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Sheikh Taha Abdul-Basser

Scholar profile · Updated August 2026 · All scholar profiles

Sheikh Taha Abdul-Basser is an American scholar best known for his long tenure as Muslim chaplain at Harvard University, where he supported the Harvard Islamic Society and the broader Muslim student community for years. He is not part of any US halal home financing provider's Shariah board, but he chairs the Ethical Board of Wahed Invest and serves on Fajr Capital's Shariah Advisory Board — making him one of the more visible American Shariah scholars in the wider Islamic finance industry that home-financing boards also draw from.

How we handle this page This is an independently researched summary drawn from public biographies and Sheikh Abdul-Basser's own institutional bios at Wahed Invest and Harvard. It is not authorized by Sheikh Abdul-Basser, and it is not a ranking or endorsement of his scholarship. An earlier version of this page and our fatwas and financing models guide incorrectly listed him as a member of UIF Corporation's Shariah Supervisory Board; we could not verify that affiliation against UIF's own published disclosures and have corrected it. If you have current, sourced information about his board memberships, please let us know.

Background

Sheikh Abdul-Basser grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and earned an A.B. in the Comparative Study of Religion from Harvard College in 1996, followed by an A.M. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Alongside his chaplaincy, he worked as a staff researcher on Harvard's Islamic Finance Information Program, taught an independent-study course on the principles of Islamic finance at Harvard Business School, and served as a Senior Tutorial Advisor in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He has acted as a Shariah compliance reviewer and consultant to investment funds, investment banks, and retail banks since 1998, and is co-founder of StraightWay Ethical Advisory, a consulting group serving the Shariah-compliant financial services sector.

Role in Islamic finance

Sheikh Abdul-Basser's most visible current Shariah board role is chairing Wahed Invest's Ethical Board — Wahed markets itself as the first Islamic robo-advisor — alongside Sheikh Humza Maqbool Chaudhry and Sheikh Musa Furber. He also sits on Fajr Capital's Shariah Advisory Board. Neither role is specific to home financing, but his Harvard coursework on Islamic finance principles and two decades of Shariah compliance consulting inform the same underlying framework — diminishing Musharakah, Ijara, and Murabaha — that US halal mortgage providers build their products on.

Next: Sheikh Faraz Rabbani

This profile is an independently researched summary of publicly available information, not an authorized biography or a religious endorsement. Islamic Housing has no financial relationship with Sheikh Abdul-Basser, Wahed Invest, or Fajr Capital. Verify current details directly with those organizations.