» IC Journal of Education and Learning Development
Aim: This study examines how the objectives of divine revelation (Maqāṣid al-Waḥy) can provide a normative and ethical foundation for reorienting waqf from predominantly charitable provision toward a strategic mechanism for financing transformative education, scientific research, innovation, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It specifically explores the potential of integrating Maqāṣid al-Waḥy, waqf, and the SDGs to develop a sustainable and ethically grounded knowledge ecosystem. Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative integrative literature review and conceptual synthesis, drawing on Qur’anic principles, Prophetic traditions, classical Islamic scholarship on knowledge and waqf, contemporary literature on Islamic social finance, and international scholarship on sustainable education, research financing, innovation, and the SDGs. The literature is critically synthesized to identify conceptual linkages between revelation, knowledge development, waqf financing, and sustainable development. Results: The analysis demonstrates that Maqāṣid al-Waḥy provides an overarching epistemic and ethical orientation for the pursuit, preservation, dissemination, and application of beneficial knowledge, while waqf provides an institutionally sustainable mechanism for translating these objectives into long-term investment in education and research. On this basis, the study proposes the Maqāṣid al-Waḥy–Waqf Sustainable Knowledge Ecosystem (MW-SKE), which conceptually integrates revelation, knowledge production, waqf financing, educational transformation, scientific research, innovation, and sustainable development. The framework repositions waqf beyond conventional charitable provision toward strategic knowledge-financing infrastructure capable of supporting scholarships, research grants, academic institutions, innovation hubs, digital knowledge platforms, and interdisciplinary research. Conclusion/Novelty: The study concludes that integrating Maqāṣid al-Waḥy, waqf, and the SDGs offers a potentially transformative model for developing an inclusive, ethically grounded, resilient, and intergenerational knowledge economy. The principal novelty lies in extending Maqāṣid al-Waḥy into contemporary knowledge governance and connecting it systematically with waqf and sustainable development through the proposed MW-SKE framework. The framework provides a conceptual basis for policymakers, waqf institutions, universities, research organizations, and Islamic social finance practitioners to explore sustainable mechanisms for financing education, research, and innovation.