Muhammad Taqi Usmani

Justice (R) Mufti Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Uthmani (Arabic/Urdu: محمد تقی عثمانی) (b. 1943) is an eminent Hanafi Islamic scholar from Pakistan. He served as a judge on the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan from 1980 to 1982 and the Shari'a Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1982 to 2002. He is an expert in the fields of Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh), economics, hadith and tasawwuf. He also held a number of positions on the boards of prestigious Islamic institutions. He is the brother of another notable Islamic scholar, Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani and Maulana Wali Razi.
Mufti Sahab was born in Deoband, a city in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1943] After completing the Alim course at Darul Uloom Karachi, he specialized in fiqh under the guidance of his eminent father, Grand Mufti of PakistanMufti Muhammad Shafi Usmani. He received his Takhassus degree in Islamic education from Darul Uloom Karachi in 1961. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Arabic literature from the University of Punjab and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Karachi. Mufti Sahab received ijaza to teach hadith from a number of scholars such as Sheikh Hasan Mashat, Mufti Muhammad Shafi Uthmani, Maulana Idris Kandhlawi, Mufti Rashid Ahmad Ludhianvi, and Shaikhul Hadith Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi. He pioneered the concept of Islamic banking in Pakistan when he established the Meezan Bank. Mufti Sahab 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.

In March 2004, United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presented an award to Mufti Sahab 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 recognizing the importance of tasawwuf, Mufti Sahab's bay'ah was accepted by Shaikh Dr. Abdul Hayy Arifi Abdul Hayy Arifi and Maseehullah Khan. Mufti Sahab 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.

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 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, and Dayiat. He strongly opposes the Women Protection Bill. According to him, it was designed to distract attention from issues such as flaws in the law enforcement system. According to a comment piece in The Times, Usmani has written that aggressive military jihad should be waged by Muslims “to establish the supremacy of Islam” worldwide