The Successive (Family) Endowment between Justifications for Preservation and Reasons for Abolition: A Jurisprudential and Legal Study

Abstract

        The "waqf muʿaqqab" (successive endowment) has long served—and continues to serve—as a permanent means of securing family welfare and offering protection in times of crisis. This significance has led many contemporary legal systems to preserve and regulate it, while others have moved towards its abolition due to various issues and criticisms it has faced. This raises a fundamental question: What are the justifications and objectives behind maintaining the waqf muʿaqqab, and what are the reasons and motivations that prompted its abolition in many countries, despite its evident religious, social, and economic benefits? Accordingly, this study seeks to highlight the rationale and higher objectives behind preserving the waqf muʿaqqab, while also addressing the problems and criticisms associated with it. The paper further examines how the Moroccan legislator has responded to these issues in the Code of Endowments. The researcher concludes that the "waqf muʿaqqab" remains a legitimate institution and that reforming it is preferable to abolishing it, as doing so would deprive families of its numerous benefits.