– al-qurbā (relatives): a person’s kin on both the father’s and the mother’s side; here it refers to the relatives of the one who founded the endowment.
– al-riqāb (emancipation of slaves): bondsmen who have concluded a manumission contract with their masters but are unable to meet its price or repay their debt.
– fī sabīl Allāh (in Allah’s cause): combatants and every effort that helps raise Allah’s word and spread His religion.
– ibn al-sabīl (stranded traveler): a traveler whose funds have run out away from his homeland. Sabīl means “road,” and he is called ibn al-sabīl because he is constantly on the road.
– ḍayf (guest): someone who lodges with another, whether invited or not. The term applies to one person or many, for it is originally a verbal noun; its plurals are aḍyāf and ḍuyūf.
– lā junāḥ (“no sin”): the jīm is vocalized with ḍammah; it means that no blame attaches to the custodian if he eats from the endowment’s revenue in a customary way.
– ghayr mutamawwil (without hoarding wealth): a circumstantial phrase referring to the custodian—his eating and feeding others must not be with the aim of appropriating the waqf as his own property; he may take only what he needs, without exceeding what is customary.

Points derived from the ḥadīth
1 – ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb came into possession of land at Khaybar that was the most valuable property he owned. He sought the Prophet’s ﷺ counsel on how best to give charity with it. The Prophet advised him to freeze the corpus and give its yield in charity, which he did; thus ʿUmar was the first to institute a waqf in Islam.
2 – The ḥadīth defines waqf as withholding the principal from any disposition that transfers ownership—or leads to such transfer—while dedicating its benefits.
3 – The words “except that its principal is not to be sold” clarify the ruling on disposing of an endowment: any act that conveys ownership, such as sale or gift, is impermissible. The corpus must remain intact, to be managed in keeping with the lawful conditions set by the endower.