 1st edition. Māzandarān: Idāra-yi kull-i ḥajj wa ūqāf wa umūr-i khayrīyya-yi Ustān-i Māzandarān, 1364 AH.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī & Muḥammad Ākhūndī. 4th edition. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.
  • Muʾassisat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Fiqh al-Islāmī. Farhang-i fiqh-i muṭābiq bā madhhab-i Ahl al-Bayt (a). Qom: Muʾassisa Dāʾirat al-maʿārif al-fiqh al-Islāmī, 1392 Sh- 1395 Sh.
  • Mishkinī, ʿAlī. Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh. Qom: Al-Hādī, 1428 AH.
  • Qaḥf, Mundhir. Al-Waqf al-Islāmī; taṭawwuruhu, Idāratuhu, tanmīyatuhu. 1st edition. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 1421 AH/ 2000 CE.
  • Sāzmān-i ūqāf wa umūr-i khayrīyya; Daftar-i nū sāzī wa tahawwul-i muʿāwinat-i tūsaʿa wa pushtībānī, āshināyī bā niẓām-i mudīrīyat-i waqf wa umūr-i khayrīyya dar kishwar-i ʾIrāqī. 1st edition. Tehran: Shirkat-i Chāp wa Intishārāt-i Sāzmān-i ūqāf wa umūr-i khayrīyya, 1396 Sh.
  • Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. Aḥkām al-waqf fī al-sharīʿat al-Islāmiyya al-gharrāʾ. Qom: Muʾassisat Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1438 AH.
  • Salīmīfar, Muṣṭafā. Nigahī bi waqf wa āthār-i iqtiṣādī- ijtimāʿī-yi ān. 1st edition. Mashhad: Bunyād-i Pazhūhishha-yi Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1370 Sh.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. 2nd edition. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1413 AH.
  • Tūnī, ʿIzz al-Dīn wa Khālid Shuʿayb wa ʿUbayd Allāh ʿĀtiqī. Farhang-i iṣṭilāhāt-i Waqf. Translated by: ʿAbbās ʿIsmā'ilī zāda. Mashhad: Bunyād-i Pazhūhishha-yi Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1388 Sh.
  • Ṭaliʿī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. Muʿarrifī wa naqd-i Maʾkhadh shināsī-yi waqf. Faṣlnāma-yi Naqd Kitāb-i Iṭṭilāʿ risānī wa Irtībāṭāt 9 (1359 Sh).
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim al-. Takmila al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā. Qom: Kitābfurūshī-yi Dāwarī, [n.d].
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