Dr. Bashir Aliyu Umar OON, popularly called “Imam Malik of Nigeria” is the Chief Imam of Al-Furqan Masjid, Kano and a senior lecturer and Associate Professor of Hadith in the Department of Islamic studies and Shari’ah, Bayero University, kano. He is currently Deputy Chairman Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts on Islamic Banking of the Central Bank of Nigeria (FRACE-CBN) and a member of the Shari’ah Committee of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM), and the Shari’ah Committee of International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA), all based in Malaysia.
He has been involved in Islamic finance as Head of the Propagation sub‐committee of the Committee for the Promotion of the then proposed Ja’iz Bank Nigeria Limited, during which he delivered series of lectures on Islamic Banking and Finance in several parts of Nigeria. He served as the chairman of the Shari’ah Advisory Committee of the Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc (Nigeria), and as a Consultant on Islamic finance to the Financial System Strategy (FSS-2020) under the CBN, before finally taking up appointment as a Special Adviser to the Governor of the CBN on Non-interest Banking, which is his current job on secondment from the Bayero University, Kano.
He represents the CBN in the Technical Committee of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), and is also the Chairman of the IFSB Working Group for developing the standard on Risk Management for Takaful (Islamic Insurance) Undertakings.
Dr Bashir was educated in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Electrical Engineering. He then went to the Islamic University of Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and obtained his B.A, M.A and Phd. in Hadith and Islamic Studies with specialization in Sciences of Hadith. He studied Maaliki fiqh and Usul under traditional Ulamah in both Nigeria and Madinah.
While lecturing in the Islamic Studies Department of Bayero University Kano, he was invited to serve as Permanent Commissioner in the Kano State Shari’ah Commission. His work involved advising the Kano State Government on Shari’ah related issues in governmental affairs and supervising the Government’s Shari’ah implementation programme.
His Phd thesis titled: “Methodology of Imam Ahmad Regarding the Inconspicuous Weaknesses of Hadith Narrations” has been published in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has written and presented a number of papers in national and international conferences within and outside Africa.
Dr. Bashir is one of the leading intellectual pundits with whom this country is blessed with. He is deeply and always revered in the field of Islamic knowledge and teaching.
