Going back on a waqf after making it

Question

Question: A person orally made his house a waqf for a religious institution, but no written proceedings have yet taken place in court. In the situation described, is it permissible in the Shari‘a for the waqif to take back the oral waqf or not?

Answer

If, in making the house a waqf, he took it out of his ownership and gave it to the religious institution, lifting his own possession and handing it over to the mutawalli (trustee), then in the Shari‘a this waqf has become valid, recognised and binding (lazim). He no longer has the right to go back on it and take the house back into his ownership.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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