the underlying asset itself remains 1. Accordingly, it is not permissible to endow consumable food, any drink other than water, oils, wax, cash, or lamps made of precious metal, whether for mosques or for any other cause.
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The waqf must be directed to an avenue of righteousness and devotion—such as the poor, mosques, bridges, or one’s relatives. It is therefore invalid to dedicate it to churches, to Jews or Christians as a group, or to the wealthy as a class or to openly immoral people 2. Nevertheless, if it is made for a specific dhimmī, a particular wrongdoer, or an individual of means, the waqf is valid 3.
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The endowment must be assigned to a definite beneficiary other than the donor himself who is capable of ownership. Hence, it is not valid to endow it for an unidentified party 4 such as “a man” or “a mosque,” nor for either of those two in the alternative 5; nor may it be made for oneself, or for anyone incapable of owning property, such as a slave—even one under a contract of manumission 6—the angels, the jinn, animals, the dead, or for a fetus as an independent beneficiary 7, although the fetus may be included incidentally.
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The waqf must take immediate effect. It is therefore invalid to make it conditional on a future event other than the donor’s own death; in that case it becomes binding from the moment of death 8 provided it does not exceed one-third of the estate.