ISDEV RESEARCH DISCOURSE: TALKS ON WAQF MANAGEMENT

Prof.Dato' Dr. Mohammad Haji Alias was glad to be able to share his knowledge on
Waqf Financing: Management and Administration.

ISDEV recently became host to Professor Dato' Dr. Mohammad Haji Alias, Director of Centre for Awqaf Financing Development of Universti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM).

Professor Dato' took his busy schedule off to share his experience and findings on Waqf Management and Administration: The Role of State Islamic Religious Council Negeri Sembilan. His working paper was presented during the ISDEV Research Discourse on 17 March 2015 at the Conference Room of Social Sciences (C06). The talk was chaired by ISDEV Deputy Director, Dr Zakaria Bahari and was well attended by ISDEV members.

All eyes on the screen to absorb as much as they can the information shared by the speaker.

Professor Dato' Dr. Mohammad started his presentation during the first session of the program. With the prepared slides, he took about an hour and half to explain about his research findings and experience in successfully putting the waqf agenda forward in USIM to the State Religious Council of Negeri Sembilan.

Prof. Dato' Dr Mohammad (centre) flanked by Prof Syukri (right) and Dr Zakaria (left) throughout his talk.

According to Prof. Dato' the impetus to push forward the waqf agenda in USIM was mooted by the the current Director General of Higher Education, Professor Datuk Dr Asma bin Ismail (USIM Vice Chancellor at that time). Taking up the challenge, Prof. Dato' then started to form his team and began a blueprint of the waqf financing agenda for USIM.

About a year later the Centre for Awqaf Financing Development took shape with a few projects identified for implementation. One of such projects was to get the cooperation and commitment from the State Religious Council of Negeri Sembilan (SRCNS) in whom any waqf property registered in the state would be vested in the SRCNS.  However with engagement, persistence and of course Allah SWT help, the legal impediments on the ownership of any waqf  property and its management and financing were smoothly overcame. His team saw the willingness and readiness of the SRCNS to be engaged with the waqf management agenda of USIM. As a result a number of health facilities based on waqf have been able to be offered to USIM staff and the public at large especially in Negeri Sembilan such as a dialysis centre and a mobile eye clinic. A specialists medical centre near the vicinity of USIM is currently in the pipeline.

Prof Syukri posing a question to Prof. Dato' Mohammad.

During the Question & Answer session, ISDEV Director, Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh took the opportunity to be the first person to pose a question to Prof. Dato' regarding to the waqf management issues faced by his team. The rest of the audience including Dr. Razali Othman, Director of Pusat Islam, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) who came all the way from Serdang, Selangor, also raised his questions and some points of views on the issues. 

Dr.Goh Soo Khoon (left) of CenPRIS and Dr Razali Othman (right) of UPM.

Besides ISDEV members, among those who attended ISDEV Research Discourse were Dr. Goh Soo Khoon from the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS) USM and Puan Zainab from the School of Social Sciences. The program ended at 5.30 pm with a simple high tea for everyone who came for the ISDEV Research Discourse.