POSSIBILITY OF ENDOWMENT (WAQF) OF PROPRIETARY WORTH IN LIGHT OF A ‎NEW ANALYSIS OF THE ENDOWMENT CCONTRACT

While endowments (waqf), sometimes called everlasting charities, has the capability to turn the wheels of production and business prosperity, some statistics suggest that the current efficacy of endowments in Iran is below half a percent. One main reason for this could be the literalist interpretations put forward of the relevant Islamic legal texts. Apparently, the object of the endowment contract is always the substance of a specified property, and the substitution of that object with a new item is not allowed. A new analysis of the endowment contract, focusing on its main purpose, namely the continuous flow of usufructs, however, can solve many problems. What this analysis indicates is, first, that the essence of the endowment is the usufruct flow, and second, that the endowment is not limited to the substance of the property, but it can also have the proprietary worth as its object. Therefore, the Endowment Organization, as the institutional custodian of endowments in Iran, can rely on this new interpretation, upholding the endowment of proprietary worth, in substituting the endowed properties .