Zamindars, inheritance law and the spread of the waqf in the United Provinces at the turn of the twentieth century

Abstract

The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed the fragmentation and transfer of Muslim-owned estates in the United Provinces to Hindus of non-agrarian castes. This was followed by increasing usage of the waqf by Muslim landowners. This study looks at land-holding patterns in the United Provinces and use a comparative analysis of Hindu and Islamic inheritance laws to explain why land was transferred during the second half of the nineteenth century from Muslims to Hindus. It posits that the implementation of Islamic inheritance laws in the mid-nineteenth century led to increased fragmentation of Muslim-owned estates. The study also suggests that waqf became popular among Muslim landowners because it fulfilled two crucial functions that the Hindu joint family had fulfilled for Hindu landowners: First, it prevented estate fragmentation by circumventing the implementation of Islamic inheritance laws. Second, the waqf shielded assets of landowners by increasing costs of creditors seeking to recover their loans.