How important is literacy in enhancing cash waqf participation? Experience of Brunei Darussalam

Despite the global acknowledgement of the importance of waqf towards sustainable benefits, its participation, especially in cash waqf in Brunei Darussalam is still far from satisfying. In fact, the practice of cash waqf is observed to be declining and practiced less aggressively since 2015. The lack of knowledge has been identified as the main factor hindering the practice of cash waqf in the country. This study aims to i) evaluate Muslims’ participation in cash waqf; and ii) assess the influential factor of cash waqf literacy to enhance cash waqf participation. In achieving these research objectives, the study adopts a quantitative method by undertaking questionnaire survey on 200 respondents four districts namely, Brunei Muara, Tutong, Belait, and Temburong. Findings of this study revealed that Muslims participation in cash waqf is very low, while factors such as awareness of cash waqf benefits and understanding of procedural and legal requirement of cash waqf have a positive influence on cash waqf participation. Furthermore, awareness of cash waqf benefits is identified to the most important factor which has a greater influential impact on cash waqf participation as compared to the other two factors of cash waqf literacy. The findings of this study would contribute positively by identifying the essential knowledge to influential further cash waqf participation thus, improving the development of Brunei cash waqf institution. Moreover, this study will enrich the literature on cash waqf particularly in Brunei which is currently still lacking