Waqf in Oman

The ancient Islamic concept of waqf (plural ‘awqaf,’ meaning religious endowment) recently made headlines in Oman when, in April this year, Meethaq Islamic Banking announced that it would be collaborating with the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs (MARA) in support of the Organisation of Waqf, which was launched by MARA to encourage innovative uses of awqaf in the Sultanate.

A waqf is a charitable endowment that allows a person to donate property for the public good in the name of Allah. Typically, this is achieved by building mosques, schools or hospitals for the benefit of local communities in perpetuity. The Qur’an does not mention waqf explicitly, though it advocates charitable donations more broadly. The conceptual framework was set out in more detail later in the Hadith.

Waqf is frequently compared with the English charitable trust, with many speculating that the former inspired the latter by way of Crusaders who, during the 12th century, might have been exposed to the concept of waqf in Muslim territories and seen it as flexible device that could be used by both religious and state interests to fulfil a number of purposes.

A waqf is a contract, and it follows that the founder (called al-waqif or al-muhabbis in Arabic) must have the capacity to enter into a contract. A waqf is usually established by a written document, accompanied by a verbal declaration.

Waqf is a special form of disposal of property allowing its owner to freeze the property from subsequent transfer and transmission to others. This power of the owner is inalienable and cannot be rescinded by anyone, except in accordance with the conditions expressly provided for by the owner in the document creating the waqf.

There are several conditions that a waqf must satisfy, the most important of which is that the waqf is perpetual in nature. The subject matter of the waqf can be either movable or immovable, but its corpus must be preserved and remain inalienable.

The property used to establish a waqf must be the subject of a valid contract and should not already be in the public domain. Public property, therefore, cannot be used to form a waqf. Furthermore, the property should be free from any encumbrance.

As explained above, the main characteristic of a waqf is that it should be perpetual. In order to comply with this requirement, the waqf must be maintained at all times. Accordingly, part of the income of the waqf is necessarily spent on its maintenance, renewal and development.

Both natural and legal persons can be beneficiaries of a waqf. However, a waqf cannot be created for the benefit of the founder himself, or for an immoral or sinful purpose. The beneficiaries of the waqf can be specified by the founder.

Waqf institutions earn returns by depositing the income generated from the waqf with Islamic financial institutions. Any further returns so generated are then spent on charitable purposes.
Mazin bin Ghadouba, one of the followers of the prophet Muhammad, is credited with having built the Al-Midmar Mosque - the first mosque in Oman - in approximately 627 A.D. At the time, waqf was limited to building and renovating mosques. Later, Omanis extended the ambit of waqf to helping the poor, and for other charitable purposes.

Now there are over thirteen types of waqf in Oman, including those for mosques, education, Qur’an schools, and the maintenance of graves. Until relatively recently, awqaf were managed by imams. In 1950, the father of the present Sultan, Sultan Said Bin Taimur, established an institution dedicated to the management of awqaf, which in 1997 evolved into the present-day Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.