Waqf and Trusts: Economic and Social Implications of a Key Legal Instrument

I am interested in examining the methodological and theoretical foundations of the waqf and its integration into modern state bureaucracies and legal systems, which have been heavily characterised by borrowings from Western law. My research seeks to investigate three related aspects in contemporary Muslim legal systems: first, how the modern Ministries of Charitable Endowments, which exist in one way or other in virtually all Muslim nations, operate; second, the legal basis in the modern period under which foundations operate in the Muslim world, especially the extremely influential bonyads in the Islamic Republic of Iran; and, thirdly, the manner in which certain institutions that historically have been key beneficiaries of charitable endowments – especially schools, universities, seminaries – have been legally incorporated in the modern period.