Temporary Waqf (Waqf Muʾaqqat) in Statutory Law: A Comparative Analysis of the Kuwaiti Codification Model and Malaysian State Legislation

Abstract

This study compares the statutory framework of temporary waqf (waqf muʾaqqat) in Kuwait, which follows a uniform codification model, with the decentralised landscape of state legislation in Malaysia. Using doctrinal legal research and a functional comparative approach, it analyses the Kuwaiti Waqf Law Project 1951 and Model Waqf Law 2014 together with the waqf legislation of eight Malaysian jurisdictions, including the Terengganu Waqf Enactment 2016, the Johor Waqf Rules 1983 and the Federal Territories Waqf Rules 2025. The statutory texts were coded along eight comparative dimensions, ranging from recognition and duration limits to reversion, revocation, asset types and administration, and were evaluated within a maqāṣid al-sharīʿah framework centred on the preservation of wealth. The findings show that Kuwait achieves a high degree of legal certainty through a duration limit of 10 to 60 years or two generational layers, absolute exceptions for mosques and cemeteries, a prohibition on revocation before expiry, and clear reversionary rights for the founder or heirs. In Malaysia, recognition of temporary waqf varies: it is explicit in Terengganu, Johor and the Federal Territories, implicit in Selangor and Sarawak, and absent in Melaka and Sabah. This fragmentation, together with the lack of a specific mechanism for recording duration and reversion, exposes founders and administrators to legal uncertainty and inheritance disputes, particularly when a waqf reaches the end of its term. The study recommends a model waqf law for voluntary adoption by the states through the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs, a state-level registration mechanism for temporary waqf coordinated with land offices, and the use of AAOIFI’s waqf governance standard (SS 33).