Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
 

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. All praises is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds - The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, Sovereign of the Day of Recompose. It is You we worship and You we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path - the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked (Your) anger or of those who are astray. Ameen.

Awqaf play a vital role in the history of Islamic civilization. The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. was the initiator of the waqaf practice in many forms, such as a waqaf of a piece of land that could be utilized for pious purposes and booty from war being used as a waqaf for equipment for Muslim soldiers. After the prophethood, the waqaf practice was continued by the companion. During that time, all awqaf were classified by type and size, starting from house, land, equipment for war, and water source. All of these awqaf were used for socioeconomic development in that area.

Awqaf developed rapidly during the Islamic reign. As more countries embraced Islam, the growth of awqaf followed because of the large amount of war booty used for general social purposes—not only for the poor and needy but also for knowledge development. A judge was appointed as the manager (nazhir) to monitor all waqf assets and ensure that the corpus was maintained and developed. Taubah Bin Namr was the judge and nazhirin of Egypt for the first time during the administration of Hisyam bin Abd al Malik. Moreover, during the Abbasiyah period, a judge was no longer appointed as nazhir. Since then, growth in development accelerated. A famous school, Al-Mustanshiriyah, is funded by a waqaf. After the Abbasiyah Period, a waqaf was developed by the next dynasty, al-Fatimiyah, al-Batiniyah, al-Ayubiyah, al-Mamalik, al-Bahriyah in Egypt and Syam, and al-Utsmaniyah in Turkey and some Arabic countries.

In today's contemporary world, the waqaf management approach adopted by a country might differ from that of another country. Some of the collected papers on awqaf described a few country cases. Hence, observing the characteristic of a few countries when dealing with awqaf is worthwhile.

We will continue observing this topic in our upcoming newsletter. Stay tune!!