The Capacity of the Endowment Institution in Realizing the Value-oriented Dimensions of Economic Justice and Grounds for Its Enhancement

Moghadam, Vahid

doi:10.22034/icwj.2025.510156.1030

The Capacity of the Endowment Institution in Realizing the Value-oriented Dimensions of Economic Justice and Grounds for Its Enhancement

Document Type : Original Research Article

Author

Vahid Moghadam

Assistant Professor, Department of Ahl Al-Bayt Studies, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22034/icwj.2025.510156.1030

Abstract

The endowment, or waqf, institution has historically served diverse religious, social, and economic functions, among others. Economically, endowment contributions have supported marginalized groups through transfer payments, food distribution, the establishment of clinics, and similar initiatives, thereby promoting social justice. This article aims for a deeper analysis of the endowment institution’s capacity to achieve value-oriented economic justice. It initially outlines six dimensions of such justice: resource allocation management, justice in distributing natural wealth (a pre-production distribution aspect), justice in access to initial opportunities, income distribution justice, justice in meeting basic human needs, and intergenerational justice. It then assesses the potential of endowment to fulfill these dimensions. The study demonstrates that endowment serves as a justice-enhancing mechanism, fulfilling all the specified dimensions except for the distribution of natural wealth, which falls under government authority. Furthermore, addressing minor jurisprudential and legal challenges can expand this capacity. The combination of the endowment institution with financial mechanisms, particularly in Islamic frameworks such as microcredit, securitization, qarḍ al-ḥasana loan (benevolent loan), and innovations like cash endowment and stock endowment, can further generalize and develop the endowment institution, enhancing its services to beneficiaries. This expansion increases the effectiveness of the endowment in promoting justice.

Keywords

endowment

value-oriented justice

allocative justice

distributive justice

intergenerational justice

Subjects

Social Sciences

Abduh Tabrizi, Hussein. 2005. “Financial Institution of Endowment Funds Worldwide and Its Islamic Principles of Activity in Iran.” Imam Sadiq University Research Journal 25. (In Persian)

Ahmad Mahdi, Mahmoud. 1999. “The Role of the Islamic Development Bank in the Productivity of Endowments.” Waqf Mirath-i Javidan 27. (In Persian)

Ahmed, Habib. 2002. “Financing Microenterprises: An Analytical Study of Islamic Microfinance Institutions.” Islamic Economic Studies 9 (2).

Ahmed, Habib. 2004. “Role of Zakah and Awqaf in Poverty Alleviation.” Occasional Paper No. 8, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Dadgar, Yadollah, and Javad Saʿadatfar. 2007. “Feasibility Study of Cash Endowment.” Quarterly Journal of Economic Research 7(1).

Haʾeri Yazdi, Mohammad Hasan Haeri Yazdi. 1999. “The Impact of Endowment on Islamic Economics.” Mashkat Quarterly 62–65. (In Persian)

Hejazian, Mohsen. 1996. “The Culture of Endowment in Islam.” Mashkat Quarterly 50. (In Persian)

Kahf, Monzer. 1998. Financing the Development of Awqaf Property. Paper prepared for the Seminar on the Development of Awqaf, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 2-4, 1998.

Katouzian, Nasser. 1999. “The Evolution of the Endowment Institution and Its Future Prospects: A comparative-historical study.” Naqd va Nazar 21. (In Persian)

Malakoutifar, Valiʾollāh. 2007. “A Feasibility Study of Monetary Endowment based on Shiʿa Jurisprudence: Recommendations and Solutions.” In proceedings of the conference on endowment in the capital market. Qom: Mofid University Publishing Company. (In Persian)

Nourahmadi, Mahdi. 2004. “An Analysis of the Functionality of the Endowment Institution in Islamic Economics.” Andisha-yi Sadiq 11-12. (In Persian)

Piraste, Hossein, Mohammad Vaʿez, and Hojjatollah Abdolmaleki. 2008. “The Integration between Islamic Financial and Endowment Foundations: A Theoretical and Conceptual Development.” Prepared for the Dubai International Endowments’ Investments Conference.

Riyahi Samani, Nader. 1999. Endowment and the Legislation Transformations in the Subjects. Shiraz: Navid-e Shiraz Publications. (In Persian)

Saʿadatfar, Javad. 2007. “A Jurisprudential Feasibility Study of Monetary Endowment: Recommendations and Solutions.” In proceedings of the conference on endowment in the capital market. Qom: Mofid University Publishing Company. (In Persian)

Ṣadr, Sayyed Muḥammad Bāqir (Seyyed Mohammad Baqir Sadr). 1981. Our Economics, vol. 2. Translated by Espehbodi. Tehran: Islamic Publications. (In Persian)

Salehabadi, Ali, and Mohammad Sadegh Dabiri. 2007. “Endowment of Company Shares from an Islamic Perspective.” In proceedings of the conference on endowment in the capital market. Qom: Mofid University Publishing Company. (In Persian)

Salimifar, Mostafa. 1991. A Study of Endowment and Its Socio-economic Impacts. Mashhad: Astan-i Qods-i Razavi Research Foundation. (In Persian)

Vaʿez, Mohammad, and Vahid Moghadam. 2008. “Justice and Its Meaningful Manifestations in Macro-economic Schools.” Unpublished. (In Persian)