Islamic Housing
Guidance Residential Shariah Board

Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani

Scholar profile · Updated August 2026 · All scholar profiles

Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani is one of the most widely cited scholars in modern Islamic finance, and chairs the Shariah Supervisory Board of Guidance Residential — the largest halal home financing provider in the US. His name appears on Shariah boards and standard-setting bodies across the global Islamic finance industry, not just this one company.

How we handle this page This is an independently researched summary drawn from public biographies, institutional disclosures, and press coverage. It is not authorized by Justice Usmani or Guidance Residential, and it is not a ranking or endorsement of his scholarship. Verify current board membership and credentials directly with Guidance Residential.

Background

Born in 1943, Taqi Usmani is the son of Grand Mufti Muhammad Shafi Usmani, a leading scholar who helped found Darul Uloom Karachi, one of Pakistan's major centers of traditional Islamic scholarship. He trained in the classical Islamic sciences there and also pursued formal legal education, a combination that shaped his later career bridging religious scholarship and modern law.

He served as a judge of the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan and later the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1982 to 2002, a period that included the court's widely reported ruling declaring conventional interest-based banking un-Islamic. He has held senior positions including Deputy Chairman of Darul Uloom Karachi and Vice President of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah, and for years chaired the Shariah board of AAOIFI (the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions), the Bahrain-based body whose standards influence Islamic finance products worldwide. He has authored numerous books on Islamic law and finance, including An Introduction to Islamic Finance.

Role in US halal home financing

Justice Usmani chairs Guidance Residential's Shariah Supervisory Board, which oversees the company's Declining Balance Co-Ownership model — a form of diminishing Musharakah. As described in our fatwas and financing models guide, Guidance's structure also carries a 2014 conditional endorsement from AMJA (Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America). His involvement is one of the most frequently cited credentials in Guidance Residential's own marketing, given his standing in the broader Islamic finance world.

Next: Sheikh Nizam Yaqouby

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 Justice Usmani or Guidance Residential. Verify current credentials and board membership directly with Guidance Residential.