Analysis of issues and solutions on the implementation of istibdal waqf property in states of Peninsular Malaysia

• Published in: Qualitative Research in Financial Markets
• Main Author: Mohammed Noor A.; Asni F.; Mat Rani M.A.; Ramle M.R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Emerald Publishing 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85151926408&doi=10.1108%2fQRFM-04-2021-0071&partnerID=40&md5=d43509e276d83d763faaffbf24d60623

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the implementation of istibdal waqf property in several states of Peninsular Malaysia. To achieve this objective, this study identified the amount of waqf property ‘am (general) and waqf property khas (special) which were involved in the process of istibdal in each state, the factors that have caused the istibdal to be implemented, the rate of istibdal involved for each lot of waqf lands and the type of property replacement performed. Design/methodology/approach: This study used the qualitative method, whereby the researchers had collected secondary data consisting of documents related to waqf from the State Islamic Religious Council (MAIN). The type of documents obtained were public records. The data collected were analysed using the content analysis techniques. Findings: The results showed that there are several factors involved in the implementation of istibdal, namely, the acquisition of waqf land by the State Authority, applications by external parties for a particular interest and the initiatives taken by the MAIN on waqf property which is problematic and uneconomical to generate waqf fund. This study also found some Shariah and management issues, which were identified in the implementations of istibdal, whereas some cases of istibdal were only carried out on a small part of the waqf lands and there were also cases of the implementation of istibdal which have not been replaced with fixed assets as authorised by the istibdal parameter. This study suggests some improvements to the issues identified in the implementation of istibdal for waqf managers in Malaysia. Research limitations/implications: The limitation of this study is that it analyses only the documents that record the implementation of istibdal in the states managed by MAIN. Thus, the analysis performed was limited to the documents obtained without involving empirical data. Practical implications: This study suggests some improvements to the implementation of istibdal waqf in the states studied. Therefore, these recommendations can be used by waqf property managers to improve the process of implementing waqf property istibdal so that it can be used to its maximum potential. Social implications: If the recommendations in this study can be implemented, the Muslim community will benefit greatly from the waqf property because it is being developed through the method of istibdal. This impact can increase the confidence of the Muslim community towards MAIN in managing waqf property and encouraging the Muslim community to contribute to waqf property for the welfare of the ummah. Originality/value: This study involved data on a larger waqf istibdal implementations that involved several states in Peninsular Malaysia, which to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the analysis involving such large research data have not been implemented before. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.