Waqf endowments functioned as Islamic society’s wealth-redistribution and family-property system

Evidence

The institution of waqf in Muslim lands had over centuries effectively cemented the relationships between the human, physical, educational, and economic elements within society and, to some extent, the polity. A thoroughly pious institution, it formed the substrate and matrix of philanthropy in Islam, playing an important role in the redistribution of wealth. One gave up one’s property “for the sake of God,” a charitable act that meant offering aid and support to the needy (this latter defined in a broad sense and ordained by the Quran as integral to the ethical formation and constitution of the individual). It also provided for the distribution of wealth within the family, affording care for its members and preventing the fragmentation of family property. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 225

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines waqf’s triple social function: philanthropy/redistribution, family-property preservation, and a matrix connecting society’s elements.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how did waqf compare to Western church endowments and entail in preventing fragmentation of property?