Waqf (endowment): definition and legal status

An institution specific to Islam

The waqf (habous) is lawful by the Sunna and consensus: an-Nawawi counts it among what distinguishes the Muslims, and al-Shafii writes that he never knew a man of the Jahiliya to immobilise a house or land for a charitable purpose (al-Umm 4/52). The Quran does not use the word, but the verse « You will never attain goodness until you spend from what you love » (Surah Al Imran, 92) brought Abu Talha to offer his most beloved palm grove, Bayruha, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) advised him to distribute it among his relatives (al-Bukhari 2617, Muslim 998).

Umar had received land at Khaybar. He came to question the Prophet, who said: « If you wish, retain its principle and give its produce as charity. » Umar endowed it as charity: it would not be sold, gifted or inherited; its produce would go to the poor, relatives, emancipation, Allah's path, the wayfarer and the guest, without fault against the manager eating from it in a reasonable manner.al-Bukhari 2586, Muslim 1632, an-Nasa'i 3603, Ibn Majah 2397

This waqf of Umar is held the first of Islam per the majority. The hadith of the charity that flows after death: « When the son of Adam dies, his deeds end except three: a flowing charity, useful knowledge, a righteous child who supplicates for him » (Muslim 1631) is applied by the scholars to the waqf, the only charity that continues. Jabir attests: « No Companion able to retain a property remained without endowing it », which Ibn Qudama counts as tacit consensus. Abu Yusuf himself, after visiting the waqfs of Medina with the caliph ar-Rashid alongside Malik, abandoned his master's view for validity.

Legal status

The origin of the waqf is the recommended: a work of goodness the Law encourages. It becomes obligatory if preceded by a vow, or if its omission lets a wealth perish; it becomes forbidden if it serves disobedience, such as endowing a church or a temple where other than Allah is worshipped; among Malikis, one of six opinions even holds forbidden the waqf made to sons excluding daughters, the retained opinion being disapproval with validity, the question arising only outside the founder's illness and after the beneficiaries take possession.

Binding by the mere word

The majority (Malikis, Shafiites, Hanbalis in the school, Abu Yusuf) make the waqf binding by the mere formulation, without material delivery: the Prophet told Umar « retain its principle » without ordering delivery, and Umar, Ali and Fatima kept managing their own waqf until death. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan and one Hanbali narration require delivery, the waqf being a donation of wealth not removed from the estate.