Muslim Endowments and Society in British India

Abstract

Dr Kozlowski's important study pioneers a fresh approach to the study of a critical Muslim institution: the endowments or awqaf which almost everywhere in the Islamic world provide support for mosques, schools and shrines. The wealthier Muslims who establish endowments inevitably have an eye on social, political and economic conditions and have traditionally used awqaf as part of an effort to preserve their wealth and influence, especially in periods of change and uncertainty. The book focuses on the use of endowments by Muslims suffering the dislocations caused by the imposition of British rule in India and examines in detail the social and political implications of the controversy over endowments that took place in the imperial courts and councils. The author's observations and insights can be applied to many periods and places in the Muslim world and his novel approach will attract all those interested in the study of Islam.

"Fantastic Charities": The Transformation of Waqf Practice in Colonial Zanzibar

“…1 Otherwise, the study of waqf in Zanzibar-and in East Africa as a whole 2 -remains a desideratum. As for waqf in other parts of the colonial British empire, there are valuable studies on the subject by Baer (1969), Kozlowski (1985), Powers (1989), Reiter (1996), Ginio (1997) and Nasution (2002).…”

TheSharia-compliance of financial reporting practices: a case study onwaqf

“…The income/usufruct of such waqf goes to a charitable purpose when none of these persons is existent' (paragraph 2/3/2). The diverse purposes of waqf have led to some literature associating waqf with Western equivalents: endowments (Kozlowski, 1985), trust (Brennan, 2003), or church properties (Barnes, 1986).…”

Defining the Religious and the Political

“…The Religious Endowments Act of 1863 was passed to allow the Board of Revenue to withdraw from active oversight of religious sites, and specifically to undo the precedents set by these earlier regulations 4 which, according to the 1810 Regulation, allowed that 'support of mosques, Hindoo temples, colleges, and for other pious and beneficial purposes, and of all public buildings' be vested in the Board of Revenue and Board of Commissioners, in the districts subject to the control of each. 5 The 1863 Act therefore provides the context for the Gurdwara Reform Act of 1925 as well as legislation of the same period concerning other religious establishments, such as the Hindu Religious Endowments Board in the Madras Presidency, which provided for the management of Hindu temples and the Mussalman Wakf Validating Act of 1913 (and revised in 1923), meant to ensure that Muslims retain the right to establish and administer waqf along guidelines in keeping with Government interpretation of the philanthropic (Appadurai 1981, 52;Kozlowski 1985).…”

“…In the former case, temples were seen to be inherently local in their character, and in this way expressed the highly decentralized and diverse nature of 'Hinduism' as understood by the colonial state; at the same time, this loose definition was upheld as an overarching concept. In the latter case, a homogenized and elite understanding of Islam was followed in the designation of rightful Islamic practice, marginalizing local customs (Kozlowski 1985). Local controls would however be maintained for endowments.…”