Singapore to use Waqf to promote Islamic Education

The Singaporean government is planning an endowment fund to promote Islamic education in the south-eastern Asian country, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

“I am confident that MUIS’s move to create new waqf will pave the way to revive the philanthropic spirit in the community,” Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, told parliament on Thursday, March 8.

“It is a progressive move to keep pace with evolving giving trends and the growing complexity of our financial environment", he added.

The three-million-dollar fund will be created by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS). It will be used to promote Islamic education in the south-eastern Asian country.

Waqf is a permanent dedication of movable or immovable properties by a Muslim for purposes recognized by Islamic Sharia. MUIS handles and develops 200 waqfs properties in Singapore, with a total asset value of S$250 million. These properties, held in trust, yield an annual rental income of millions of dollars, makes Singapore the region’s most advanced country in the development of waqfs.

MUIS is the largest body that caters for the needs of Muslims, who are estimated at between 450,000 to 500,000, making around 15 percent of Singapore’s population.

Yaacob said that he hopes the new waqf fund will revive the philanthropic spirit among Singaporean Muslims.

Over the past years, Muslim philanthropists have created waqfs, whose annual funds are used in funding religious and charitable programs.

He expressed pleasure that more Muslims nowadays are doing financial planning and drawing up wills in accordance with Islamic inheritance law.

As a form of “planned giving”, he suggested that Muslims could pledge up to one third of their estates for the new waqf fund.

The minister gave tribute to the role played by waqfs in Singapore.

He cited the example of a mosque which created a new waqf through the purchase of two properties to sustain the mosque operations.

The minister also called on MUIS to find an appropriate way to promote and adapt waqfs to the modern context.

He said he expects many well-to-do Muslims would like to contribute to the community.

http://www.ummid.com 

Islamic finance spreading vastly -- Singapore

The Islamic financial system is expected to vastly spread after the world economy recovers from the current economic crisis, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said Wednesday.

MAS Managing Director Heng Swee Kiat said in an interview with Singapore's "Business Times" newspaper that most Aisan countries had great experiences in Islamic financial services, an industry with the value of about USD one trillion.

He said that it was important to attract funds from the Middle East, adding that Middle East funds relay on the Islamic financial system that proved its ability to mobilize savings and deploy them productively.

Malaysia began easing procedures of giving foreign Islamic banks licenses to operate in the country, Hong Kong announced last February that it will amend tax laws to promote the Islamic financial sector, while Korea said it aimed to establish branches of Islamic banks in its major cities, he noted.

He said that since 2005, Singapore took several steps to develop Islamic finance, adding that MAS refined banking regulations and defined a tax framework to facilitate the growth of Islamic finance.

He pointed out that Singapore's first Islamic bank, the Islamic Bank of Asia (IB Asia), was established in 2007 in cooperation with 33 investors from the Middle East.

Eleven Middle East banks and two Middle East insurance companies are operating in Singapore, he said.

Link: http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidKUN0018090506080019/Islamic%20finance%20spreading%20vastly%20--%20Singapore