Muhammad Taqi Usmani

Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Title Mufti Qadi Imam
Born 5 October 1943 (age 73)
Deoband, British India
Era 21st-century philosophy
Religion Islam
Denomination Sunni
Jurisprudence Hanafi[1]
Movement Deobandi
Main interest(s) Shari'a, Hadith, Islamic finance, Tafsir, Sufism
Notable idea(s) Evolution of Islamic economics, Islamic banking
Alma mater Darul Uloom Karachi
Karachi University
Punjab University
Website Official website

Muhammad Taqi Usmani (Urdu: محمد تقی عثمانی‎, Muhammad Taqī ‘Usmāni, born 5 October 1943) (also spelled Uthmani) is a Deobandi Hanafi Islamic scholar from Pakistan.[2] He served as a judge on the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan from 1981 to 1982 and the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan between 1982 and 2002.[2] He is an expert in the fields of Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh), economics, Tasawwuf, and hadith. He also held a number of positions on the Shariah Boards of prestigious Islamic institutions,[2] and was instrumental in the writing of the Hudood Ordinances under General Zia ul-Haq.[3] He is the brother of Islamic scholars Muhammad Rafi Usmani, Muhammad Wali Razi, and Muhammad Razi Usmani, as well as of the Urdu poet Muhammad Zaki Kaifi. He has written translations of the Qur'an in both English and Urdu.[2]

Early life

Muhammad Taqi Usmani was born on 5 October 1943[4] (5 Shawwal 1362 AH) in Deoband, a city in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India.[5]

In 1958, Usmani passed the Fazil-e-Arabi (Arabic language examination) with distinction, administered by the Punjab Board.[4] In 1959 he graduated from the `Alim course at Darul Uloom Karachi.[6][7] He then specialised in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) under the guidance of his father,[5] the Mufti of Darul Uloom Karachi, Muhammad Shafi, receiving his Takhassus degree (equivalent to a PhD) in fiqh and ifta (issuance of Islamic legal opinions) from Darul Uloom Karachi in 1961, earning the title of Mufti. He graduated from the University of Karachi with a Bachelor of Arts in 1964, then received a Bachelor of Laws with distinction from the University of Karachi in 1967. He received a Master of Arts in Arabic literature, with distinction, from the University of Punjab in 1970.[7][8]

Usmani received ijaza to teach hadith from Islamic scholars including Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Idris Kandhlawi, Qari Muhammad Tayyib, Saleemullah Khan, Mufti Rashid Ahmad Ludhianvi, Sahban Mahmud, Zafar Ahmad Usmani, Muhammad Zakariya Kandhalvi, Hasan al-Mahshat, and others.[5]

His Teachers also include Mufti Wali Hasan Tonki, the Grand Mufti of Jami' ul Uloom Al-Islamiyyah. His elders include Shaikh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah.

In tradition to the scholars of Deoband, recognising the importance of Tasawwuf, he traversed the path under the guidance of his Shaikh Dr. Abdul Hai Arifi and Maulana Muhammad Masihullah Khan both khulafa of Hakeemul Ummat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmetullah ajmaeen).[2] He is authorized by both of his mentors in Silsila e Ashrafia: Chistiyyah, Naqshbandiyah, Qadiriyah and Suharwardiyah. In addition to his busy schedule he is himself a mentor to numerous spiritual aspirants all over the world, such as Hadhrat Moulana Sheikh Mohammad Luqman Sahib Ji (RA) of the renowned Abu Bakr Trust in Walsall, England.

Usmani pioneered the concept of Islamic banking in Pakistan when he established the Meezan Bank. Usmani has authored a number of books in Arabic, Urdu, and English on Islamic topics in addition to a large number of articles on Islamic banking and finance published in a number of journals and magazines. According to The Muslim 500 website, he is a leading scholar of Islamic Finance, "Usmani's chief influence comes from his position as a global authority on the issue of Islamic finance."[2]

In March 2004, United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presented an award to Taqi Usmani in recognition of his lifetime service and achievement in Islamic finance during the annual International Islamic Finance Forum (IIFF) in Dubai.

In accordance with the tradition of the scholars of Deoband and recognising the importance of tasawwuf, Usmani's bay'ah was accepted by Abdul Hai Arifi and Muhammad Masihullah Khan. Usmani is currently a mentor to numerous spiritual aspirants all over the world and delivers weekly lectures on self-improvement at Darul Uloom Karachi on Sundays between Asr Salaah and Maghrib Salaah.[9]

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 (Qadianis), as 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 (eye for an eye, and Diyya (blood money).

Views

Usmani strongly opposes elements of 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 ....[10]

He also strongly supports Pakistan's Hudood Ordinances he helped write and strongly opposed the Women's Protection Bill, which he believes violates the injunctions of Quran and Sunnah. He thinks it will not provide a great relief to countless women.

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 hudood penalties such as amputation and stoning.[11][12]

Positions

Muhammad Taqi Usmani has been called "a leading scholar of Islamic jurisprudence" and "one of the most successful of the Islamic revivalist initiatives of the past century", by The Muslim 500 website, which lists him among the 500 "most influential Muslims" in the world;[2] and "one of the leading religious experts on Islamic finance and much sought after person by Islamic financial institutions for their Shari'ah Boards," by M.O.Farooq.[13]

Positions currently being held

Positions held in the past

Bibliography

Arabic

Urdu

English

As Editor

Arabic

Urdu

English

Works in English Translation

Many of these books are available online. He also gave many lectures that are available online in audio formats.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jocelyne Cesari, Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States, p 23. ISBN 0313336253.("The Pakistani Hanafi scholar and judge Muhammad Taqi al-Deen Usmani...")
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Sheikh Taqi Usmani's Profile". TheMuslim500.com. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Scroggins, Deborah (2012-01-17). Wanted Women: Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui. Harper Collins. p. 58. ISBN 9780062097958.
  4. 1 2 "Profile of Justice Maulana Muhammad Taqi Usmani" (PDF). Federal Shariat Court, Pakistan. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Profile of Muhammad Taqi Usmani on albalagh.net website, Retrieved 20 July 2017
  6. 1 2 Brian Kettell, Introduction to Islamic Banking and Finance, p 28. ISBN 047097804X.
  7. 1 2 "Islamic Finance Scholars". IjaraLoans.com. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Brian B. Kettell, Introduction to Islamic Banking and Finance, p 28. ISBN 1119990602
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Profile of Muhammad Taqi Usmani on ashrafiya.com website, Retrieved 23 July 2017
  10. ↑ Taqi Usmani, Muhammad. Islam and Modernism. p. 6. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  11. ↑ Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ... Macmillan. pp. 228–9. ISBN 9780099523277.
  12. ↑ Usmani, Taqi. "THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE. Misunderstandings about "Ijtehad" [excerpt taken from Islam and Modernism by Taqi Usmani]". Islamic reality. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  13. ↑ Farooq, M.O. (2009). "Riba, Interest and Six Hadiths: Do We Have a Definition or a Conundrum?". Review of Islamic Economics. 13 (1): 130. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  14. ↑ http://www.aaoifi.com/en/about-aaoifi/sharia-standards-board/ssb-committees/
  15. 1 2 http://muftitaqiusmani.com/en/?page_id=11333
  16. ↑ Theodore Friend, Professor Philip Jenkins, Woman, Man, and God in Modern Islam, p 81. ISBN 0802866735


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