The Role And Impact Of Waqf On Society Welfare: Deep Study From Indonesia

Abstract

This study analyzes the waqf’s role and impact on society welfare throughout world history and makes a deep study from Indonesia. Using triangulation method to increase the credibility and validity of the results by cross-verifying data from different sources or approaches. Doing literature review about history of waqf’s role from Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ era, era of Umayyad and Abbasid’s Caliphate and Ottoman’s Government. We conducted deep study about waqf’s role and impact in Indonesia from previous studies and in-depth interview from 3 nazhirs. The study analiyzes both qualitative and quantitative data about waqf’s empowerment program from those nazhirs. We find that waqf’s role and impact always develop from era to era. Waqf’s role in Indonesia has existed since Sultanate era. Masjid, pesantren and university are the most prominent institutions in developing waqf as a tool to enhance society welfare in modern era. Finally, the result from triangulation perspectives shows that waqf’s role and impact are proven in building three major aspects of human life: economy, knowledge and human resources.