A Waqafpreneurship-Based Model for the Economic Empowerment of the Malay Community: A Cultural Thought Analysis of Tenas Effendy

Abstrak

Waqf is a strategic Islamic social finance instrument that supports socio?economic development, particularly through productive waqf and waqf?based entrepreneurship (wakafpreneurship) models. In Malay communities, the economic thought of Tenas Effendy in Tunjuk Ajar Melayu offers a strong ethical and cultural foundation that has not yet been systematically integrated into waqf?based economic empowerment models. This article aims to formulate a conceptual model of Malay community economic empowerment based on wakafpreneurship rooted in Malay Islamic cultural values. The study employs a qualitative, conceptual approach through a literature review of productive waqf and Islamic social finance, waqf?based entrepreneurship and economic empowerment, and studies on Tunjuk Ajar Melayu and Tenas Effendy’s thought. The analysis involves literature selection, thematic coding, and conceptual synthesis oriented toward developing a model compatible with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS?SEM). The findings indicate that values such as trustworthiness, justice, social solidarity, and balance between worldly and hereafter benefits can be crystallized into the Malay Islamic Cultural Values (MICV) construct, which conceptually influences waqf literacy, wakafpreneur orientation, and waqf governance. The article proposes six reflective latent constructs MICV, Waqf Literacy, Wakafpreneur Orientation, Waqf Governance, Community Economic Empowerment, and Social Welfare as an initial framework for future empirical testing in Malay communities.