The Development of Endowment Banks in The Historical Experience of The Ottoman Civilization

Abstract

Anyone who follows the history of the endowment will notice that the endowment was known in a form before Islam, but it developed with Islam to the point where it became difficult to imagine Islamic societies without the endowment. This role began to grow constantly until it reached its peak in the Ottoman Empire, and even in the Ottoman Empire, we find that the role of the endowment differed from one region to another. In any case, the history of the countries of the Islamic world reflects the richness of the Waqf experience and its success in establishing a social experience that included almost all levels of life and helped fundamentally in solving people’s problems. Even more, the Waqf embraced a large part of the innovations that characterized Islamic civilization, especially in periods of the nation’s weakness and decline. - Which ensured its continuity and transmission over time.

Therefore, we cannot ignore the official and popular trends that the Islamic world is witnessing today towards rationalizing material capabilities and investing in the original efforts and perceptions of the “Waqfists” - as they are conventionally called - stored in the spirit of the times to reach comprehensive developmental endowment models based on the values of goodness, truth, and justice. It remains to point out that the endowment is a concept and an experience with an extended history that carries within it high development potential that qualifies it to contribute effectively to managing the present Islamic societies and confronting the challenges they face.