Chapter on Waqf (charitable endowment)

Ibn Fāris says in Maqāyīs al-Lugha: “The root letters wāw–qāf–fā denote remaining in place; all related meanings derive from that.” He then added, “One should not say awqafa.”

I say: From this sense of remaining or staying we take the legal concept of waqf, for the original property is held in place.

Legal definition: for an owner to withhold the corpus of a property that yields benefit, preserving the asset itself from transfer of ownership, while dedicating its usufruct perpetually to some act of devotion, seeking the Countenance of Allah Most High.

Ruling: it is recommended. Its legitimacy is established by many hadiths, among them the report of Abū Hurayra in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “When the son of Adam dies, his deeds come to an end except from three: a continuing charity…,” and so on.

There is also the consensus of the first generation—Companions and Successors—on its permissibility and binding force.

Al-Shāfiʿī said: “To the best of my knowledge, the people of the pre-Islamic era never set up such holdings; only the Muslims did so”—an indication that it is a purely Islamic institution.

Al-Tirmidhī stated: “We know of no disagreement among the Companions and the early scholars regarding the permissibility of endowing land,” though he did relate that the judge Shurayḥ disapproved of hubus (endowments).

Such a lone view is not given the status of waqf in terms of binding effect, reward, merit, or legal consequences.

Abū Ḥanīfa held that a waqf is not irrevocable, but all of his students disagreed with him.

Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah said, “There was no person of means among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ except that he established a waqf.”

This demonstrates the consensus of the best generation; any later objection is not considered.

As for its virtue, waqf is among the finest charities that Allah has urged and for which He has promised immense reward, for it is a perpetual, lasting charity directed to avenues of good.

Specific reports on its excellence include the hadith of ʿUmar, of Khālid, and the practice of the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them all. These narrations establish both the legitimacy of waqf and its merit.

This abundant reward is realised only when the endowment is a genuine, sharʿī waqf: established in its proper manner, intended solely for the sake of Allah Most High, and directed to recognised avenues of devotion and beneficence—such as building mosques, beneficial schools, charitable projects, assisting relatives and kin, the poor, the needy, the incapacitated, stranded travellers, and supporting people of righteousness and piety, and the like.