Wakap — Dutch/Atjehnese spelling of Arabic waqf (وقف), in standard Indonesian wakaf — is the Islamic institution of perpetual religious endowment, by which a Muslim dedates property (land, buildings, income-producing assets) to a religious purpose in perpetuity, with the principal preserved and only the income spent. The term is recorded in Prof. Dr. Kernkamp’s chapter De invloed van den Islam in Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk (1946) in his account of the Indonesian mosque (mesigit).
Kernkamp’s account
Kernkamp introduces the wakap in the course of his description of the movable property of the Indonesian mosque: “There lie some long, narrow mats and carpets, which after the service are again put away, on which the pious are to take their places in rows. The Quran-lecterns are sometimes indeed finely carved. There further hang some lamps, there stands a simple pulpit, and further there is a niche in the wall that indicates the direction to Mecca. Further, one has at one’s disposal services for communal meals of a religious character, a staff for the preacher, and a small library of pious works and sermons. Sometimes there also belong to the inventory long strips of white goods (moesala), which serve as prayer-rugs. All this movable good, too, is outside the trade (wakap).”
The wakap status of the mosque’s movable goods — that is, their exemption from the ordinary commercial sphere — is presented by Kernkamp as a typical feature of the Indonesian mosque’s institutional life: the mats, carpets, lamps, pulpit, prayer-rugs, library and services are all wakap, dedicated to the religious purposes of the mosque and not subject to sale or trade. The same protection extends, in Islamic law, to the mosque building itself and to any land or income-producing assets dedicated to its support.
Significance for Atjeh
For the Atjeh-focused reader, the wakap is significant as the institutional framework within which the Atjeh mosques — the Meuseugit Raja of Koeta Radja, the Meuseugit Kaya, and the village meunasahs — held their property and supported their religious officials. The Dutch-built replacement Meuseugit Raja of Koeta Radja, built at a cost of more than f 200,000 and dismissed by Snouck Hurgronje as “een ledig monument onzer dwaasheid” (Snouck Hurgronje’s ledig monument verdict), would, on its completion, have been wakap property — that is, dedicated to religious purposes in perpetuity. The Atjehners’ refusal to use the Dutch-built mosque for religious exercises did not, however, affect its wakap status; the building remained a religious endowment even as it stood empty.
Dutch terms used in this article
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk — What the Indies Received and Gave
- Wereldbibliotheek N.V. — World Library Ltd.
- invloed van den Islam — influence of Islam
- Teungku — religious teacher (Atjeh form)
- mesigit — Friday congregational mosque
- Meuseugit Raja — great mosque of Koeta Radja
- Meuseugit Raya — great mosque of Koeta Radja
- Meunasah — village prayer-house
- meunasah — village prayer-house
- moesala — prayer-rug
- wakap — Islamic perpetual endowment
- waqf — Islamic perpetual endowment
- wakaf — Islamic perpetual endowment
- pen — open/wide (Atjeh concept)
- Atjeh — Aceh
- Atjehner — Acehnese
- Acheh — Aceh
- Koeta Radja — Kutaradja
- Kutaradja — Kutaradja
- ledig monument onzer dwaasheid — empty monument of our folly
- Prof. Dr. — Professor Doctor
- Dr. — Doctor
Sources
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Tweede Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1923.
Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000001798; PPN 395084288. Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906. Chapter I, § 8, p. 121.
See Also
- Mesigit
- Meunasah
- Meuseugit Raya
- Sembahjang
- Panghoeloe
- Teungku
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Acheh
- J. Kreemer
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk
- W. J. A. Kernkamp
- Tirö
- Moekim
- Sagi
- Oelèëbalang
- Kawaj XVI
- Aceh Sultanate
- Mukim
- Meusigit
- Hikum
- Van Langen
- Great Acheh
Source
Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., 1946), p. 85 (chapter De invloed van den Islam door Prof. Dr. W. J. A. Kernkamp).