ZURAH NAKABUGO
Muslims have been urged to invest in Waqf by voluntary mobilizing endowment funds for various community development programmes. Waqf was established for social benefits for both Muslims and non-muslims.
“ Waqf is voluntarily permanent dedication to Allah and it remains Allah’s property forever. Awqaf always remains capital and prudently invested. Only the proceeds from Waqf investment is spent on projects. Waqf is like a fruit tree, year after year the tree grows and there is more fruit to enjoy over time,” Prof. Magda Ismail Mohsin a lecturer at the Global University of Islamic Finance, Malaysia said.
Magdah also said Waqf is a financial charitable institution established by withholding one’s property to eternally spend its revenue on fulfilling certain needs depending on the choice and conditions made by the founder.
She said Prophet Muhammad said, when Muslims die, they are asked three things which include how they managed their time, how they acquired their wealth and how they spent it, either on luxuries or helping the poor also run out of poverty.
Magda said this yesterday during the opening of the third Southern Africa Cadre training programme at Colosseum hotel, in Pretoria, South Africa. The workshop drew various Muslim scholars from different parts of world such as Uganda, Namibia, Zambia, Zanzibar, Malaysia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Mauritius.
She said through the scheme of public Waqf which has been practiced in Singapore, Muslims have managed to come up with a high commercial building where they do a lot of investments and many of them have been pulled out poverty.
“Compulsory monthly contributions are made by Muslim employees in Singapore depending on their monthly gross income through an automatic check-off system. The amount deducted from the salaries is channeled through the Central Provident Fund (CPF), to Singapore Islamic Council (MUIS) who acts as the trustee,” Magda said.
She added, “Then the collected amount is channeled to finance charitable purposes such as building mosques, educational programs dawa centre.”
Magda said Waqf projects are also used as alternative institutions to riba (usury) because people can borrow money and pay back without interest rate charges.
The workshop which has been sponsored by Islamic Development Bank aims at promoting self –reliance and sustainability of Waqf projects. However some of the participants from Uganda strongly expressed the need to have a waqf fund or organization to ensure trusteeships of Muslim property that has been inherently abused by the inheritors.
“Most of Waqf property in Uganda has not been registered especially land which has no titles and clear trustees. Therefore this has caused many individuals in Uganda to steal Waqf property and own it, yet it was invested for community development,” the Secretary for Awqaf Uganda Sulaiman Kiggundu said.
”Once the property had been created as waqf, it can never be given as gift, or to be inherited, or sold. It belongs to Allah and the corpus or waqf property always remains intact,” she said.
Waqf was encouraged by Prophet Muhammad because of it’s community development and its project can help people run out of poverty. Waqf is different from Zakat because Zakat has been prescribed in the Qur’an about the categories of people who are supposed to receive it and can’t be changed unlike Waqf caters for all needy people into their economic socio development through education, health, businesses and other income generating activities.
The Prophet (s) said: When a man dies his acts come to an end, except three things, recurring charity, knowledge (by which people benefit), and pious offspring, who pray for him.
Muhammed Obaidullah the officer in Charge of training Division at Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia said although Waqf is very important but it faces a lot of challenges such as keeping huge amounts of Waqf funds in the bank , which is not productive because it does not generate the desired benefits like creating more wealth which is the essence of Waqf from historical times.
He said Waqf projects still lack some funding because most of the banks don’t want to invest into their projects due to strings attached on them like no charges of interest rate yet the banks are after profit maximization.
Obaidullah said they targeted the Waqf sector, to develop projects that have been mismanaged by the society and generate income to assist the poor.
The Senior Advisor Legacy Global Ltd Dr Muhammad Hisham Dafterdar said about US$15bn Waqf funding is collected annually and 60% of this come from individuals, 40% from businessman and other funding institutions like donors, agriculture, health sectors and education.
He also said in South Africa and the rest of the world many Waqf property has been lost to some governments due to lack of registration documents like land titles to protect them.
The conditions to give Waqf include the founder has to declare it As a Waqf property, identify the person to manage it, the trustee and the successor after you have died. Specify the beneficiaries from either your family or the public and decide how much goes to Waqf, family and the public.
Dafterdar urged Muslims to work hard and register all Waqf properties so that the money generated out of such properties can benefit the rightful owners. He also encouraged Muslims to sensitise people more about the importance of waqf since Prophet Muhammad emphasized it so much.
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