Waqf in Russia: Legal Nature and Economic Prospects

The relevance of the research topic is due to the growing interest in the development of Islamic finance in Russia, within which the institution of waqf occupies a special place as a long-term charity tool, as well as the absence of its direct legal regulation in domestic legislation, which necessitates the search for adaptive mechanisms for implementing its key economic functions. The aim of the work is to identify the economic essence of waqf and determine possible forms of its practical implementation in modern Russian conditions. The results of the study indicate that the classical waqf, characterized by perpetuity, inalienability, and a special status of property, cannot be directly implemented in the Russian legal framework due to the absence of a construct for property withdrawn from circulation and belonging to no one. At the same time, its economic function – the formation of a permanent inviolable asset, the income from which is directed to socially useful purposes – is most fully reproduced through the endowment mechanism. The practical significance of the conducted research lies in the fact that the authors offer a substantive view of waqf as an economic model which, while preserving its basic principles, proves to be adaptable to the existing regulatory environment through legal constructs recognized by domestic legislation.