ABOUT THE FORUM
It's been widely recognized that Waqf as an economic and social system is capable of offering different solutions to the problems that are faced by different societies. Due to the problems that faced the Muslim Nations at different levels, weakness attacked the Waqf administrations as well, yet it was able to keep processing at the lowest rates of achievements. Lately, Waqf sector is being revived in Muslim societies specially in cities such as the holy city of Jerusalem, where Waqf properties are about 67- 80% of the total landscaping of the holy city.
Thus, several forums were held to discuss the situation in the holy city, followed by several researches, training courses, and workshops, which proved to be a real framework aiming at supporting Waqf sector in the city and supporting the people of Jerusalem through their struggles.
This fourth Forum comes in response to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) decisions issued at Istanbul , Turkey on 15 April, 2016, in the meeting headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of the Turkish Republic, that assured the necessity of supporting the people of Palestine, discussing the role of the organisational efforts in supporting the holy city as mentioned in the decisions:
' we call all member countries to support and enlarge the economic relief program launched for the Palestinian people, in Palestine and the holy city of Jerusalem, which wasfirst launched by the Development Islamic Bank, with the aim of enhancing the support to the Palestinians in their land, as well as calling the member countries to increase the resources of this support in the form of initiatives proposed by governments, private sector, individuals, and foundations.'
The Waqf projects allocated for Jerusalem are many and they are all over the world, with budgets of several million dollars. Here comes this fourth forum to shed the light on these projects and Waqf properties outside the holy city of Jerusalem. This form is held jointly by the government department of Waqf in Turkey, the Islamic Bank for Development – Jeddah, and the International Institute of Islamic Waqf- Malaysia, under the patronage of His Excellency President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of the Turkish Republic. The forum will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 12- 13 Sha'ban, 1438H /08 -09 May, 2017, with participations from different foundations and experts working in the fields of Waqf, charity, development, finance, and investment from the Arab and Muslim world.
