In the context of property, it implies a detention in the transfer of an asset, once donated, to another party. The origin of the concept can be traced back to the time of Prophet Mohammad. It is believed that two orphans who owned the land in Medina on which the Prophet wished to build the second mosque refused to accept money for the land and insisted they would instead take it from God and thus came into being the first Waqf. It was the second mosque that the Prophet built, and while the Quran doesn’t contain direct references to waqf, it is replete with instances and importance of charity, which remains an innate part of Islam.

Waqf and Public Life

Beyond the religious, the waqf was seen to also play a critical role in social and political life: organising funds for the setting up of civil society organisations, schools, hospitals, roads, drains, etc. According to Louay M. Safi in Islam and the Trajectory of Globalisation: Rational Idealism and the Structure of World History, Ibn Battuta’s notes provide clarity on the role of the waqf foundation in “organising and supporting the historical Islamic communities and the diversity of social purposed that it achieved”. In this he points towards the “abundance” of endowments and waqf institutions in Damascus.

An interesting anecdote by Battuta is illustrative of the range of waqfs: “I saw in it a young slave-boy out of whose hand there had just fallen a Chinese porcelain dish and had broken to bits. A crowd gathered round him and one of them said to him, pick up the pieces, and take them with you to the custodian of the endowments for utensils. So, he picked them up, and the man went with him to the custodian, to whom the slave showed the broken pieces and thereupon received from him enough to buy a similar platter. This endowment is one of the best of good works, for the boy’s master would undoubtedly have beaten him for breaking the dish or at least have scolded him, while he too would have been heartbroken and upset because of that”.

Dating Waqf Donations in the Subcontinent

Charitable acts and institutions have become commonplace. However, in the case of non-Islamic religions in the subcontinent the earliest direct references to donations like the waqf, which is a non-reclaimable trust community and public usage, are extremely rare.

There are richly endowed temples such as Tirupati Balaji, and Vaishno Devi, as well as older temples besides the various Gurudwaras and other places of worship. But a waqf-like endowment didn’t exist before the 12th century. Syed Khalid Rashid, in Wakf Administration in India writes, “Sultan Muiz Uddin Muhammad Sam Ghori made an endowment of two villages to meet the expenses of the Jama Masjid of Multan, and for the five public lectures by the teachers for Mukabbiran and students, the functionaries of the mosque, e.g., the muezzins and mukabbiran, and for other (incidental) expenses on Prayer carpets, Mussalla, Boriya, lighting and repairs of the mosque.”

Though the earliest mosque in India is believed to be the 7th century Cheraman mosque at Kodungallur in Kerala, no evidence of it being a waqf has emerged so far and even its year of construction remains to be established.

The reference to Ghori’s waqf endowments can be found in Insha-i-Mahru, written by Ain-ul- Mulk Multani, an officer of Sultan Jalaluddin Firoz Khilji (1290-96 CE). Subsequent Muslim rulers, influenced by Abbassid and Umayyad officers, further embedded the practice of Waqf in the subcontinent.

The Pandua Sharif in Bengal

The custom of waqf spread along with Sultanate rule and by the 14th century had reached Bengal too. The Pandua Sharif shrine in Malda district is another example of the importance of Waqf to the social life of Muslims and others around a holy place. While written records date back to the 17th and 18th century, oral tradition has that King Lakshmana Sen (1179- 1206 CE) of Gaur, impressed by sufi saint Shaikh Jalaluddin Tabrizi, built him an ashram or khanqah in Pandua.

Salim Zaweed writes in The Waqf Estates of Pandua: Historical Analysis(from 15th to 20th Centuries), “later, at some point of time, Jalaluddin Tabrizi dedicated (waqf) this endowed land for the maintenance of the Iangar and other humanitarian services. As a result, from the rule of the Delhi Sultans till the British period, this rent-free land known as pargana bais hazari (yielding ₹22,000) for the benefit of the poor and other saints”

The Pandua Sharif like thousands of other waqfs has become mired in legal disputes. The disputes can often be traced to British colonial policies, maladministration, and the fact that these waqfs are indeed extremely richly endowed and have become real estate gold. Zaweed wrote further, “The huge waqf estates, which the Muslims and saints created for the advancement of education and other social and religious activities, were treated by the British officials in the most dishonest manner”.

The impact of the Religious Endowments Act 1863 also led to an explosion of litigation, a lot of it spurious. “The net effect of this Act was that religious endowments were now subject to lawsuits raised by private parties, and the potential seizure for debt claims…”, wrote Zaweed.

Moroccan Ibn Battuta appointed Mutawalli

In Delhi’s densely populated urban village of Kotla Mubarakpur, stands the tomb of the 14th century Sultan Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah, son of the better-known Alauddin Khalji. Sultan Mohammad bin Tughlaq (1325-1351 CE) appointed Ibn Battuta the Mutawalli of Qutbuddin’s tomb. It appears that Mutawalli enjoyed wide powers. Khalid wrote, “When Muhammad bin Tughlaq appointed Ibn Battuta as Mutawalli of wakfs in favour of the tomb of Sultan Qutb-ud-din, he appointed in all 450 persons to discharge various functions. These large numbers of appointments could not have been made in consultation with the wakif (King) and Ibn Battuta should have exercised his own discretion. Its extent is evident from the fact that even when the king expressly ‘ordered’ that 12 maunds of flour and an equal amount of meat be used in the preparation of daily food, Ibn Battuta raised the quantity to 35 maunds of flour and meat, further raising it to 100 maunds on special occasions”.

The practice became institutionalised during the later period. At least one firman of Sher Shah Suri shows that Hindus were also recipients of waqfs and in such cases were directed to manage the affairs of the waqfs on their own. Nationalist historian Jadunath Sarkar quotes a firman in his book, Mughal Administration, “…the Hindus also are granted wakf by the Government, according to the above-mentioned principles. This is under the management of five Hindus. Every Mulla should keep the accounts in proper order and should get them inspected by the auditors and entered in their offices. In the other book he should enter the matters of legacy and marriage. A school should also be attached to it so that the students might be instructed there in the Quran and the principal tenets of religion. The Hindus are also authorised to control and manage their own school…’

HistoriCity is a column by author Valay Singh that narrates the story of a city that is in the news, by going back to its documented history, mythology and archaeological digs. The views expressed are personal.