مُحَمَّد تَقِي العُثْمَانِي
Mufti Muḥammad Taqī ʿUsmānī
Chair, AAOIFI Shariah Board · Vice President, Dār al-ʿUlūm Karachi
The single most consequential living scholar on Islamic finance. His Supreme Court of Pakistan judgment (1999) is the definitive contemporary document on the equivalence of modern bank interest to Qurʾānic riba. Conceived modern Murābaḥah as a *transitional* instrument and has been its most rigorous critic when implementations engineer ownership risk down to zero.
On the core questions
5 of the 6 core questions are documented for this voice. Each carries its source.
Q1 · Is riba prohibited in Islam?
ProhibitsSource:An Introduction to Islamic Finance· 1998
Q2 · Is conventional bank interest the same as Qurʾānic riba?
ProhibitsThe Supreme Court of Pakistan judgment is the most rigorous single document on the equivalence of modern bank interest to Qurʾānic riba.
Source:Historic Judgment on Interest· 1999
Q3 · Is a conventional mortgage permissible by necessity (ḍarūrah) in the West?
ProhibitsNecessity does not transform a prohibited contract into permissible at the level of preference.
Source:An Introduction to Islamic Finance
Q4 · Is contemporary Murābaḥah-based home finance permissible?
Permits — strict conditionsConceived Murābaḥah as a transitional instrument; cautioned against implementations that minimize ownership risk and become functionally interest-bearing.
Source:An Introduction to Islamic Finance
Q5 · Is Ijārah Muntahiyah bi-Tamlīk (lease-to-own) permissible?
Permits — strict conditionsAccepts the structure subject to genuine risk transfer and maintenance allocation.
Source:AAOIFI Shariah Standard 9
Positions are summarised conservatively from documented statements. A label reflects the scholar's strongest documented position; the nuance line captures the qualifiers. Verify against the cited source, and see the methodology for how these were formed.