Q: Somebody endowed an Athlah (a tree of hard wood) which is located in a very fertile land for maintaining a hand mill. However, when people gave up using hand mills; the wood of the Athlah started to go to a grinder. People then gave up using grinders as well. Anyway, four hundred riyals remain from the value of the wood of the concerned Athlah after repairing the hand mill, its housing, and the grinder. My father, `Abdul-`Aziz, who was the supervisor of the Waqf (endowment) passed away. I offered the remaining sum mentioned above to the head of my town, then to Al-Shaykh Sa`d ibn `Abdullah Al Al-Shaykh to decide how it should be spent but they both (Part No. 16; Page No. 133) refused to receive it. What should I do with it?

A: If the matter is exactly as you have mentioned in the question, the supervisor of the Waqf of the Athlah and its yield should allocate the foregoing for one of the public utilities that people need that nobody else has established or spent on. Examples of such public utilities are, water vessels by the doors of Masjids (mosques) or in public roads, artesian wells (either establishing or repairing them) so that people benefit from their water, or mending a Masjid (mosque) or buying straw mats or taps for it if nobody is in charge of it or that people can not afford the Masjid's maintenance. However, if spending the sum in question or the value of the future production of the Athlah on one of the public utilities is impossible, this should be given in Sadaqah to the poor. Either way, you have to raise the issue of Waqf to His Eminence the Judge of your town to appoint an expert and honest supervisor. This supervisor has to manage keeping the Waqf and spending on it. May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.