Al Waqf

This work presents an analysis of the earliest legal treatises on the Islamic trust, or waqf - the Ah kam al-Waaf" of Hilal al-Ray and the Ah kam al-Awqaf of al-Khassaf. This work undertakes a textual analysis of the treatises.

Waqfs (pious endowments) long held a crucial place in the political, economic, and social life of the Islamic world. Waqfs were major sources of education, health care, and employment; they shaped the city and contributed to the upkeep of religious edifices. They constituted a major resource, and their status was at stake in repeated struggles to impose competing definitions of legitimacy and community. Closer examination of the diverse legal, institutional, and practical aspects of waqfs in different regions and communities is necessary to a deeper understanding of their dynamism and resilience. This volume, which evolved from papers delivered at the 2005 American University in Cairo Annual History Seminar, offers a meticulous set of studies that fills a gap in our knowledge of waqf and its uses.

This book explores how philanthropy is perceived and practiced in a predominantly Muslim society. It is the first academic quantification of philanthropic giving and volunteering using a representative sample of the Egyptian population, providing the reader with a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the state of philanthropy in Egypt. The book discusses traditional and religious philanthropic mechanisms and provides a thorough explanation of the waqf system, how it is perceived today, and how it could support innovation. Furthermore, as a solid direct product of the research embodied in the creation of a community foundation, it discusses reviving and modernizing the concept of waqf, thus elaborating an example of how academic studies may be employed to create proto-types for learning and calculated action.

Islamic foundations (waqf, pl. awqāf) have been an integral part of Yemeni society both for managing private wealth and as a legal frame for charity and public infrastructure. This book focuses on four socially grounded fields of legal knowledge: fiqh, codification, individual waqf cases, and everyday waqf-related knowledge. It combines textual analysis with ethnography and seeks to understand how Islamic law is approached, used, produced, and validated in selected topics of waqf law where there are tensions between ideals and pragmatic rules. The study analyses central Zaydī fiqh works such as the Sharḥ al-azhār cluster, imamic decrees, fatwās, and waqf documents, mostly from Zaydī, northern Yemen. For the Arabic edition, please see here.

One of the first studies of a major public waqf foundation based on its own registers, this work offers new insights into the working of the Islamic endowment in general, and its socio-economic significance to the history of Ottoman Algiers.

This book presents successful case studies in Muslim and Muslim minority countries that have revolutionized the redevelopment of idle waqf properties into productive land trusts. The revival of this institution over the last two decades shows the growing optimism in galvanizing the socioeconomic role of waqf by adopting its flexible shariah measures. Innovative ways of financing redevelopment allow Muslims to extend these roles to include new beneficiaries. New uses for these properties include providing services to the community, opening jobs for the majority of people, funding small entrepreneurs, educating the masses, providing health care, and sheltering the poor and needy. Countries under study include Sudan, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Iran. Additionally, the book examines the International Development Bank's role in financing the development old waqf properties in different countries.

Thirty-one years after the Waqf-e-Nau initiative was launched, there are now over 61,000 Waqf-e-Nau in the world. In the hopes that they will serve the Community in various capacities, these young devotees are placed into the initiative by their parents. Yet, despite having a large number of children enrolled in the initiative, many are unaware of the true significance of being Waqf-e-Nau. The Essence of Waqf-e-Nau is a translation of a Friday Sermon delivered by the worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad(at) on October 28th, 2016. In this sermon, His Holiness espouses the true essence of the Waqf-e-Nau initiative. The purpose is to raise children to be devotees of the Community, those who are willing to lay down their lives and spiritually attain lofty heights, just as the companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sa) had done. Having a Waqf-e-Nau child does not deem any merit on its own. His Holiness stresses the point that these children are not special just by being Waqf-e-Nau. Rather, they will be seen as special by Allah only if they uphold their responsibilities and become true, ardent servants of Allah. Just as Hazrat Maryam(as) devoted her unborn child in the way of God, it is the parent’s duty to raise their children with the proper intention and sincerity.

Waqfs, or religious endowments, have long been at the very center of daily Islamic life, establishing religious, cultural, and welfare institutions and serving as a legal means to keep family property intact through several generations. In this book R. D. McChesney focuses on the major Muslim shrine at Balkh--once a flourishing city on an ancient trade route in what is now northern Afghanistan--and provides a detailed study of the political, economic, and social conditions that influenced, and were influenced by, the development of a single religious endowment. From its founding in 1480 until 1889, when the Afghan government took control of it, the waqf at Balkh was a formidable economic force in a financially dynamic region, particularly during those times when the endowment's sacred character and the tax privileges it acquired gave its managers considerable financial security. This study sheds new light on the legal institution of waqf within Muslim society and on how political conditions affected the development of socio-religious institutions throughout Central Asia over a period of four hundred years. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.