Dysfunction of Muslim’s Public Resource: A Study of Waqf Land Disorganization in Indonesia

Waqf land (donated land) is a property for people’s welfare that has not been remarkably managed in Indonesia. Poor administration and regulation of the waqf system cause dysfunction of this Muslim's most extensive resource. The waqf studies usually focus on issues around the misuse of waqf land, the swapping of waqf land, or the strategy for managing productive waqf land. Research on the disorganization of the waqf land remains unnoticed by researchers. This study complements previous writings' shortcomings by examining the patterns of waqf land disorganization and its consequences for the Muslims, including the waqf's low productivity, the waqf land position as a disputed source, and the waqf land as a lost-risk Muslim property. This study is empirical waqf research with interviews as the primary data and documents from online news website sources as the secondary data. This study indicates that the disorganization of waqf land is not only due to the absence of an administrative system and a lack of institutional commitment to waqf management. It is also rooted in Muslims' cosmological structure, who believe that waqf is the doer's afterlife savings. This belief resulted in the neglect of the waqf administration process, which led to the dysfunction of the community's resources. This study suggests further research on the contemporary waqf with its variants and waqf's practice from the doers’ and the managers' perspective to more comprehensively portray the problem of waqf land disorganization.