Why is WAQF BOARD on the News?
In a historic turn of events, the WAQF board is on the news again as it is the 3rd largest land owner in India after the Armed Forces and Indian Railways.
Key Highlights:
Waqf is defined as ‘the permanent dedication by a person professing Islam of any movable or immovable property for any purpose recognised by the Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable’
A Waqf board is a legal body that ensures the appropriate administration of Waqf
The most well-known Waqf board is India’s Central Waqf Council (CWC), set up in 1964
What is Waqf?
The very literal meaning of Waqf is detention or confinement and prohibition. As per Islam, it is the property that is now available only for religious or charitable purposes, and any other use or sale of the property is prohibited. As per Sharia law, once Waqf is established, and the property is dedicated to Waqf, it remains as Waqf property forever.
Waqf means that the ownership of the property is now taken away from the person making Waqf and transferred and detained by Allah. As per Sharia, this property is now permanently dedicated to Allah, making Waqf irrevocable.
‘Waqif’ is a person who creates a waqf for the beneficiary. As Waqf properties are bestowed upon Allah, in the absence of a physically tangible entity, a ‘mutawalli’ is appointed by the waqif, or by a competent authority, to manage or administer a Waqf. A Waqf can be either public or private. Public Waqfs are created to serve charitable ends, while private Waqfs are often willed down to a property owner’s direct descendants.
Waqf is properly maintained and managed, with any rent or revenue produced by the asset or property utilised appropriately under the provisions of Mohamadeen law. These laws may vary depending on whether a Waqf board is either Sunni or Shia.
The History of Waqf and Waqf Boards in India
In India, the history of Waqf can be traced back to the early days of the Delhi Sultanate when Sultan Muizuddin Sam Ghaor dedicated two villages in favour of the Jama Masjid of Multan and handed its administration to Shaikhul Islam. As the Delhi Sultanate and later Islamic dynasties flourished in India, the number of Waqf properties kept increasing in India.
There was a case made for the abolition of Waqfs in India in the late 19th Century when a dispute over a Waqf property ended up in the Privy Council of London during the days of the British Raj. The four British judges who heard the case described the Waqf as “a perpetuity of the worst and the most pernicious kind” and declared Waqf to be invalid.
However, the decision by the four judges was not accepted in India and the Mussalman Waqf Validating Act of 1913 saved the institution of Waqf in India. Since then, no attempt has been made to curb Waqfs, and Waqf Board is now the 3rd largest land owner in India after the Armed Forces and Indian Railways.
Political vote banks have dictated that the institution of Waqf has only been strengthened post-independence. The Waqf Act of 1954 passed by the Nehru government provided a pathway toward the centralisation of Waqfs. Central Waqf Council of India, a statutory body was established in 1964 by the Government of India under the Waqf Act of 1954. This central body oversees the work under various state Waqf boards which were established under provisions of Section 9(1) of the Waqf Act, 1954. The Waqf Act was made even more favourable to Muslims in 1995 which as Advocate Dave pointed out, is an overriding law and there are no legislative powers over it.
The Waqf Act 1995
The Waqf Act, of 1995 was enacted and implemented on November 22, 1995. This act provides for the power and functions of the Waqf Council, the State Waqf Boards, and the Chief Executive Officer, and also the duties of mutawalli.
This Act also describes the power and restrictions of a Waqf Tribunal that acts instead of a civil court under its jurisdiction. The Waqf Tribunals are deemed to be a civil court and required to exercise all the powers and functions exercised by a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The decision of a Tribunal shall be final and binding on the parties. No suit or legal proceedings shall lie under any civil court which this act requires to be determined by a Tribunal. Thus, making the Waqf Tribunal decisions above any civil court.
Once a Waqf property, always a Waqf property
Since the ownership of the property is transferred to Allah from the waqf in the case of Waqf, and property cannot be taken back from Allah, once a property becomes Waqf, it will always stay Waqf.
As seen in the case of Bengaluru Eidgah ground, even though there was no title transfer to any Muslim organisation as per the government, Waqf’s claims that it was a Waqf property from the 1850s means that it is now forever a Waqf property.
Recently, the Gujarat Waqf Board had staked claim to the Surat Municipal Corporation building which is now the property of the Waqf because the documents were not updated. As per Waqf, back during the Mughal era, the Surat Municipal Corporation building was a Sarai and used during the Hajj travels. The property then belonged to the British Empire during British rule. However, when India gained independence in 1947, the properties were then shifted to the government of India. However, since the documents were not updated, the SMC building then became Waqf property, and as the Waqf Board says, once a Waqf, always a Waqf.
In another bizarre case of staking a claim, Divya Bhaskar had reported that the Waqf Board had written an application to the Gujarat High Court staking a claim on the ownership of two islands in Bet Dwarka in Devbhoomi Dwarka. A perplexed High Court Judge refused to hear the application and asked the Board to revise its petition wondering how can Waqf stake a claim on land in Krishnanagri.
Another interesting aspect of Waqf is that an apartment in your housing society can any day turn into a mosque without any input from the other members of the society if the owner of that apartment decides to endow it as Waqf. Something similar happened in Shiv Shakti society in Surat where one of the plot owners registered his plot with the Gujarat Waqf Board, making it a holy place for Muslims, and people started offering Namaz there.
Role of WAQF Board?
Under the Waqf Act of 1954, Waqf is defined as ‘the permanent dedication by a person professing Islam of any movable or immovable property for any purpose recognised by the Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable’. In the creation of a Waqf, the relevant property or asset is deemed non-transferable or detained forever, as a charitable act towards God.
As such, the validity of a Waqf is contingent upon a defining feature of permanence. Essentially, this amounts to a transfer of ownership (in principle) of the asset to God. A Waqf can be either public or private. Public Waqfs are created to serve charitable ends, while private Waqfs are often willed down to a property owner’s direct descendants.
Let’s Understand why in a (then) 'Secular India’, the WAQF Board was needed.
The Waqf Act was first passed by Parliament in 1954. Subsequently, it was repealed and a new Waqf Act was passed in 1995 which gave more powers to Waqf Boards. In 2013, this Act was further amended to give unlimited powers to Waqf Boards to snatch anyone’s property, which even could not be challenged in any court of law. In March 2014, just before the commencement of the Lok Sabha Elections, the Congress gifted 123 prime properties in Delhi to the Delhi Waqf Board by using this law.
Due to this black law, thousands of acres of land of Hindus have been snatched away in the country so far. Recently Tamil Nadu Waqf Board has declared 6 Villages of Tamil Nadu, including a 1500-year-old Hindu Temple as Waqf property.
Simply put, the Waqf Board has unlimited powers to claim properties in the name of Muslim charity. But to understand how it got this right, we have to turn the pages of history. Here’s the list of Immovable properties.
The Hindus who came to India after partition from Pakistan, their properties in Pakistan were occupied by the Muslims and the Government of Pakistan. The Government of India gave the land of Muslims who went from India to Pakistan to the Waqf Boards. After which the Waqf Board Act was passed in the year 1954. But in the year 1995, by changing the Waqf Board Act, the Waqf Boards were given unlimited rights to acquire land. After which the property of the Waqf Board increased.
According to the data of the Waqf Management System of India, at present, there are a total of 8,54,509 properties with Waqf Boards which are spread over more than eight lakh acres of land. You will be surprised to know that after the Army and Railways, most of the land is with the Waqf Boards.
In the year 2009, the properties of the Waqf Board were spread over four lakh acres of land. Which has now more than doubled. Whereas the land in the country is the same as it was before. So, how is the Waqf Board’s land increasing?
Wherever the Waqf Board gets the boundary wall of the cemetery done in the country, it considers the land around it as its property. Similarly, illegal shrines and mosques are gradually declared by the Waqf Board as their property. In simple language, people call this encroachment and the Waqf Board has the right to this encroachment.
Section 3 of the Waqf Act, 1995 states that if the Waqf “thinks” that the land belongs to a Muslim, then it is the property of the Waqf. It should be noted here that just “thinking of Waqf” is enough, Waqf Board does not need any proof for this. If Waqf accepts that your property is not yours but Waqf Board’s, then you cannot even go to court. You can approach the Waqf Tribunal Court.
Section 85 of the Waqf Act states that if you cannot satisfy the Waqf Board Tribunal that it is your land, then you will be ordered to vacate the land. The decision of the Tribunal will be final. No court, not even the Supreme Court, can change the decision of the Waqf Tribunal.
Section 40 of the Waqf Act states that when the Waqf Board lays a claim on the land of a person, it is not the responsibility of the Waqf Board to prove the claim on the land, but the real owner of the land has to prove the ownership of his land.
That is, if the Waqf Board claims any land, then understand that the Waqf Board has become the owner of the land.
How does a religious law like the Waqf Act have been made applicable in a secular country like India under the Minority Affairs? The question is why is there no such act for Minority Hindus (Sikhs, Jain & Buddhists), Parsis/Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians?
Why only for Muslims? The irony is that in the year 1991 the Places of Worship Act was made which says that the religious places which existed at the time of independence of the country will be retained as it is. At the same time, in 1995, the Waqf Act came into force, which gave the right to the Waqf Board across the country to claim its rights on any property and the aggrieved party could not even appeal in any court of the country against this.
It is strange to hear that such an act exists in a secular country, whereas there is no such ‘act’ in any Muslim/Sharia-Law ruled country (because it is a Sharia-ruled Country?). Muslim countries like Turkey, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq have neither a Waqf Board nor a Waqf Law but have a trust authority linked to the functional Sharia-ruled state.
Read:
Waqf vs. Trusts in Saudi Arabia
But to focus on Indonesia (the largest Muslim Populous, Democratic Nation), the Indonesian Management & Account Research states that:
Indonesia is a country that has quite a lot of waqf lands, amounting to 3.492.045.373m2, distributed in 420 003 locations. Unfortunately the waqf lands are not managed productively, so that they cannot be utilized to improve the public welfare. To promote and develop waqf in Indonesia, in the Law No. 41 year 2004 it is mandated to set up the Indonesian Waqf Board. In 2007 President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a decree on the formation of the Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI). Now BWI has reached its seventh year of age. The question arising is, how is the role of BWI in promoting and developing waqf in Indonesia? Despite very limited funds, BWI with its six divisions has been running its programs, and even to develop waqf in Indonesia, presently BWI has already established 24 representatives, and 9 representatives are still in the process. Hopefully with representatives in every province, Indonesian waqf can evolve in a productive manner so that the results can be used to improve the welfare of the people.
CLAIMS OF WAQF BOARD:
- Tamil Nadu: Hindu farmers lose 57-acre land overnight to Waqf Board
- TN Waqf Board claims 1500-year-old temple land is theirs
- Waqf boards are India’s big urban landlords. But whose interests are they serving?
Waqf Properties in the Country
As per Section 3 of the Indian Trusts Act, a beneficiary can approach the court against the illegal acts of Waqf. - Hence, if you are a beneficiary, then you can file a suit for declaration before the court, otherwise, it is the duty of waqf to file the same. - it comes under the RTI Act.
No Waqf Board has authority to expel community from a religion: Smriti Irani amid Ahmadiyya row
With the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board passing a resolution calling the Ahmadiyya community "kafirs" and non-Muslims, the Minority Affairs Ministry had written a strongly-worded letter to the Andhra Pradesh government, calling the board's resolution a "hate campaign", which "could have ramifications across the country".
"A representation dated 20.7.2023 has been received from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, vide which it has been stated that certain Waqf Boards have been opposing the Ahmadiyya Community and passing illegal resolutions declaring the community to be outside the fold of Islam," said the letter sent to Chief Secretary Andhra Pradesh K.S. Jawahar Reddy.
"This constitutes a hate campaign against the Ahmadiyya community at large, and the Waqf Board neither has the jurisdiction nor authority to determine the religious identity of any community including Ahmadiyyas," the letter reportedly said.
Read the Full Story: Here
Waqf boards are India’s big urban landlords. But whose interest are they serving?
Waqf boards are the third largest landowners in India, after Armed Forces and Railways. But India’s Muslim community is still struggling for basic needs. By AMANA BEGAM
The main purpose of the huge waqf board universe in India is to serve the Muslim community. But even as the waqf board has emerged as the third largest owner of land in the country, Indian Muslims are struggling for basic needs and fare worse than Dalits on several socio-economic indicators. Waqf owners today are India’s largest urban landlords.
Waqf is a type of charitable endowment in Islamic law where the ownership of a property is transferred to Allah and the property is permanently dedicated for religious or charitable purposes. The person making the waqf (known as waqif) may specify the purposes for which the income generated by the property should be used. This could include supporting the poor and needy, maintaining a mosque or other religious institution, providing education, or funding other charitable causes.
In this way, waqf is considered a form of religious charity that allows individuals to contribute to the welfare of society and earn spiritual rewards. Waqf properties are managed by a waqf board, which is responsible for ensuring that the income generated by the property is used by the wishes of the waqif and Islamic principles.
The concept of waqf has its roots in early Islamic history, with the practice established during the time of Prophet Muhammad. During the Islamic Golden Age, waqf institutions played a critical role in the development of Islamic scholarship and education. Many of the world’s oldest universities, such as Al-Azhar University in Cairo (Egypt) and the University of Al Quaraouiyine in Fez (Morocco), were founded as waqf institutions.
In 1954, the Jawaharlal Nehru government passed the Waqf Act, which led to the centralisation of waqfs. Under the Act, the government established the Central Waqf Council in 1964.
In 1995, the law was amended to allow the formation of waqf boards in each state and union territory. The Central Waqf Council serves as an advisory body to the Centre on matters related to waqf properties. Any dispute is decided by a waqf property tribunal headed by a member of the state service and two other members (not necessarily Muslims). Some states like Bihar have separate Shia and Sunni waqf boards.
Comment:
In my honest opinion, there shouldn’t be any place for the Waqf Act in an independent, secular India. There should not be any religious exceptionalism. A board that manages huge assets/funds that do not benefit the common Muslims of the country, What exactly does it do by hijacking the spaces? The government should take down the Waqf Act as the same has unconstitutional claims.
The government is well-equipped with competent members to maintain the lands & rights of the Muslims.
