Identifying Factors Affecting the Development of “Waqf” Culture Through a Content Analysis Approach at Razavi Holy Shrine

“Waqf” (mortmain) is one of the most important cases of charity in Islam and other religions. It has always been regarded as a serious protection for people, especially for low-income and poor ones. Moreover, it has been applied to the development of religious culture, the profound Qur’anic and Islamic teachings, and has improved economic, cultural, and social status of people. Employing a qualitative approach based on the thematic analysis method, which looks for principle, organizing and inclusive themes relating  to the research problem, this research is aimed at finding out whether it can discover factors across a wide range of cultures which can promote the virtuous traditions of waqf in the holy shrine of Imam Reza. This exploratory research follows library and field methods for data collection. The statistical population for semi-structured interviews included professors, policymakers, executives, trustees, and benefactors. Snowball sampling was used to select the sample.  Data were analyzed using MAXQDA software resulting in a total of 75 basic themes and 13 organizing themes as follows. Three comprehensive themes including appearance, values, and beliefs were identified. At the level of beliefs, three categories of factors affecting donation discourse, trust making and preparing the context were identified. At the level of values, categories including respecting the benefactors, strengthening social and religious values, developing shared endowment were discovered. Eight categories including specialization of waqf, policymakers and executives, expanding the bases of waqf, removing obstacles and challenges, reconstruction of mortmain, communicating and advertising were identified at the level of appearance and artifacts.