The Urgency of the Waqf School: Building Human Resource Infrastructure for the Revival of Waqf Economy
In the discourse of Islamic economics, waqf is always positioned as one of the most noble and strategic instruments. It is not only an act of worship with dimensions of ongoing reward but also a mechanism for long-term distribution of benefits that possesses extraordinary socio-economic leverage.
In the history of Islamic civilisation, waqf has served as a support for education, health, social services, research, public infrastructure, and the strengthening of societal dignity.
Therefore, when we speak of the future of the ummah’s economy, waqf should no longer be viewed as a marginal sector but as one of the main pillars of civilisational development.
However, in Indonesia, we face a paradox. On one hand, the potential of waqf is enormous. Religious awareness among the public continues to grow, the spirit of sharing strengthens, and waqf assets are scattered across various regions in significant numbers.
On the other hand, waqf’s contribution to strengthening the ummah’s economy is still far from optimal.
Many waqf assets remain unproductive, management is not modern, institutions lack strong governance, and not a few waqfs stop at static functions; validity and data availability on waqf are not good, and it has not moved to become a living economic instrument.
This is where the fundamental problem lies. The issue with Indonesian waqf today is not primarily a lack of potential but rather the weakness in management capacity.
In other words, our greatest challenge is not merely how to collect more waqf but how to ensure that existing waqf is managed with integrity, professionally, productively, and with broad impact.
In economic terms, we are not short of assets; we are facing weaknesses in the quality of institutions and human resources managing those assets.
Therefore, if we want to build a waqf economy that is truly effective, the most strategic entry point is the nazhir. The nazhir is the key actor in the entire waqf chain.
They are not just recipients of administrative trust but drivers of value, asset managers, guardians of trust, connectors between donors and beneficiaries, and determinants of whether a waqf asset will remain idle, operate, or grow.
From an institutional economics perspective, the quality of waqf institutions ultimately depends heavily on the quality of the people managing them. Thus, building strong waqf without developing superior nazhir is a contradiction.
From this viewpoint, the urgency of the Waqf School becomes very clear. The Waqf School is not merely an additional training programme, not a certification supplement, nor a one-off seminar forum. The Waqf School must be understood as strategic infrastructure for waqf human resource development.
If waqf is a long-term economic instrument, the Waqf School is a long-term investment in the human capacity that drives it. In many cases, investment in the quality of managers is far more determining than mere asset accumulation.
So far, waqf development has often been too focused on normative and ceremonial aspects. We have emphasised the importance of waqfing but have not been serious enough about building its management ecosystem.
As a result, many nazhir work with good intentions but without adequate systems. They are trustworthy but not entirely professional. They are sincere but not always trained in governance, asset management, financial reporting, risk mitigation, business model development, public communication, and the use of digital technology.
Yet, modern waqf can no longer be managed solely with traditional approaches. It demands a blend of spiritual integrity and managerial competence.
In the current era, an ideal nazhir must possess five main qualities. First, a civilisational mindset, the ability to see waqf not as an administrative burden but as a strategic instrument for building the ummah’s future.
Second, trustworthy character and public ethics, because waqf is built on trust. Third, technical competencies, ranging from waqf jurisprudence, law, accounting, asset management, sharia investment, to project management.
Fourth, economic and social literacy, so that waqf management remains relevant to societal needs. Fifth, impact orientation, the ability to ensure that every waqf asset truly produces measurable and sustainable benefits.
The problem is that such qualities do not emerge automatically. They must be built through a structured, tiered, practical, and sustainable learning system. This is why the Waqf School is an urgent need, not an optional addition.
We need a space that systematically prepares nazhir from basic to strategic levels. We need an institution that not only teaches theory but shapes thinking patterns, work discipline, governance, and execution capabilities.
We need a curriculum that starts from real field problems: asset legality, management conflicts, idle assets, weak reporting, low public trust, underdeveloped productive waqf, and limited institutional innovation.
Therefore, the Waqf School is most appropriately built in the form of a Learning Management System (LMS) that enables learning to be conducted widely, measurably, and continuously. This choice is not merely about digitalisation but about a strategy for capacity equalisation.
With an LMS, nazhir from various regions, with diverse backgrounds, can access materials, guidance, case studies, work templates, discussions, and evaluations within the same learning ecosystem.
This is very important because Indonesia’s waqf challenges are not just about the quality of a handful of large institutions but about improving the quality of thousands of managers in many areas. Moreover, the Waqf School must become a transformation platform, not just a knowledge transfer.
This means that every module must lead to real change, with SOP