The Role of Awqaf (Endowments) in the

Development of Islamic Knowledge Culture:

An Overview

Osman Bakar, PhD

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Science, UM
Chair, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Centre of Islamic Studies
University of Brunei Darussalam
 Overview

• The philosophical, religious, and socio-economic

perspectives on awqaf (endowment)
• The historical dimension of awqaf and education
• Regional ummatic understanding and practices of awqaf and
education in their respective histories
– Awqaf and education in the Arab world
– Awqaf and education in the Indian sub-continent
– Awqaf and education in Africa
– Awqaf and education in the Malay world
• The future of awqaf and higher education
 Philosophical, Religious, and Socio-economic Perspectives on
Awqaf and Education
• The need to discuss the subject of awqaf and education within the Islamic
epistemological framework
– To argue for the importance of awqaf to Islam’s knowledge culture
• Islam is essentially a religion of knowledge
– Pure and absolute monotheism (tawhid in its truest sense) and the most
modern divine law (the Muhammadan shari’ah) define the identity of the
religion of Islam and the Muslim ummah: in short, tawhidic epistemology
defines the above identity
– Islamic epistemology inspired the birth and development of a new knowledge
culture in human civilization:
• [1] the philosophy and characteristics of the new knowledge culture:
unitary and holistic view of knowledge; universal education
• [2] the institutionalization of the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge as
part of the new culture, including the role of the state: Islam (‘Abbasid
caliphate), the first to have a state science and technology policy in
human civilization
• Awqaf and the Shari’ah
– The centrality of knowledge in Islam means that its generated
social institutions are knowledge-based or knowledge-oriented
– The Shari’ah (practical dimension of tawhid: applied tawhid) as
both a generator and sustainer of social progress: it created a
healthy environment for the growth of educational and other
social institutions
– Education as the main societal instrument of Islamic
knowledge culture:
• [1] The natural or inevitable emergence, growth, and
expansion of educational institutions in a knowledge-
based civilization: from a mosque-based to a
madrasa/university-based knowledge culture
• [2] Awqaf as a social idea and as an institution is rooted in
the spiritual and social teachings of the Qur’an and hadiths:
as a fruit of applied tawhid in societal life, awqaf
necessarily has to be multi-dimensional and yet holistic in
nature;
 – [3] Awqaf is at once a spiritual, educational, economic, and
welfare concept and institution: while focusing on the
educational dimension (awqaf as an important supporting
institution for education), its interrelations with the other
dimensions should not be lost sight of;
• The jurisprudence of waqf: issues of principles, change and
development (refer to Hashim Kamali’s paper)
• Awqaf as an economic institution in the service of education
– Who should fund the institutions of higher learning? The state
or the community? or both?
– The idea of a community-based wealth-generating institution
in supporting education and furthering the cause of an
enlightened knowledge culture
– Innovations for progress: corporate and cash waqf (refer to
Muhammad Ali Hashim)
 The Historical Dimension of Awqaf and Education

• The greater part of traditional Muslim education owes its origin,

development, and progress to the waqf institution
– The Prophetic origin of the waqf institution (refer to Hashim
Kamali): land waqf donated by ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab; its yields
for charity
– The first degree-granting university in the world, the University
of al-Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morocco, founded in 245 AH/859 CE
by a woman, Fatimah Fihriyyah, was financed by its waqf
revenues.
– Al-Azhar University in Cairo, founded in 970 CE, is an excellent
example of an awqaf-funded Muslim higher education
institution that was later to serve as a model for many private
Western universities (refer to Ahmad Nabil Amir).
• The awqaf tradition in the Ottoman state
– Waqf-based Ottoman educational and learning institutions
(see Mesut Idriz)
– Waqf educational institutions in the Ottoman Balkans
– The legacy of Ottoman waqf-based educational institutions in
poor shape:
– [1] the post-2005 revival: exponential rise from 6 to more than
60 waqf-based universities in Turkey in the last seven years
(see Muammer Koc)
Regional Ummatic Understanding and Practices of
Awqaf and Education in Islamic History

• The Arab world

– Awqaf and the rise of the colleges and universities in the Arab
world: the first full-fledged “modern” universities (cf. Sami
AlSalahat; Sultan Abu-Orabi); see George Makdisi.
– The actual relationship between awqaf and education in Arab-
Islamic history (see Sami AlSalahat)
– The resurgence of awqaf consciousness in contemporary Islam
and a new chapter in the development of awqaf institutions:
• [1] legislative and administrative issues of educational
waqf: the experience of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and
Jordan (see Sami AlSalahat and Abdel Naser Abulel Basar)
– Jordan’s jurisdiction of educational awqaf in Jerusalem
• The Indian sub-continent
– Region includes modern-day India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh: a very important geo-cultural branch of the global
ummah
– Afghanistan’s special religious and cultural significance: the
Sunni branch of the Persian-speaking world
– A rich educational awqaf tradition in pre-partitioned India for
centuries until modern times
– Awqaf tradition in Afghanistan (see Abdul Qayum Mohmand):
• [1] the role of the Sufi Orders
• [2] the creation in 1969 of Department of Waqf in the
Ministry of Justice
– The Bangladesh experience:
• [1] madrasa education is one of the major streams of education
in contemporary Bangladesh;
• [2] the key role of awqaf in providing free education for the
community in pre-British Muslim Bengal (1000-1757) (see M.
Azizul Huq & Foyasal Khan);
• [3] since British rule, the decline of both madrasa education and
awqaf institution: a clear institutional link between the two;
– The Indian experience:
• [1] India has the second largest national Muslim community in the
world; and accounts for about 10% of the global ummah;
• [2] It has the biggest number of registered awqaf in the world
(see Mohamed Basheer);
• [3] The Muslim community at the lowest rung of the educational
ladder; untapped awqaf resources and assets
• African Islam:
– Sub-Sahara region, excluding Arab North Africa;
– Nigeria is the most populated Muslim majority country in
Africa; the South African Muslim community, including the
Cape Malays, is perhaps the most dynamic Muslim minority in
Africa;
– Rampant poverty and low educational achievement in the
predominantly Muslim Northern Nigeria:
• [1] problems afflicting the Nigerian awqaf institution (see
Aliyu Dahiru Muhammad);
• [2] the need for the “revitalization” of the awqaf
institution;
– The first waqf in South Africa was a mosque established in
1974 by a Muslim property owner: the foundation of early
Muslim education (see Moulana Ihsaan Hendricks & Shaykh
Moegamat Ighsaan Taliep);
– The long tradition of waqf establishment and good
management in South Africa;
– The case of Ghana:
• [1] the traditional madrasas funded by awqaf revenues;
• [2] Many essential issues pertaining to the ownership,
management, and administration of awqaf assets not
addressed (see Suleiman Boayo);
• The Malay world:
– The Malay-Muslims comprise the Muslim majority
communities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam
and the Muslim minority communities in Singapore, Thailand,
the Philippines, and the Indochina countries (Kampuchea,
Vietnam, and Laos);
– A general history of awqaf tradition in the Malay world is yet
to be written;
– The practice of setting up awqaf must have been widespread
in traditional Malay society but its purposes were limited:
• [1] Lands for establishment of mosques, suraus,
pondok/madrasah/pesantran and cemeteries;
– Awqaf for education entered a new dynamic phase beginning
in the early 20th century:
• [1] Muhammadiyah and Nahdatul Ulama in Indonesia as
two of the largest popular movements in the Muslim
world: their impact on education, especially the large
network of Muhammadiyah universities (see Ahmad Syafie
Maarif);
• [2] Written sources on the role of awqaf in education (see
Redzuan Othman & Abu Hanifah Haris);
• [3] The case of Brunei Darussalam: untapped awqaf assets
(see Norhazlin Muhammad & M. Hairul Azrin Hj Besar &
Osman Bakar);
– The contemporary revitalization of theory and practice of
awqaf in Malaysia (see Syed Ghazali Wafa; Azri Ahmad; Mohd
Azam Mohd Adil & Mohd Afandi & Mardhiyyah Sahri)
 The Future of Awqaf and Higher Education

• Exploring new ideas, practices and institutions pertaining to

awqaf assets;
• Addressing jurisprudential-legal, management and administrative
issues that have hampered the healthy growth of awqaf
institutions in the Muslim world.