The most prominent things recommended for endowment

The Shaykh:
May Allah greet you and bless you.

The questioner:
A listener to the program says: I would like, Shaykh, to establish an endowment for me to be a store of merit in the Hereafter. What are the most prominent things you advise me to endow? And should the endowment be fixed or movable? May you be rewarded.

The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows, charitable endowments are among the greatest forms of righteousness. There was no one among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) who was wealthy who did not establish an endowment. It is the ongoing charity about which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The ongoing charity is the endowment. It is called ongoing charity because its benefit continues. An endowment is the holding back of the principal and the making available of the benefit. It can be in real estate, such as a house, a shop, or a building; it can be in a farm or a well; it can be in date palms, remaining while being utilized. This is the endowment. It is established for forms of righteousness, for the needy among relatives and others.