Wikipedia

Taqi Usmani

Muhammad Taqi Usmani[a] (born 3 October 1943) SI, OI, is a Pakistani Islamic jurist and leading scholar in the fields of Qur'an, Hadith, Islamic law, Islamic economics, and comparative religion.[2] He was a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology from 1977 to 1981, a judge of the Federal Shariat Court from 1981 to 1982, and a judge in the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1982 to 2002. In 2020, he was selected as the most influential Muslim personality in the world.[3] He is considered a leading intellectual of the contemporary Deobandi movement, and his opinions and fatwas are widely accepted by Deobandi scholars and institutions worldwide, including the Darul Uloom Deoband in India.[4] Since 2021, he has been serving as the Chairman of Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia. His father, Shafi Usmani, was the Grand Mufti of Darul Uloom Deoband and Taqi Usmani migrated to Pakistan with his family after the partition of India in 1948.

D.Litt.
Judge
Mufti
Muhammad Taqi Usmani
SI, OI
محمد تقی عثمانی
Colour image
Taqi Usmani in 2016 in London
Justice of the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
In office
10 July 1982 – May 2002
Appointed byMuhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Justice of the Federal Shariat Court
In office
6 July 1981 – 10 July 1982
Appointed byMuhammad Zia-ul-Haq
President of the Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 September 2021
Preceded byAbdur Razzaq Iskander
President of the Darul Uloom Karachi[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office
2022
Preceded byMuhammad Rafi Usmani
Personal details
Born (1943-10-03) 3 October 1943 (age 81)
Deoband, United Provinces, British India
NationalityPakistani
Alma mater
Personal
ReligionIslam
ChildrenImran Ashraf Usmani
Parents
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceHanafi
CreedMaturidi
Main interest(s)Fiqh, Tafsir, Hadith, Islamic economics, Islamic Law, Islam and modernity, Political aspects of Islam, Comparative religion
Notable work(s)
Relatives
SignatureUrdu signature
Muslim leader
TeacherShafi Usmani, Muhammad Idris Kandhlawi, Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda, Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi, Wali Hasan Tonki, Zakariyya Kandhlawi, Saleemullah Khan
Disciple ofAbdul Hai Arifi, Masihullah Khan
Students
Influenced by
Influenced
Awards
Literary works
Websitemuftitaqiusmani.com

Usmani studied at Darul Uloom Karachi, the University of Karachi, and the University of the Punjab. He began teaching at Darul Uloom Karachi in 1960. Since 1967, he has been the editor of the Urdu magazine Al-Balagh and the English magazine Al-Balagh International since 1976. He is recognized as an authority in the field of Islamic law and its application.[5] He is a permanent member of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the OIC and a former deputy chairman. He is also a member of the Muslim World League based in Mecca. At the age of 17, he wrote his first book titled Islam and Birth Control. He is the author of 143 books on various subjects in Arabic, English, and Urdu. He is widely recognized for his contributions to Islamic economics, where he has played a leading role in Islamizing the banking and finance industry in Pakistan and abroad. In 1998, his book on Islamic economics, An Introduction to Islamic Finance, was considered significant. His extensive work in Islamic economics led to his appointment as the Chairman of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), a Bahrain-based Islamic Financial Institution of the Islamic Development Bank. In 2014, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Shariah Board of the State Bank of Pakistan. He has also served as the Chairman of the Shariah Board in more than a dozen Islamic banks and financial institutions. In recognition of his contributions to Islamic economics, he received the Islamic Development Bank Prize in 2014. Under his supervision, the English translation of Ma'ariful Qur'an was completed. He has authored translations and explanations of the Quran in both English and Urdu, which were published as The Noble Quran and Tauzeeh Al-Qur'an, respectively. Along with Ulum al-Quran, these works are his major contributions to the study of the Quran. In the field of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), his notable works include Fatawa-e-Usmani, Fiqh al-Buyu, Fiqhi Maqalat, Islam and Modern Economic Problems, and Buhuth fi Qadhaya Fiqhiyyah Mu`asirah, among others. His comprehensive explanation of Sahih Muslim, titled Takmilah Fath al-Mulhim, spans six volumes and is considered his finest work. The Hadith encyclopedia Al-Mudawwanah al-Jāmiʿah was compiled under his supervision. Among his other works in the field of hadith sciences are Inamul Bari, Darus Tirmizi, and The Authority of Sunnah. In recognition of his services in public welfare, he was honored with Pakistan's civil award, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, in 2019. In 2010, Abdullah II of Jordan bestowed upon him the Order of Independence. In 2022, he received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from an American International Theism University.

Early life and education

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Further information: Usmani family of Deoband § Miyānji Shukrullah

Muhammad Taqi Usmani was born on 5 Shawwal 1362 AH (5 October 1943) in the city of Deoband in Saharanpur district, United Provinces, British India.[6] He was the fifth and youngest son of Mufti Muhammad Shafi (1897–1976). With his full nasab (patronymic), he is Muhammad Taqi ibn Muhammad Shafi ibn Muhammad Yasin ibn Khalifah Tahsin Ali ibn Imam Ali ibn Karim Allah ibn Khair Allah ibn Shukr Allah. The forefathers of Miyanji Shukr Allah are unknown, but the family claims descent from Uthman, the third caliph and a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, hence the nisbat "Usmani".[7][8]

Usmani was born to several generations of educators. The title "Miyanji" applied to several of his ancestors indicates that they were teachers. His grandfather Muhammad Yasin (1865/66 – 1936) taught Persian at Darul Uloom Deoband. Born the year before the madrasah's founding, he had been one of its first students and studied with some of its early teachers including Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi, Sayyid Ahmad Dihlawi, Mulla Mahmud Deobandi, and Mahmud al-Hasan Deobandi. Usmani's father Muhammad Shafi was also a product of the Deoband seminary. He taught there for several decades and held the post of chief mufti.[7]

In 1948, when Usmani was four years old, his father immigrated the family from Deoband to Karachi, Pakistan. Since there was not a madrasah nearby, Usmani's primary education began at home under his parents. He was later enrolled in Darul Uloom Karachi after Mufti Shafi founded the school in 1950. After completing his primary education, he began his formal religious training in the Dars-i Nizami curriculum in 1953. He passed the Fazil-i Arabi (Punjab Board) with distinction in 1958, and received his Alimiyyah degree with distinction from Darul Uloom Karachi in 1959. He then obtained his Takhassus (specialization) degree in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and ifta (fatwa issuance) from Darul Uloom Karachi in 1961, earning the title of "Mufti". Usmani continued his education at the University of Karachi, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in economics and politics in 1964, then a Bachelor of Laws with second-class honours in 1967. In 1970 he obtained a Master of Arts with first-class honours in Arabic language and literature from the University of Punjab.[7][8][9][10][11]

Teachers

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Usmani received teaching licenses to teach hadith from Islamic scholars including Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Idris Kandhlawi, Qari Muhammad Tayyib, Saleemullah Khan, Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi, Sahban Mahmud, Zafar Ahmad Usmani, Muhammad Zakariya Kandhalvi, Hasan al-Mahshat Al-Makki Al-Maliki, 'Abdu-l-'Azeez Ibn Baz Al-Maliki, Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah, Abi Al-Faid Muhammad Yasin Al-Fadani Ash-Shafi'i, and others.[11]

Islamic Economics

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Usmani pioneered the concept of Islamic banking in Pakistan when he established the Meezan Bank.[citation needed] Usmani has authored books in Arabic, Urdu, and English on Islamic topics in addition to articles on Islamic banking and finance published in journals and magazines.[citation needed]

According to The Muslim 500: "Usmani's chief influence comes from his position as a global authority on the issue of Islamic finance."[12]

Awards and honours

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Academia

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He currently teaches Sahih al-Bukhari, fiqh, and Islamic economics at Darul Uloom Karachi and is known for his Islahi Khutbat. He was a key member of a team of scholars which helped declare Ahmadis non-Muslims by Pakistan's National Assembly during the era of former Pakistani president, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in the 1970s. During the presidency of General Zia ul Haq, he was instrumental in drafting laws pertaining to Hudood, Qisas meaning retaliation in kind or an eye for an eye and Diyya (blood money).[12]

Personal views

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Usmani strongly opposes elements of explicit modernity, which he describes as engulfing

"the whole world in the tornado of nudity and obscenity, and has provided an excuse for fornication, and more so it has led under thunder claps to the passage of a bill in the British House of Commons to legalize homosexuality. It is in the shadow of the same modernity that Western women are openly displaying banners on the streets demanding legalization of abortion"[21]

At a religious conference in 1984, he urged a more "dynamic attitude" towards the practice of ijtihad, arguing there is no shortage of fine minds capable of interpreting the sharia, but warning against the contamination of sharia by Western ideas such as the elimination of hudud penalties such as amputation and stoning.[22][23]

Positions held

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Positions held by Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Position Organisation Location From
President Wifaq ul Madaris Multan 2021
President Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-Madaris Pakistan 2021
Vice President and Shaykh al-Hadith Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi Karachi
Chairman Centre for Islamic Economics, Pakistan[24] Pakistan 1991
Chairman International Shariah Standard Council, Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions[25]
Permanent Member International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Jeddah, organ of the Organisation of Islamic Conference[26][12] Jeddah
Member Islamic Fiqh Academy of Rabita-al-'Alam-e-Islami Makkah
Chairman Shariah Board Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank UAE
Chairman Shariah Board Meezan Bank Limited Karachi
Chairman Shariah Board International Islamic Rating Agency Bahrain
Chairman Shariah Board Pak-Kuwait Takaful Karachi
Chairman Shariah Board Arif Habib Investments – Pakistan International Islamic Fund Karachi
Chairman Board American International Theism University[27] USA
Member Shariah Board Arcapita Investment Fund Bahrain
Member Unified Shariah Board Islamic Development Bank Jeddah
Member Shariah Board Shariah Board Guidance Financial Group[28] USA

Positions held in the past

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Positions held by Taqi Usmani in the past
Position Organisation From to
Member Council of Islamic Ideology 1977 1981
Judge Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan[29] 1980 1982
Judge Shariat Appellate Bench, Supreme Court of Pakistan[12][30] 1982 2002
Member Syndicate University of Karachi 1985 1988
Member Board of Governors, International Islamic University Islamabad 1985 1989
Member International Institute of Islamic Economics 1985 1988
Member Board of Trustees International Islamic University, Islamabad 2004 2007
Member Commission for Islamisation of Economy of Pakistan
Member Shariah Board Bank of Khyber, Pehawar
Member Shariah Board Dow Jones Index, New York
Member Shariah Board HSBC Amanah Finance Dubai
Member Shariah Board Swiss Re Takaful, Switzerland
Member Shariah Board Bank Islami
Member Shariah Board Dubai Bank
Member Shariah Board Robert Fleming Oasis Fund, Luxemburg
Member Shariah Board AL Bakarah Group Jeddah
Member Shariah Board ABC Investment Bank

Bibliography

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Main article: Muhammad Taqi Usmani bibliography

Usmani has authored 143 books including Tauzeeh Al-Qur'an, An Introduction to Islamic Finance, Contemporary Fataawa, The Authority of Sunnah, Uloomu-l-Qur'an. He has also written a supplement to Shabbir Ahmad Usmani's Fath al-Mulhim, entitled Takmila Fath al-Mulhim.[30][31]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Urdu: محمد تقی عثمانی, romanized: Muḥammad Taqī ʿUs̲mānī

References

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  1. ^ "افغانستان کے دورے پر گئے مفتی تقی عثمانی کو صدر علوی کا فون". Dunya News (in Urdu). 25 July 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  2. ^ Nawi, Zaharudin; Marzuki, Zunaidah Mohd (2017). "Mufti Muḥammad Taqī 'Usmānī and his scholarly contribution to the Qur'anic studies". Al-Irsyad: Journal of Islamic and Contemporary Issues. 2 (1): 94. doi:10.53840/alirsyad.v2i1.29. ISSN 2550-1992.
  3. ^ "Mufti Taqi Usmani named most influential Muslim personality in the world". The News International. 3 October 2019.
  4. ^ Schleifer, Abdallah (2020). The Muslim 500: The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims, 2020. Amman, Jordan: The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. p. 41. ISBN 978-9957-635-45-9.
  5. ^ Younas, Salman (2022), "ʿUthmānī, Muḥammad Taqī", Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World: Digital Collection, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-766941-9, retrieved 30 May 2023
  6. ^ Usmani, Taqi (2021). আমার জীবনকথা (in Bengali). Vol. 1. Dhaka: Maktabatul Ashraf. pp. 40–41. ISBN 9789849173038.
  7. ^ a b c Ḥakīm, Luqmān (2002) [Composed 1998]. Muḥammad Taqī al-'Uthmānī: al-qāḍī al-faqīh wa-al-dā'iyah al-raḥḥālah محمد تقي العثماني: القاضي الفقيه والداعية الرحالة. 'Ulamā' wa-mufakkirūn mu‘āsirūn: lamaḥāt min ḥayātihim wa-ta‘rīf bi-mu’allifātihim علماء ومفكرون معاصرون: لمحات من حياتهم وتعريف بمؤلفاتهم. Dimashq: Dār al-Qalam.
  8. ^ a b "Profile of Justice Maulana Muhammad Taqi Usmani" (PDF). Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Islamic Finance Scholars". IjaraLoans.com. 30 June 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  10. ^ Kettell, Brian (2011) [2008]. Introduction to Islamic Banking and Finance. Wiley. p. 28.
  11. ^ a b "Mufti Taqi Usmani". albalagh.net. Albalagh. Archived from the original on 3 April 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d "Sheikh Taqi Usmani's Profile". TheMuslim500.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  13. ^ "The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims 2023" (PDF). Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  14. ^ "Conferment of Pakistan Civil Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Government of Pakistan, Cabinet Secretariat. 14 August 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2019.
  15. ^ "Islamic Finance Excellence Awards 2017". COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  16. ^ "Meezan Bank receives multiple awards at Islamic Finance Forum of South Asia – SriLanka" (Press release). Meezan Bank. 15 August 2016. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019.
  17. ^ "Taqi Usmani, Rodney Wilson share IDB prize". Arab News. Jeddah. 9 May 2014. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  18. ^ a b c d "عن الشيخ". muftitaqiusmani.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Double first for the top winners at the Islamic Business & Finance Awards 2011" (Press release). Market Buzz. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019.
  20. ^ "أعلى وسام أردني لعمرو خالد" (in Arabic). Alanba. 4 October 2010. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  21. ^ Taqi Usmani, Muhammad. Islam and Modernism. p. 6. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  22. ^ Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ... Macmillan. pp. 228–9. ISBN 9780099523277.
  23. ^ Usmani, Taqi (13 November 2013). "THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE. Misunderstandings about "Ijtehad" [excerpt taken from Islam and Modernism by Taqi Usmani]". Islamic reality. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  24. ^ Hannan, Abdul (17 October 2020). "Chairman - Centre for Islamic Economics". Centre for Islamic Economics. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  25. ^ "Sharia Standards Board - Sharia Standards Board - About AAOIFI - AAOIFI". Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  26. ^ Brian Kettell, Introduction to Islamic Banking and Finance, p 28. ISBN 047097804X.
  27. ^ "American International Theism University - Board Members". 28 October 2020.
  28. ^ "Profile of Mufti Taqi Usmani (Archived Copy)". Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  29. ^ "Taqi Usmani elected Wafaqul Madaris Arabia president". The News International. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  30. ^ a b "Justice Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani". themuslim500.com. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  31. ^ Zil Huma (January–June 2019). "Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani ki maroof tasnīfāt-o-tālifāt ka ta'ārufi jāyzah" [Interpretation of the leading books and compositions of Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani]. Rāhatul Qulūb. 3 (1): 197–224. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.

Bibliography

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