This webinar was held by Dompet Dhuafa on October 7 2021 with a discussion of Hijrah & Waqf-Based Economic Awakening. The activity opened with remarks by Hendri Saparini as Treasurer of the Dompet Dhuafa Foundation, who briefly discussed the current economy and the potential of waqf.
The event continued with material from Prof. Dr. Raditya who discussed the migration of the waqf-based economy. He explained that the scope of waqf is very broad, such as infrastructure, food, education, energy and health. If agricultural land and operational needs are met by waqf. Then financing will be lower so that farmers benefit. He also explained the potential of waqf in university areas. According to him, it would be extraordinary if every university had a waqf institution whose funds could be managed for various needs such as infrastructure, scholarships, employee salaries and so on. The potential of waqf in the healthcare, energy and crowdfunding sectors was also explained.
The next material was delivered by Dr. Ahmad Juwaini who discussed optimizing waqf development to support national economic development. Starting with an explanation of various waqf models in the world. Some are centered on the community, some are handed over to local governments, some are centered on one organization, and there are those where the waqf system has been removed from state regulations but waqf assets still exist in the country. He explained that waqf contains social and commercial dimensions. The social dimension is when the distribution of the wakif and the results of the maukuf 'alaih. However, the management of waqf is actually commercial.
Issues regarding waqf management in Indonesia are also explained, from awareness, R&D and technology, regulations and institutions, to human resources. Then it was explained that many of the developments in waqf in Indonesia were still inactive. So there is waqf land that is currently not being utilized properly. According to him, what is needed is creativity in using waqf land. And to develop this creativity, a waqf guarantee institution is needed as a supporting ecosystem. Still discussing the waqf development ecosystem, it was explained that there were four problems that wanted to be resolved, namely literacy and education, nazir governance, digitalization, and management optimization.
The final speaker was Risyad Triiaputra who explained sharia fintech as a driver of the sharia economy in the world. Starting with the global Islamic economic index where Indonesia is ranked 4th below Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Discussing the potential of the Islamic fintech market in Indonesia, Indonesia has a potential of $2.9 billion. Explained Indonesia's competitive advantage, compared to Middle Eastern countries, Indonesia's GDP is still below that of Middle Eastern countries. However, in terms of adoption of sharia financial products, Indonesia outperforms Middle Eastern countries.
Explained why Malaysia ranks first in the global Islamic finance index. This is because the contribution of the government or regulator is very strong. Meanwhile, Indonesia entered the top five because it has the largest Muslim population and has advanced sharia fintech innovation. -mmr
