The legal structure of many Muslim endowments registered abroad has the potential in the United Kingdom to be regarded as a charitable trust. The waqf is a device that is perpetual and is governed by a process by which the mutawallis or managers administer the property. It has its origins as a family endowment that can also be held on trusts for charitable purposes in the relief of poverty, health, education, and religious benefits. As with the charitable trust, there is a public benefit requirement and the operation of the cy-près doctrine, which allows for the assets to be transferred from the original objects if circumstances alter. The view among experts is that a waqf created in another country can be regulated as a charitable institution whereby the settlor disposes of his property for charitable purposes. While under English law charities may be structured as companies, this article considers only charities specifically in the form of charitable trusts because the structure of such trusts is most compatible with that of waqfs. An argument is presented for waqfs that have been made abroad to be given charitable status in the United Kingdom for tax relief from Inheritance Tax. This can be arrived at by the process of legislation that could legally validate the instrument in English law. The outcome will be that it will be an Islamic endowment governed by English law and regulated by the Charity Commission of England and Wales.
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Zia Akhtar (2012) studied this question.