waqf, also known as habous or mortmain property, is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitable purposes with no intention of reclaiming the assets.
Imam Khomeini, the contemporary leader of the Islamic world led very simple life before and after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and spared no efforts in rendering help to the most poor and needy classes of the society.
Imam had been a strong supporter of endowment as a source to help needy people and remove poverty from the society.
Imam Khomeini had distributed all his inheritance among the local farmers and laborers.
After Imam’s exile to Turkey and holy city of Najaf in Iraq, Imam’s residences were almost devoted to for the seminary students and they used to consult these sites to resolve their educational and financial problems.
Before and after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Imam was granted with hectors of lands and precious gifts by believers and faithful. However, the great Imam distributed all these properties among the needy farmers and workers.
Several pundits maintain that the great figure of contemporary history truly exemplified the true and genuine teachings of the holy prophet of Islam and his infallible successors in his lifestyle. Imam Khomeini had followed the footsteps of the holy prophet of Islam and his infallible successors in leading a simple lifestyle and helping deprived stratum.
Imam Khomeini time and again put emphasis on the importance of spirituality and attaining the nearness of Allah before he began lecturing his students on political activism and intellectualism.
Following footsteps of Imam Khomeini, Islamic Republic has undertaken serious efforts to promote endouwment to remove poverty.
During a speech in 2009, Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei in a meeting with the officials of the Endowment and Charity Affairs Organization termed endowment as a blessed act.
Pointing to the status of endowment in Islam and Godly religions, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the culture of endowment should be boosted.
The IR Leader referred to various endowed properties in the country and advised the relevant authorities to follow the endower's wishes in making use of the properties, adding that the culture of endowment will be further boosted if they act so.
Ayatollah Khamenei then touched on numerous violations of endowment law by officials of the Pahlavi regime and said that a significant policy of the Islamic system was to revive Islamic traditions of endowment.