Team Qatar.Qatar questions and answer.1.Awqaf as an Islamic endowment has been stripped of its developmental and productive content. Islamic awqaf is now mostly used to refer to mosques.a. What are the factors that are conducive to the growth and development of the Waqf sector in qatar?Qatar has emerged as one of the more prominent Waqf fund managers in the Arabian Peninsula as a result of prudent management and surplus amount of capital. At first, Qatar was oblivious even in the Arab world as the two main economic activities were fisheries and pearling. It is not until the 1940s, that oil was discovered on Qataris soil and it had managed to transform the whole landscape of the small Arabian nation. Qatar has effectively and efficiently made use of its resources to generate the growth of its economy and was able to tackle a lot of social issues such as housing, jobs, health and education. Once the people is taken care of, excess capital within the government coffers is put under the purview of the Qatars sovereign wealth fund, formally known as Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). It was established in 2005 with the intention to manage and administer the nations wealth through profitable investments and commercial businesses, and now ranked as one of the biggest sovereign funds in the world measured to the size of ready capital. Among those renowned brands that are owned by the QIA via its wholly-owned subsidiary Qatar Holdings are the UK bank Barclays, the supermarket chain Sainsburys and the retail group Harrods. This shows that Qatar is very good at managing public funds with little to no wastage and they are trying to reduce their reliance on oil and gas exports, by means of diversifying their source of revenues and invest in vital business that are self-sustainable for the long term. The Qatari government realized that they cant always depend on the income from the oil and gas industry, as those are commodities that fluctuate according to the global price rating. Moreover, Qatar has once again proven to be frugal when it comes to managing their money by attaining the highest GDP per capita in the world and having none of its population living in poverty. However, Qatar acknowledged that the wealth accumulated by them should be distributed and shared with others that are not as lucky as them. They have come up with the initiative of establishing the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, with the sole purpose of setting provisions for the good use of the Islamic community, may it be in Qatar or overseas. A special purpose department, known as the General Directorate of Endowment is dedicated to manage and invest the funds allocated towards the construction of public amenities, such as schools, mosques and hospitals. Furthermore, public contributions from the people of Qatar themselves allow for the rapid development of the Waqf sector in Qatar. Since the people are well-informed of the benefit and the leverage of having an advanced Waqf sector, as it would eventually contribute to the development of the Muslim community as a whole. These developments are not limited to economic, but political and social well- beings at the same time.

b. Is Qatar adopting a development oriented Waqf system? Give examples.Yes, Qatar is adopting a development oriented Waqf system. Qatar has established a centralized semi-governmental Waqf authority which aims at managing all the endowments in the country in the long run and direct endowments into priority development sectors under the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. The endowments are generally in the form of cash, real estate and properties. It will then be used to finance others projects while some of the funds will be invested in leading companies, Islamic banks and financial institutions in Qatar. The investments undertaken must be ensured in term of its legitimacy and must be in accordance to Shariah principles and free of any prohibited elements. For instance, real estate constitutes nearly 60 percent of Awqaf assets in Qatar, while shares and capital in joint venture companies like Aqar Real Estate Development, Al-Jazeera Finance Company and several other trusted investment companies constitute and organize the rest of the funds. The Waqf fund administrator always ensures that local businesses are given priority over provision of funds, and only later that foreign organizations are being considered as investment options, provided that their businesses are Shariah compliant. The endowments are then to be spent either within the country or outside of the country. The profits are spent mainly on building of mosques, providing residential complexes, Al-Quran printing projects and building educational institutional. With regards to use of Waqf revenues, the most frequent purpose is spending on mosques. This usually includes salaries of imams, teachers, and preachers in addition to carpeting, cleaning, water supply, and electricity.The management also taking a step further by providing a mechanism for community-financed new Awqaf enterprises that serve major social objectives such as providing education and health care to the needy and supporting poor families, building hospitals, schools, youth centres and providing them with allowances to support their daily expenses. Most of the projects, developments and constructions are being done through the foundations that was set up by the Qatars Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs as well as personal efforts by individuals with the capability and capital of establishing their own non-profit organization to support the Waqf effort in Qatar.

c. Does Qatar have a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework to ensure effective management of its waqf assets?One of the major impediments or obstructions to growth in waqf is the lack of proper legal environment. In order to rediscover awqaf and reverse the trend of neglect and to enhance their role in social and economic development, it is imperative that an enabling legal environment is in place. The importance of the awqaf sector is seen in terms of the huge assets it controls, in its social expenditure, in the number of people it employs, and in its significant contribution to the economy. With such a significant economic output, and growth in the number, size and diversity of non-profit organizations entrusted with awqaf properties for their social programs, awqaf as a faith-based charitable institution is no longer seen as exclusively religious. Awqaf has generated interest well beyond the confines of philanthropic activists and fiqh and Shariah scholars. A considerable number of them are large-scale organizations operating in different countries, controlling substantial assets, and employing significant number of people. Major hospitals, universities, museums, and many NGOs do come from waqf. With a broader business focus, it became clear that the sector is in fact an industry and is being subjected to increased scrutiny by governments and regulatory authorities.In Qatar, the legal and regulatory framework was developed under governmental organization. It was established under Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs in 1993 to ensure that all areas of modern life comply with the principals of Islam and are consistent with the teachings of the Prophet. The department was responsible for the overall supervision of endowments in Qatar and its primary function is to manage and invest endowment funds in an economic basis in accordance with Shariah. To achieve these aims, the ministry provides information and guidance to citizens and promotes Islam at home country and abroad. The ministry has establish other department to supervise and improving Waqf system in Qatar, it can be recognized as General Directorate of Endowments. Easily said that, Waqf in Qatar 50% is controlled by the government. Its a centralized semi-governmental waqf authority. Aside from that, any private body that also conducting Waqf property must follow all the regulation provided by Waqf ministry first.However, of question on whether Qatar have a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework to ensure managerial effectiveness of its assets, in our opinion, we thinks that the legal framework is not wholly comprehensive and ample. The waqf management in Qatar is still experiencing some loopholes and shortcomings regarding the implementation.Our suggestion is that the waqf funds management should be freed and separated from authority-dominated government and profit-motive of individuals. Authority who manage the waqf funds will then be supervised by government. Apart from that, government can regulate a standard and quality of services provided independently through awqaf. Nest, the authority have to provide a strategic place for development of Awqaf properties so citizens or tourist can benefit them.

2.Countries like Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, and Algeria have taken a few steps to revive and develop the properties of waqf through a more efficient system of management or progressive waqf laws.a. Does Qatar come up with a model Waqf law that can ensure uniformity of waqf practices?

No, because of limited information and resources that were given in their official website, we only know that waqf in Qatar is semi-governmental and as they are currently comfortable with their current system, they probably never come up with any model of waqf law that can ensure uniformity of waqf practice. Different with Singapore, in their earlier year, before the creation of The Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) in 1968, most of waqf is managed by private trustees and even after the creation of AMLA accordance with section 58, stated that, all awqaf created are vested in Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis), there are still a lot of private trustees that is not vested with MUIS. This is all caused by poor management, and there a lot of properties being sold without the knowledge of MUIS. To counter all this kind of problem, AMLA was amended again to include all the registration of waqf. The effect of this amendment, all waqf private trustees have already been registered with the MUIS. With this current situation, it help MUIS to have all the information related to waqf properties. This information is crucial for the effective and efficient management of the waqf in Singapore. This shows that Singapore improve their waqf model in order to ensure all trustees follow the rules provided. Basically, the ministry of endowment and Islamic affair in Qatar, could try to improve by learning and mentoring from other countries if they really want to have a very good system and law of waqf that may uniform other waqf practice. Joining GCC and discussing how to improve their waqf system is one of the action that can be consider as bigger step in revolutionizing their system.

b. Has Qatar come up with innovative ways to revive waqf? Yes. Qatar has come up with innovative ways to revive waqf. They has one organization called Qatar Charity which manage waqf fund in Qatar. This organization is not governed by government. It was established in 1992 in order to support the Qatari society and other communities abroad. Besides, waqf in Qatar also centralized and governed by Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs in 1993. The ministry is responsible for the overall supervision of endowments in Qatar and its primary function is to manage and invest endowment funds in an economic basis in accordance with Shariah. This Ministry has established other department to supervise and revive waqf system in Qatar. It recognized as General Directorate of Endowments. Part of waqf management in Qatar is controlled by government. Another way Qatar revive their waqf is by regulate any private body who conducting waqf property according to the regulations provided by Waqf Ministry. Furthermore, Qatar also revive their waqf assets by raising fund in many ways, such as in the form of cash, real estate and properties. 60% of waqf assets is obtained from real estate while the remaining is from cash and investment. These funds will then be used to finance projects while some of the funds will be invested in leading companies, Islamic banks and financial institutions in Qatar. Moreover, in order to revive waqf in Qatar, they also practice istibdal.

c. What are the issues and challenges faced by Qatar in the management of its waqf?There are some issues and challenges faced by Qatar in term of waqf management but not that much. The first issue found here is if the waqif (endower) are free to determine the purpose of the waqf, there is a risk that the waqf funds could lead to concentration of resources in certain sectors, while other sectors could remain underserved. This might affect the management of waqf fund in a bad situation where there is no diversification of waqf funds, despite too concentrate on certain sectors only. In other words, we can simply said the major issue here in Qatar is no diversification of waqf funds. Besides, another issue is most of waqf revenues will go to the development of mosques, education center and hospitals only. Actually, with the waqf fund, they could help any new entrepreneur to start up a business, help the needy, provide job opportunities for Muslims who migrate in Qatar, so on and so forth. Secondly, the issue faced by Qatar is their waqf is centralized by its government, Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs. When it is centralized by government, there is possibility that the fund will be misused by corrupt person in the government. It will also might lead to the corruption and injustice, where poor becomes poorer, rich becomes richer. Furthermore, waqf fund which managed by an authority would meet resistance from existing waqf administrators, as they often do not want to give up authority over awqaf they administer, as it sometimes provides them with benefits and power. There are also some recommendation in order to improve waqf in Qatar. First of all, the authority should provide an enactment of waqf to recover, preserve and develop Awqaf properties. This is to ensure all the activities which include the waqf property will be managed properly. Besides, Qatar also should diversify their waqf fund. For example, from the funds, they can help other Muslim country especially Palestine, Syria, Bangladesh and so on. They also can build university, medical school, give financial support to young entrepreneur, so on and so forth. Moreover, Qatar should free Awqaf funds from authority-dominated government and profit-motive of individuals. This is to ensure that there will be no corruption or injustice take place in the management of waqf funds. Forth, they could provide a strategic place for development of Awqaf properties so citizens or tourist can benefit them. Fifth, authority who manage the Waqf funds should be supervised by any regulator or body or government itself. In addition, government can regulate a standard and quality of services provided independently through waqf funds. Waqf authority also could play an active role in promoting awqaf for social development purposes. Finally. waqf authority can provide guidance to potential founders on suitable purposes for awqaf.