Mudassar A. Baig
World Humanitarian Day serves as a poignant reminder of the ongoing struggles faced by post-conflict Muslim-majority societies. While traditional humanitarian efforts have often focused on immediate relief and reconstruction, there is a pressing need to reframe these initiatives through the lens of Islamic identity, history, and values.
Decolonizing humanitarianism is a crucial step in this process. The vast majority of humanitarian projects in these war-torn Muslim societies are initiated and executed by the West, which fails to, or even worse, refuses to consider the desires and aspirations of local populations. In Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Mali, and most recently and most painfully Palestine, Muslims have suffered immensely from great regional and global power struggles, hegemonic projects, proxy wars and conflicts, and blatant acts of oppression and subjugation. They have had to endure the loss of their loved ones, homes, schools, hospitals, social fabric, and means of livelihoods. The last thing they want to lose is their sense of identity rooted in Islam, history and culture - the one thing that gave them the strength to withstand and endure these calamities and endless suffering.
The humanitarian sector must pivot its efforts to empower local communities and their Islamic institutions rather than impose alien frameworks and structures. One institution that formed the cornerstone of much of the Islamic civilization and deserves to be an integral part of these humanitarian efforts is the institution of ‘waqf’. In the medieval Islamic world, the civil institutions predominantly supported by waqfs, whose closest modern equivalent would be an endowment, were responsible for administering most of the activities that, in the modern world, come under the purview of governments and municipalities. The political establishments of the time focused solely on providing security to their subjects from internal and external threats and implementing justice.
From the state’s perspective, establishing a waqf was an effective method of governance. For instance, the state might give land as waqf to Sufis who would be required to use the proceeds to take care of travelers in addition to conducting their religious activities. Once a waqf was established, it was meant to continue for perpetuity independently of the state, and the institution and its assets could not be subject to any transaction. Such an arrangement ensured that civil society continued to function smoothly despite any political upheavals during the period. The fact that these institutions did not depend on the state for their functioning meant that they were independent and not prone to the inclinations and desires of successive political administrations. Services such as education, health, poverty relief, public and religious constructions, and infrastructure projects were all provided by the waqf system. For most of the Ottoman period, waqfs and the foundations they supported were the sole providers of crucial basic services as well as scholarly, religious, and social institutions falling outside the state’s remit. Some scholars have suggested that it is not an exaggeration to claim that the waqf provided the foundations for much of what is considered ‘Islamic civilization’.
A rebuilding project grounded in the values, history, and traditions of the local population fosters a sense of ownership and permanence and encourages them to be active participants rather than passive recipients. Building on this principle, a humanitarian project, Waqfchain – a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) based waqf solution, is currently in its pilot phase in Afghanistan where decades of conflict and natural disasters, including recent earthquakes, have left the country’s economy in tatters. Afghanistan’s healthcare system has been particularly impacted by economic collapse and the drying up of international funding. Infant and maternal mortality, as well as opioid addiction, are among the many acute health challenges besieging the population. To compound matters, already-limited healthcare facilities are largely concentrated in urban settings, leaving people in rural and remote areas without access to basic services. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been working to alleviate the crisis in Afghanistan for the past forty years and has expressed a willingness to collaborate in the Waqfchain project mentioned above, to find a novel solution that addresses the specific needs of Afghans.
While waqf offered enormous benefits to Muslim civil society, it also faced challenges that contributed to its eventual decline. These included corruption and misuse of administrative authority by waqf institutions; misappropriation of assets and income by rulers; incompetence and inefficiency; and the confiscation of waqf properties by the state. Such challenges can nevertheless be addressed in contemporary settings by deploying a recent technological innovation. The Waqfchain project uses a DAO platform that lacks a central authoritative actor and alleviates the challenges arising from the mismatch between the aspirations of beneficiaries and managers by enabling participatory and democratic governance. DAO ledgers are blockchain-based, ensuring transparent and immutable transactions. Smart contracts within DAOs enable autonomous functioning, eliminating most channels of corruption, closing doors to subjective interpretation of rules, automating supervision, and codifying trust. In essence, a DAO’s decentralized and autonomous nature alleviates most waqf shortcomings while retaining its benefits, which made it Islamic civilization’s economic backbone for centuries.
The Islamic institution of waqf, bolstered by latest technologies (DAO in the case of Waqfchain) and merged with local Afghan traditions such as jirga, can provide a robust foundational structure to build healthcare-related humanitarian projects in Afghanistan. This is a winning combination that can potentially be replicated in other areas, such as housing, education and employment generation, and in other conflict-affected Muslim countries across the world.
As we commemorate World Humanitarian Day, let us challenge ourselves to think beyond conventional approaches. The path forward in humanitarian efforts for post-conflict Muslim countries lies not in imposing external models but in reviving and modernizing the rich traditions that have sustained these societies for centuries, integrating these with cutting-edge technologies. It is time we pivot our approach to truly reflect the identities and aspirations of those we aim to serve.
Mudassar A. Baig holds a Master of Arts in Applied Islamic Ethics from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).
Mudassar A. Baig holds a Master of Arts in Applied Islamic Ethics from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).
