A fair assessment is needed of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 8 August, to understand its salient features and to see how these can improve the efficiency and administration of waqf properties or how they harm the cause of ‘one nation, one law’ in the sense that they are at variance with similar laws such as the Bihar Hindu Religious Trusts Act, 1950; the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959; and the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (also applicable to Telangana).
A waqf is different from a ‘trust’. Unlike trust law (except to some extent in the Hanafi sect), the founders of a waqf cannot take any benefits. Also, unlike trusts, a waqf is perpetual, irrevocable and inalienable. Finally, the property put in a trust vests in the trustee but that in a waqf vests in ‘God’.
Waqf is the most explicit expression of philanthropy in Islam and is a mode of redistribution of wealth. The owner of a property dedicates it to God, and its usufruct, for religious or charitable purposes, extends in perpetuity. The Quran does not mention waqf, but that does not mean it has no theological basis. The Quran has at least 20 verses encouraging people to spend their wealth on charity.
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As in other countries, Muslim rulers in India too generously created auqaf for the maintenance of mosques, madrasas, orphanages, graveyards and so on. As regards dealing with mismanagement of waqf properties, there are historical records that Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316) punished corrupt mutawallis (managers of waqf........