Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani is a Pakistani Islamic scholar and former judge who has shaped modern Islamic finance more than almost anyone. Born in 1943, he sat on the Shariat Appellate Bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court from 1982 to 2002, chaired the Shariah Board of AAOIFI and wrote An Introduction to Islamic Finance (1998), according to his Wikipedia biography.
Quick facts: who is Muhammad Taqi Usmani?
| Born | 3 October 1943, Deoband, British India |
| Religious training | Darul Uloom Karachi: Alimiyyah (1959), specialisation in fiqh and fatwa (1961) |
| University | BA in economics and politics (1964) and LLB (1967), University of Karachi; MA in Arabic, University of the Punjab (1970) |
| Judicial roles | Federal Shariat Court (1981 to 1982); Supreme Court Shariat Appellate Bench (1982 to 2002) |
| Finance roles | Chairman, AAOIFI Shariah Board; Chairman, State Bank of Pakistan Shariah Board (from 2014) |
| Key book | An Introduction to Islamic Finance (1998) |
What was his education?
Usmani comes from a family of scholars. His father, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, founded Darul Uloom Karachi, where Usmani began formal study in 1953, earned his Alimiyyah degree in 1959 and qualified as a mufti in 1961. Unusually for a traditional scholar, he also took university degrees: economics and politics, then law, at the University of Karachi, and a master’s in Arabic at the University of the Punjab. That mix of classical fiqh, economics and law is the foundation of his finance work.
What did he do as a judge?
Usmani served on Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology from 1977 to 1981, then as a judge of the Federal Shariat Court from 1981 to 1982. He spent the next 20 years, until 2002, on the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court, which hears appeals on whether laws conform with Islamic injunctions, including questions about riba (interest) in Pakistan’s financial system.
How did he shape Islamic finance?
His influence runs through three channels:
- Standards. He chaired the Shariah Board of AAOIFI, which writes the Shariah standards used by Islamic banks in many countries. The International Islamic Fiqh Academy also records his roles with AAOIFI and major Shariah boards.
- Regulation. In 2014 he became chairman of the Shariah Board of the State Bank of Pakistan.
- Writing. An Introduction to Islamic Finance (1998) became a standard text for bankers and students, explaining contracts such as murabaha, ijarah and musharakah in practical terms.
A consistent theme in his work is that Islamic finance should follow Shariah in substance, not just rename conventional products.
What else has he written?
Beyond finance, his best-known English work is The Noble Quran, a translation with short explanatory notes, which he revised from the translation in Ma’ariful Qur’an to make it simpler for modern readers. He has also written widely on hadith, fiqh and personal conduct in Urdu, Arabic and English.
What recognition has he received?
His awards include the Islamic Development Bank Prize (2014), Jordan’s Order of Independence (2010) and Pakistan’s Sitara-i-Imtiaz (2019). He was ranked first in the 2020 edition of The 500 Most Influential Muslims.
FAQ
Yes. He served on the Federal Shariat Court and then on the Supreme Court’s Shariat Appellate Bench from 1982 to 2002.
An Introduction to Islamic Finance, published in 1998.
Yes. Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani is his son and is also an Islamic finance scholar.
