A waqf (Arabic: وَقْف; [ˈwɑqf]), also known as hubous (حُبوس)[1] or mortmain property, is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law, which typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitable purposes with no intention of reclaiming the assets.[2] The donated assets may be held by a charitable trust.
Wikipedia
I had a great advantage of having an extended family, each member of which had an opinion, poles apart. On the death of my mother in 1935, the dispute over my custody was settled by the marriage of my mother’s sister to my father. At the time, my maternal uncle, seven years elder, still a student, having difficulty in clearing matriculation examination, took over my custody, and kept it all his life.
My mentor, the maternal uncle, wanted me to show signs, even in childhood, of becoming as qualified as, or even surpassing, my Barrister cousin, the mutawwalli (manager) of the Waqf, all this at the cost of Waqf. He found no sign of it in me. In desperation he used to tell me quite often “I can inscribe on a stone that you will never study, you will never rise in position, you will achieve nothing in life.”
Within no time everyone in the family came to know of my dressing down and was ready with his own solution. My father always said, “Do not bother, your roots are growing stronger every day“. Neither then, nor now, after ninety years, I know where are my roots are and how have they grown stronger. I used to be surprised when he always responded with an appreciative smile. When someone, even someone close, suggested to him not to be so honest in matters of property in which he has, in any case, a specified share. The ladies of the house, elderly and wise ones, told me that “It does not matter whether you study or not, the waqf property will belong to you”.
Surprisingly, when, how and why the concept of Waqf came to dominate all my life I do not know, cannot guess even. My grandfather, Haji Saheb created it in 1932. I have described in detail the properties and the charities mentioned in Chapter 2 of these memoirs. My religious education at home, whatever it was, stopped when my mother died. I completed reading the Quran in 1948 without understanding much of it.
Deed of waqf-al-aulad is a type of deed where a person donates any kind of property for Muslim charitable purposes. Over the years I started the examination of Wakf -al-aulad from a historical and religious point of view.
Historically I found a very satisfying and extensive view in the book I quote hereunder.
An enormous amount of the Empire’s wealth, and almost a third of its land, found its way out of the tax system altogether, and into charitable foundations. Islam was a powerful provider, and most of the memorials of empire were charitable. Bridges were often erected as an act of piety and maintained by endowments. Endowments, or vakif, were enshrined in Islamic law, and supplied a great range of public services in perpetuity. The sick could get free treatment at the mosque, and the traveler three free nights, with food, in a han, or hostel. The mentally ill—if not kept as village idiot—were cared for in asylums——Endowments proved, tangentially, to be a useful way for a wealthy man to leave something to his heirs, for every great man could set up some foundation and appoint his heirs as its perpetual guardian, permitted to sustain themselves from its revenues.
Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire by Jason Goodwin p. 142
In the subcontinent of India and Pakistan, such a waqf became a subject of serious controversy. One group of clerics termed it as highly degenerative and impermissible in religion once the property has been dedicated to Rabb (God). The other favored its legality on the condition that there should be a continuous contribution to charity and on its becoming extinct the entire property should go to charity.
As I understand, a long debate followed and the Wakf Validating Act of 1913 was passed in India. It did not permit the creation of such a waqf but validated the waqf already so created, also those to be created in the future.
The strength, the scope and the time span of such a wakf depended on the nature of the property that formed the subject matter of wakf. It can be
- cash
- rural land
- urban land
- urban commercial property
- urban residential property
In Pakistan such wakf did not prosper either in law or in fact. In India, Sachar Committee of 2006 reported the existence of 50,000 such wakfs registered, with 600,000 acres of land with a book value of worth Rs 60 billion.
Over the years what has happened to our wakf is that the top two families of beneficiaries have become extinct of male lineal descendants. The entire management and benefit has come to our family, now comprising two brothers and three nephews.
I am out of the arena, totally since 1951, mentally since 1945. The entire management and benefits are now in the hands of my youngest brother and the nephews. They have their residences in a more convenient conglomerate. Two wakf houses are lying vacant. One allocated to ladies for lifetime residence with maintenance and stipend. The ladies are no longer in existence, the house in poor shape. The ground floor of the second house used to be occupied by police picket whenever posted Each floor capable of accommodating a family but none occupying it.
In the revealed book through 164,000 prophets and 315 books (figures from Khutbat-e-Bahawalpur or Bahawalpur Lectures), the Rabb has assured everyone of continued sustenance (rizq) more or less in this world at His discretion.
The commands are:
- Be a witness against yourself:
“Stand out firmly for justice as a witness to Allah, even though it be against yourselves or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor—” Quran 4:135
- Every organ of your body, every faculty will be a witness against you:
“On the Day when their tongues their hands and their legs or feet will bear witness against them as to what they used to do” Quran 24:24
- No intercession from any quarter:
“Day of judgment when a person will not avail another, nor will intercession be accepted from him nor will compensation be taken from him nor will they be helped”. Quran 2:48
- Use all your faculties with the prayer:
“ My lord; Increase me in knowledge.” Quran 16:114
I was on the Shariat Bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan when a case came up in appeal where a lower court had ordered cutting of hand for stealing a ceiling fan from a mosque. The question which worried me was whether theft of God’s property will equally justify the punishment as for the theft of private human property. We could not answer that question but decided the case on the omission on record of the value of the fan. It had to be Rs. 750 or more.
Long after, reading a book I found a view to solace me. A father reported to the cleric that his unmarried daughter had become pregnant and asked what he should do. The reply was:
“This poor woman has already sinned so there will be consequences in the afterlife. But on earth, in this life the parents’ role was to ease her way, so help and support her and not to judge her in this world”
If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran by Carla Power. p. 61
The conclusion I have drawn is that a selective beneficial dedication of entire property to Rabb should not paralyze the beneficiaries into degenerating but enhance their potential, improve their capabilities so as to help those left out, but more deserving or in greater need.
Experiences of a Lifetime 