<![CDATA[The development of waqf law in Indonesia reflects a paradigm shift from traditional waqf centred on immovable property to productive, cash-based models oriented toward realising social and economic benefits. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the transformation of the cash waqf law through Law No. 41 of 2004 on Waqf from the perspective of the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. A normative legal methodology was employed, drawing on legislative, conceptual, and philosophical approaches. The results showed that Law No. 41 of 2004 on Waqf shifted the legal orientation of waqf from asset preservation toward optimising benefits through the expansion of objects, productive management, and the development of monetary waqf as an instrument for the economic empowerment of the Muslim community. From Bentham’s perspective, the transformation was reflected in the increased number of beneficiaries, the speed at which benefits were delivered, and the certainty generated by productive waqf. Meanwhile, Mill’s perspective was evident in the concept's orientation toward improving public welfare through education, health, and economic empowerment in Indonesia. The application of utilitarianism to waqf law was constrained by several limitations, including the potential to marginalise minority rights, the inability to adequately safeguard the intentions of both the donor and the beneficiaries, and the failure to account for the spiritual dimension, which was not reduced to a utility-based calculus. The development of the law balanced the principle of social utility with Sharia values, which serve as the philosophical foundation of waqf.]]>
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