Taqi Usmani in top ten of influential Muslims list

Religion

Dhaka Magazine Desk

Published: Saturday, 14 November 2026

Pakistan's prominent Islamic scholar Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani has secured a place in the top ten of the 2027 edition of 'The Muslim 500', a list of the world's 500 most influential Muslim personalities; his position on the list is seventh. Published by the Jordan-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC), the list describes him as a 'Mufti and leading Islamic scholar'. These details were reported in a report by IslamOnWeb, an international news outlet on Islamic affairs, on Saturday (14 November).

In the previous 2026 edition, he was second, in 2025 sixth, and in 2024 eighth. The publication identifies Taqi Usmani as an influential global scholar of Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and Islamic economics, and as one of the main intellectual figures of Deobandi-style Islamic education.

Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani was born on 5 October 1943 in Deoband, India. He is the son of Pakistan's former Grand Mufti Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi; his father founded Jamia Darul Uloom in Karachi. Taqi Usmani obtained a higher specialized degree in Islamic education from Darul Uloom Karachi, a master's degree in Arabic literature from the University of the Punjab, and a law degree from the University of Karachi.

An expert in Hadith, fiqh, economics and tasawwuf, Taqi Usmani has been teaching various branches of Islamic education since 1959. From 1982 to 2002, he served as a judge of the Shariah Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In addition, he served as a permanent member and former vice-chairman of the Jeddah-based International Islamic Fiqh Academy, an OIC affiliate.

He has also contributed to the field of Islamic economics and banking; he has served as chairman or member of the Shariah supervisory boards of several Islamic banks and financial institutions in various countries of the world. Currently, he is chairman of the Bahrain-based AAOIFI International Shariah Council, director-general of Jamia Darul Uloom in Karachi, and president of Pakistan's madrasa education board, Wifaqul Madarisil Arabia. More than 60 of his books have been published in Arabic, English and Urdu.

‘The Muslim 500’ publication's 2027 edition is the 18th annual edition. In assessing influential Muslim personalities, various social indicators, public opinion and expert opinions are taken into account; in addition, a person's overall lifetime contribution is given more weight than achievements in the current year. According to the publishers, inclusion in the list does not mean their endorsement of the person's views or actions; rather, it is an assessment of their influence in the Muslim world.