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This study aims to examine the factors of implementing istibdal waqf and generating cash waqf funds through istibdal in Penang. This study was based on the previous problem statements, stating that waqf property could not be developed due to lack of cash funds. This has allowed the study to explore the factors for implementing istibdal waqf property and the extent to which the istibdal method can generate cash waqf funds in Penang.

This study adopted a qualitative method by conducting semi-structured interviews to achieve its research goals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to comprehensively understand the current practice on istibdal cases in Penang State Islamic Religious Council (MAINPP) through official institutions concerned with waqf management practices in Penang. This research relied on purposive sampling to select the informants. It is a sampling strategy to select the informants in advance based on the research question. To achieve the purpose of this study, two officers from MAINPP were selected based on their working experience and specialisation criteria. As a result, several themes were successfully defined from the interview data before being analysed based on the content analysis method.

The results present three istibdal implementation processes outlined by MAINPP, namely, the istibdal implementation process for waqf land involved in the acquisition by state authorities (PBN), non-productive waqf land and istibdal applications from certain parties. The results also reveal two factors in implementing istibdal in Penang: the acquisition of waqf land by PBN and the application of istibdal for cemeteries by the Islamic Centre of Universiti Sains Malaysia. From the point of cash fund generation, no case of istibdal implementation records the generation of cash funds to MAINPP. Thus, this study ends with proposals for improving the process and implementing istibdal in Penang to generate cash funds to help MAINPP manage waqf properties.

The study only focused on implementing factors and generating cash waqf funds through istibdal in Penang. At the same time, it can be expanded to other states like Terengganu, Johor and Kelantan. This study only interviewed officers who manage matters related to the affairs of waqf properties. Therefore, it is believed that the study can be extended to other respondents, such as experts in cash fund generation investments and others.

This study proposed improvements to the policy and practice of istibdal waqf property to MAINPP after the shortcomings were identified throughout this study. If improved, these proposals will significantly impact the waqf properties involved in implementing istibdal, where it can generate cash and ensure the constant economic value of waqf properties.

This study has great implications for society through the development of a cash waqf fund that can provide great benefits to the needy, in addition to increasing funds for the welfare expenditure of Muslims through rental income, investment and development. Progress and significant impact on waqf property can provide a high indicator of the efficiency of an organisation in managing waqf property. This can attract the interest of the public, especially the wealthy, to always fulfil welfare through the waqf mechanism and share the wealth with the needy.

This study contributes to comprehensive field data on the implementation of istibdal in Penang. The data analysis results are significant to be used by the waqf property management.

This paper aims to analyse the implementation of istibdal waqf property in several states of Peninsular Malaysia. To achieve this objective, this study identified the amount of waqf property ‘am (general) and waqf property khas (special) which were involved in the process of istibdal in each state, the factors that have caused the istibdal to be implemented, the rate of istibdal involved for each lot of waqf lands and the type of property replacement performed.

This study used the qualitative method, whereby the researchers had collected secondary data consisting of documents related to waqf from the State Islamic Religious Council (MAIN). The type of documents obtained were public records. The data collected were analysed using the content analysis techniques.

The results showed that there are several factors involved in the implementation of istibdal, namely, the acquisition of waqf land by the State Authority, applications by external parties for a particular interest and the initiatives taken by the MAIN on waqf property which is problematic and uneconomical to generate waqf fund. This study also found some Shariah and management issues, which were identified in the implementations of istibdal, whereas some cases of istibdal were only carried out on a small part of the waqf lands and there were also cases of the implementation of istibdal which have not been replaced with fixed assets as authorised by the istibdal parameter. This study suggests some improvements to the issues identified in the implementation of istibdal for waqf managers in Malaysia.

The limitation of this study is that it analyses only the documents that record the implementation of istibdal in the states managed by MAIN. Thus, the analysis performed was limited to the documents obtained without involving empirical data.

This study suggests some improvements to the implementation of istibdal waqf in the states studied. Therefore, these recommendations can be used by waqf property managers to improve the process of implementing waqf property istibdal so that it can be used to its maximum potential.

If the recommendations in this study can be implemented, the Muslim community will benefit greatly from the waqf property because it is being developed through the method of istibdal. This impact can increase the confidence of the Muslim community towards MAIN in managing waqf property and encouraging the Muslim community to contribute to waqf property for the welfare of the ummah.

This study involved data on a larger waqf istibdal implementations that involved several states in Peninsular Malaysia, which to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the analysis involving such large research data have not been implemented before.