Navigating Constitutional Boundaries in Waqf Land Development: A Legal Analysis of Articles 75 and 76 of the Federal Constitution

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_34How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Waqf Development; Federal Constitution; Article 75; Article 76; Cooperative Federalism; SIRC; Legal Harmonization

Abstract

Due to conflicting federal and state jurisdiction, the development of waqf land in Malaysia is frequently a contentious legal issue. Despite the fact that waqf is governed at the state level by the State Islamic Religious Councils (SIRC) in accordance with the Federal Constitution’s State List, all land dealing and registration regimes are governed by the National Land Code 1965, a federal statute. The relationship between Articles 75 and 76 of the Constitution and its implications for legal authority, harmonization, and the handling of conflicting legal authorities over waqf will be covered in this paper. While Article 76 allows Parliament to promote commonality among states through model legislation, Article 75 establishes the supremacy of federal law in cases where laws passed by Parliament are inconsistent. It became clear from doctrinal analysis and statutory interpretation that there were onerous duplications of laws supervised by various states with overlapping jurisdictions, which led to uncertainty and delays in waqf land development projects. Here, we propose a fresh and more understandable cooperative federalism model that respects State religious authority over waqf while appropriately addressing the meaning of Article 76 for the strategy of integrating pertinent waqf laws into a logical framework. Specifically, our recommendations include a Model Waqf Development Act, improved understanding of the dual courts, and a body to oversee coordination nationally. In sum, this study provides a constitutional path forward to better governance of waqf land development in Malaysia in accordance with Malaysia’s socio-economic development goals.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Roshidah Osman
AU  - Mohd Zakhiri Md. Nor
AU  - Mohammad Azam Hussain
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
TI  - Navigating Constitutional Boundaries in Waqf Land Development: A Legal Analysis of Articles 75 and 76 of the Federal Constitution
BT  - Proceedings of the UUM 13th International Legal Conference 2025 (UUMILC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 506
EP  - 515
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_34
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_34
ID  - Osman2026
ER  -