Can part of the cash waqf asset be set aside, in order to utilise it when needed during inflation?
Financial institutions such as banks uses a process call ‘appropriation’ which is an allocation of the net profit of an organisation in its accounts. This allocation can be used to pay wages or to compensate for bad debts.
The same process can be used by a nazir or a waqf institution to benefit the waqf project. Ibn Nujaim among the Hanafis exaplains that, if someone donates with the condition of building (houses) for the (poor), but that they do not end up utilising all the fund, then it is compulsory to keep the extra fund aside for future usage.
Based on the above, many contemporary scholars have said that it is permissible to keep some cash (given as waqf) aside to manage the inflation risk in the future.
And Allah knows best!
(Mufti) Billal Omarjee