---
title: "What is Waqf? | IslamicOpenFinance™"
description: "An endowment: an asset is dedicated so that its principal is preserved and its benefits go to a stated purpose."
url: https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/waqf/
lang: en-GB
source: "IslamicOpenFinance"
---

[Glossary](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/) / [Social finance and zakat](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/#social)

Social finance and zakat

# Waqf

An endowment: an asset is dedicated so that its principal is preserved and its benefits go to a stated purpose.

Waqf is an endowment in which the founder dedicates an asset so that its principal is preserved and its benefits or income go to a stated charitable or family purpose. The asset is managed by a trustee, the nazir or mutawalli, according to the founder's conditions. AAOIFI has issued a governance standard on waqf and an accounting standard on financial reporting by waqf institutions.

## Sources

- [AAOIFI, Governance Standards (issued standards list): GS 13 Waqf Governance](https://aaoifi.com/issued-standards-2/?lang=en)

This entry explains a term; it is not a Shariah ruling. Approving a product is for each institution's own Shariah board and regulator.

## Related terms

[**Cash waqf** A waqf whose endowed asset is money, invested so that its returns fund the waqf's purpose while the capital is preserved.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/cash-waqf/) [**Nazir (waqf trustee)** The trustee who manages a waqf according to the founder's conditions; also called the mutawalli.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/nazir/) [**Sadaqah** Voluntary charity given to people in need, beyond the obligatory zakat.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/sadaqah/) [**Zakat** An obligatory annual contribution on qualifying wealth above a minimum threshold, paid to specified categories of recipients.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/zakat/)

**Social finance and zakat**

1. [Zakat](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/zakat/)
2. [Nisab](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/nisab/)
3. [Sadaqah](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/sadaqah/)
4. [Qard hasan](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/qard-hasan/)
5. [Zakat recipients (asnaf)](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/zakat-recipients/)
6. [Cash waqf](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/cash-waqf/)
7. [Nazir (waqf trustee)](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/nazir/)
8. [Zakat base](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/zakat-base/)

[All 221 terms](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/)