Before the eighteenth century, Crimea was part of the Ottoman world and had a well-established Islamic legal tradition. However, after the Russo-Ottoman wars of the eighteenth century, when the peninsula came under Russian control, Russian imperial authorities transformed Crimean Islamic legal institutions but did not completely erase its traditional judicial practices. Among these was waqf. Although the waqf institution continued to exist under Russian rule, it was always challenging for Russian authorities to define it legally. Thus, the central research questions include: What legal framework did Russian authorities apply to waqf properties? Were there discrepancies between Russian treatment of waqf and Islamic principles in post-annexation Crimea? The primary sources for this exploration include Crimean Shari’a court records (1782-1787), analyzed in conjunction with Russian archival documents from the same period. The court cases discussed in the presentation shed light on the conflicts and disputes surrounding waqf lands, offering insights into the evolving administrative treatment of these types of properties. The presentation argues that a shift in Russian authorities' classification of waqf lands, especially evident around the 1840s, reflected a broader struggle to measure, survey, and map Crimean land alongside the challenge of integrating Islamic legal principles within the Russian imperial administration.