Waqf and Trust Compared

The waqf is the central institution of Muslim religious and charitable giving: a permanent dedication of property to God, with its benefits applied to purposes recognised by Muslim law. Section 1 of the Indian Trusts Act expressly preserves "the rules of Muhammadan law as to waqf", so a waqf is governed by Muslim personal law and the Waqf Act, 1995, as substantially amended in 2025. Because waqf and trust both separate management from benefit, they are often compared. This note explains the waqf, contrasts it with the trust, and notes the recent statutory changes.

1. What Is a Waqf?

A waqf is the permanent dedication by a Muslim of movable or immovable property for any purpose recognised by Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable. On dedication, ownership of the property is treated as transferred to God, so that it becomes inalienable; only its usufruct is applied for the beneficiaries. The person who dedicates is the waqif, and the manager is the mutawalli.

Public waqf: for mosques, graveyards, schools, hospitals, relief of the poor and similar purposes.
Family waqf (waqf-alal-aulad): for the waqif's family and descendants, with an ultimate gift to a religious or charitable purpose. After the Privy Council doubted its validity in the 1890s, the Mussalman Wakf Validating Act, 1913 confirmed it.

2. Waqf and Trust Compared

Point	Trust (Indian Trusts Act)	Waqf
Ownership	Vests in the trustee	Treated as transferred to God; the mutawalli is a manager, not an owner
Purpose	Any lawful purpose (Section 4)	A purpose recognised by Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable
Who may create	Any person competent to contract (Section 7)	A Muslim (with conditions added in 2025, see below)
Duration	Private trusts are subject to the rule against perpetuity	Perpetual by nature
Revocability	Revocable if a power is reserved, or by consent of beneficiaries (Section 78)	Irrevocable once complete
Alienation	Trustee may sell with authority	Waqf property is inalienable, save as the law permits
Manager	Trustee; no remuneration unless provided (Section 50)	Mutawalli; may receive remuneration as fixed by the waqif or allowed by law
Failure of purpose	Private trust results to the author (Section 83)	Property applied to the poor or allied purposes, as the waqf is permanent
Regulator and forum	Civil court; no regulator for private trusts	Waqf Board, Central Waqf Council; Waqf Tribunals

The most important difference is conceptual. A trust involves a human owner bound by an obligation; a waqf involves the extinction of human ownership in favour of God, which is why it is perpetual, irrevocable and inalienable. In Ahmed G.H. Ariff v CWT (Supreme Court, 1970), however, the Court held that a beneficiary's right to a specified share of a family waqf's income was itself property in his hands for wealth tax purposes.

3. The Waqf Act, 1995

Survey and registration: surveys of waqf properties and their registration with the State Waqf Board.
Waqf Boards: each State has a Waqf Board that supervises waqfs, appoints and removes mutawallis in defined cases, and protects waqf property; a Central Waqf Council advises the Government.
Waqf Tribunals: specialised tribunals decide disputes about waqf properties, with the civil court's jurisdiction barred for matters within their competence.
Protection of property: restrictions on alienation, removal of encroachments and recovery of waqf property.

4. The 2025 Amendment

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which received assent in April 2025, made extensive changes and renamed the 1995 Act the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995. Among its main changes:

Who may create a waqf: a person who has shown or demonstrated that he has been practising Islam for at least five years, and who owns the property.
Waqf by user: the concept of waqf by long user was removed for the future, with protection for existing registered waqfs by user except where disputed or government property.
Government property: provisions for determining whether property claimed as waqf is government property.
Composition of bodies: inclusion of non-Muslim members on the Central Waqf Council and State Waqf Boards.
Repeal: the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923 was repealed.

📖 In re Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Supreme Court, interim order, 15 September 2025)

Held: The Court declined to stay the Act as a whole, but stayed the requirement of five years' practice of Islam until rules are framed to determine it, stayed parts of the provisions allowing officers to determine government property claims, and directed that non-Muslim members should not exceed four on the Central Waqf Council and three on a State Waqf Board. The challenge remains pending for final decision.

⚠ Note

The constitutional challenge to the 2025 amendment was pending at the time of writing. The current position, including any final judgment and rules framed under the Act, should be checked before relying on these provisions.

⚠ Key point

A waqf is a permanent dedication by a Muslim of property for a purpose recognised by Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable, with ownership treated as passing to God and management by a mutawalli; family waqfs were validated in 1913. Unlike a trust, it is perpetual, irrevocable and inalienable, limited to religious, pious or charitable purposes, and regulated by Waqf Boards and Waqf Tribunals under the Waqf Act, 1995, outside the Indian Trusts Act (Section 1). The 2025 amendment renamed the Act, added a five-year practice requirement, removed future waqf by user and added non-Muslim members; on 15 September 2025 the Supreme Court stayed some provisions on an interim basis without staying the Act as a whole.

5. Related Topics and Provisions

Scope of the Act (Topic 3): the waqf exclusion
Hindu religious endowments (Topic 44)
Statutory regulation of public trusts (Topic 42)
Choosing a vehicle (Topic 46): trust, society or Section 8 company