Waqf Management in South-West Nigeria
Publicado 2023-09-29
In my video, I explore some of the challenges encountered by individuals who wish to champion the establishment and development of Waqf in South West Nigeria. Afterwards, I propose a solution process to aid the growth and development of Waqf everywhere in Nigeria, in shaa Allah.
Waqf (alternatively referred to as an Islamic Endowment fund), from a Shari’ah point of view or the more customary usage of the term in Islam, means diverting the funds and other resources and property from current consumption into an asset(s) capable of generating favourable returns for the purpose of repeatedly extracting its usufruct to benefit the society as a whole and thereby earn the pleaure of Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'ala).
There are many non-governmental charity organisations in Nigeria, but they do not seem to meet the criteria of Waqf because they are not self-sustaining. The activities of these charities usually include donating to the poor, needy and orphans, facilitating Ramadan feeding programs, sponsoring the treatment of the sick, advocating for the realease of prison inmates, education and empowerment, and so on.
As a result of the challenges in the Nigerian business environment, halal investments in Nigeria have very slow and low returns if they do not result in losses. In return, the common form of charity organisations we have in Nigeria are heavily reliant on donations from well-meaning people; themselves and the founders of the charity organisations having a shared goal to simply make a difference in the society.
My solution, as included in my video, rests on the belief that more wealthy individuals and great institutions, universities should be encouraged to establish Waqf funds. I believe this will go better in line with what Waqf is about (reinvestment of excess wealth) and increase the chances of success of Waqf growth and development in Nigeria. This will, however, require the presence of trustworthy capable Waqf managers to ensure the proper management of Waqf funds as prescribed in Shari'ah.
The success of Waqf in Nigeria has a lot of potential to greatly improve the standard of living, improve the quality of products and services, facilitate education and empowerment, and so much more. Even in the short run, it will help to lessen the pressure on charity foundations to seek external fund in a bid to fulfil their goal of helping the weak and needy around them, in shaa Allah.