Waqf
WAQF
Muslim public religious trust or endowment (plural, awqaf). It may consist of any kind of income-producing property used for the benefit of the community: to maintain schools, colleges, hospitals, mosques, shrines, charities, or any such public institution or activity. The literal meaning of the Arabic word is "prevention" or "stopping," in the sense of preventing some significant property from ever being owned by any private interest, or from being sold or disposed of. (Private individuals may also create a waqf for the benefit of family or charity, but the word as used here refers to a communal foundation.) Control of awqaf confers political influence and has often been the subject of contention between religious and state authorities and is either controlled or regulated by the state. At some times and places the awqaf have been in control of a major portion of a community's property. In Iran in the 1930s, for instance, awqaf controlled a sixth of all agricultural land. In contemporary Palestine/Israel, properties controlled by a waqf include the Haram al-Sharif (which rightly includes, according to many Muslims, the Western Wall).
SEE ALSO Haram al-Sharif.