NEWS
2024.04.09
【Report】The 65th AJI Frontier Seminar was held! Mr. Natsuki CHUBACHI: “The Islamic Way of Forest Utilization: A Study on Waqf Forestry in Indonesia”
The 65th AJI Frontier Seminar was held online on Tuesday, March 12. In this seminar, Mr. Natsuki CHUBACHI (Ph.D. candidate, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University) gave an interesting presentation titled “The Islamic Way of Forest Utilization: A Study on Waqf Forestry in Indonesia” in Japanese.
Mr. Chubachi has been actively researching the donation (waqf) of forest resources in Indonesia through field research in several regions, such as Aceh and Bogor. Waqf refers to a series of social assistance programs in the Islamic world. Individuals and organizations, as trustees, manage various items donated by donors, such as land, property, movables, and cash (including cash into the waqf is controversial) for the public interest.
The first half of the presentation gave a brief historical account of the development of the waqf system. While waqf has been based on the Hadith since pre-modern times, it became common to build and operate mosques, schools, and hospitals on donated land in the twentieth century. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the system was transformed to the level where various donations were managed in the public system. Also, donations now contain real estate, automobiles, money, gold, personal property, and negotiable value instruments.
The practice of using waqf forests as a form of donation has become more widespread in various regions of Indonesia in the 2020s. Mr. Chubachi’s presentation illustrated how the establishment of waqf forests stemmed from environmental activism aimed at combating deforestation and development, which has been prominent in Indonesia since the 2000s. Hutan Waqaf Aceh (HWA) was one of the leading organizations in this movement. Mr. Chubachi interviewed HWA members to reveal how waqf forests were acquired and managed. Furthermore, other movements concerning waqf forests were derived from HWA for forest conservation. He presented the results of his research on how money was collected from all over the country as donations, and the movement to acquire forests based on this money spread through these organizations as hubs.
The second half of the presentation explained how the waqf forest is recognized by national law. In essence, it is identified in accordance with the rulings and procedures of both Indonesian domestic law and Islamic law. While the principle of domestic law is centered on property rights to identify waqf forests, the donated forest becomes the property of Allah according to the principle of Islamic law. Waqf forest is recognized and managed under these two juridical frameworks. Mr. Chubachi clearly explained his findings on the process and procedures by which the waqf forests are approved on these legal grounds. In addition, he emphasized that the recognition of the waqf forests did not simply mean their conversion into national property but the practice of converting abandoned or private land into the public interest through the intermediation of individuals and organizations. At the end of the presentation, he mentioned the need for more detailed studies of the waqf forest system and how it is intertwined with contemporary ecological movements such as achieving carbon offsets.
The participants had lively discussions during the Q&A session about the social classes of people who contribute to and manage the waqf forest, the purposes and benefits of the waqf forest as required by Islam, the basis of Islamic law for the waqf, and the significance of research compared to previous studies. Mr. Chubachi responded clearly to these questions. He also discussed the focus of his research on the waqf forest as a movement for Islam to actively address global ecological issues today.
Mr. Natsuki Chubachi delivering his presentation
Please visit the following link for previous AJI Frontier Seminars:
https://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/research/aji/young_researcher/seminar/archive/