In pursuit of political centralization, administrative restructuring, and the establishment of modern foundations of governance, the First Pahlavi state implemented a series of institutional reforms. One of the important arenas of these reforms was the institution of waqf. By revising and reorganizing waqf regulations, the Pahlavi government created conditions for supervising and directing the revenues of endowments within the framework of state policies. The Waqf Law of 1934 can be considered one of the key elements in the institutional reorganization of waqf and the expansion of the executive capacity of the First Pahlavi state. Drawing on the concept of the infrastructural power of the state, this article seeks to answer the question of how the Waqf Law of 1934 created the conditions for directing part of endowment resources toward the health and medical sector during the First Pahlavi era.

The findings indicate that the First Pahlavi state, through reorganizing waqf regulations, establishing supervisory mechanisms over endowments, determining the status of endowments with unspecified or impracticable purposes, and allocating part of their revenues to public affairs, expanded and strengthened its infrastructural power. As a result of this enhanced infrastructural capacity, the state was able to integrate dispersed and locally managed waqf resources into its bureaucratic network and employ them in line with its objectives, including the development of health and medical services. Within this framework, endowments contributed to the construction, completion, and administration of hospitals, the financing of medical institutions, public health education, and preventive measures. Nevertheless, this process was accompanied by challenges such as disputes over the allocation of revenues, resistance from certain custodians and local actors. This study adopts a descriptive–analytical method and is based on administrative documents, laws and regulations, the proceedings of the National Consultative Assembly, press reports, and library sources.