The UAE has restored the spirit, status and importance of charitable endowment.
02/28/2022
A specialized study, conducted by Dr. Muhammad Suhail Al Muhairi, CEO and Managing Director of the Dar Al Ber Society, emphasized the importance and value of the UAE’s experience in the field of 'innovative endowments,' in its various forms, stressing that the innovative forms of endowments in the country did not depart from the provisions of the endowment and its legitimate purposes. The institutional and legislative system related to the endowment in the country stayed in line with the framework of the relevant jurisprudence provisions, with the adoption of best practices and provisions that bring benefits to the endowment and those who are benefit from with it.
Dr. Al-Muhairi, who was interviewed by Al-Bayan to talk about the reality and prospects of the endowment, is the first Emirati to receive a doctorate in the field of 'Innovative endowment', which he recently obtained from the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur. He said: "The UAE is one of the most prominent and active countries that has begun to restore the endowment's spirit, status and importance by issuing federal and local laws that organize, support and protect the endowment, and by establishing specialized bodies and centers for it."
The qualitative study he conducted, among its findings and recommendations, called for the establishment of an international institution specialized in endowments in the Islamic world, with its headquarters in Dubai. The researcher stressed that the study keeps pace with the state's trend towards innovation and excellence in all fields, including the innovative endowment.
Al Muhairi said: "It is necessary to find a global center in Dubai specialized in the endowment, and to provide researchers and experts in it to generate creative ideas and select and implement the most prominent successful practices, and to attract foreign investments and include them in this center to develop the endowment, its methodology and institutionalization, and expand its fields by taking advantage of the facilities and legislation that Dubai provides, in particular, and then by establishing real estate banks, endowment banks, and giant projects, similar to other international projects hosted by Dubai."
Al Muhairi stressed the need for innovation in the endowment, and practical thinking in increasing and revitalizing it so that it would have a great impact, not in Arab and Islamic countries, but in all countries, given that its content is the same in all countries, even if the objectives or names differ. He said: “We must seriously think about how to change the traditional concept of endowment among people and introduce the economy into it, with its strength and advanced tools, so that the endowment becomes a strong competitor to the major investors in the world. Including expanding the circle of benefit from the endowment.
Endowment Development
The study considered the permissibility of creativity and innovation in Islamic endowment, in a way that benefits the endowment itself, the endowers and enhances the public interest, and leads to the preservation and development of endowments and its development and to increase its revenue. The researcher followed the inductive approach in collecting information, documents and laws related to endowment and documented it in his field study.
Dr. Muhammad Suhail Al Muhairi’s study proved the necessity of introducing the concept and mechanisms of innovation into Islamic endowment, while shedding light on endowment innovations in the UAE and its developments, and examined the innovative forms of endowments and their applications in the country, in the jurisprudential and intentional dimensions, and the mechanisms of combining the endowment based on stability and the innovative variable endowment, referring to the role of the institutional and legislative systems in promoting endowment innovation and achieving its legitimate aims and objectives.
In the scientific study, Dr. Muhammad Al-Muhairi investigated the prospects and conditions of the innovative endowments in the Emirates in a direct manner, during which he visited the competent authorities in the endowment and its development, and met the workers within its framework. Pointing out that specialized government agencies in some emirates have endowment assets worth more than 3 billion dirhams in each emirate.