Shaykh Taha Karaan is a distinguished Shafi’i scholar born in Cape Town, South Africa. His family has a long lineage of Islamic scholarship, with his father, Shaykh Yusuf Karaan, being one of the most revered Islamic scholars in the region. Currently serving as the Chief Magistrate for Islamic Civil Matters in the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), Shaykh Yusuf is renowned for his interpretation of the original works of Shaykh al-Hadith Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi.
Shaykh Taha Karaan completed his Qur’anic memorization in just one year at the Waterfall Islamic Institute, the oldest Islamic seminary in South Africa. During his stay, he assisted in the editing of the Institute’s famous Qur’anic prints that are now recognized globally. After finishing the four-year ‘alim course in just two years, he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and studied at Dar al-Ulum Deoband, graduating with the highest honors in a class of over 700 students in 1991, just like his father did. He then went to the Middle East and obtained a two-year graduate certificate at the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo, Egypt.
Shaykh Taha Karaan is the recipient of multiple chains of transmission (ijazaat) from highly respected scholars in India, Pakistan, South Africa, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other countries, in various fields of Islamic studies.
Currently, Shaykh Taha Karaan is a member of the Ifta’ Department of the MJC, an official member of the Muslim Personal Law Board, and sits on the Islamic Advisory Board of ABSA, one of South Africa’s national banks. While he is a sought-after speaker at Islamic symposia and conferences, he attends them sparingly, preferring to spend most of his time at the Islamic seminary, Dar al-Uloom al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah, which he founded in 1996. The seminary’s educational push reflects Shaykh Taha’s pioneering vision and commitment to connecting with the challenges of the modern age through the twin goals of conservation and development.
In his teaching, writing, and legal verdicts (fatawa), Shaykh Taha Karaan regularly addresses contemporary issues such as post-development challenges, women’s rights, Islamic economics and finance, old and new orientalisms, and fiqh issues affecting diaspora Muslim communities.
Described by his students as a highly knowledgeable and well-rounded scholar, with an exceptional photographic memory, insatiable appetite for learning within and beyond Islamic sciences, an inspiring teacher, with an elegant calligraphic hand, and a passion for poetry, Shaykh Taha Karaan remains humble, kind, and brilliant.
