Waqf Studies in the Twentieth Century: The State of the Art

The study of the waqf-the Islamic endowment institution-has always been part of the broad field of Islamic studies. However, for a long time the subject was rather marginal, attracting the interest of a relatively small number of students and scholars. By the end of the twentieth century this is certainly no longer true. In the past decade or two the study of the Islamic endowment institution has been making its way into the M.A. and even the B.A. curricula of university departments specializing in Islamic history and culture, and studies dealing with social and economic aspects of any of the regions of the Islamic world, particularly prior to the twentieth century, hardly ever neglect to include at least some reference to the waqf. It is the process which brought about this change of attitude towards the study of the waqf institution which concerns me here.