Ismail ibn Musa Menk

Mufti Ismail ibn Musa Menk (born 27 June 1975) is a Zimbabwean Islamic scholar of Indian origin. He is the Grand Mufti of Zimbabwe's Muslim community, which makes up roughly 1% of the country's total population, and head of the fatwa department for the Council of Islamic Scholars of Zimbabwe. Menk was named one of The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan in 2013, 2014 and 2017. Menk was born on 27 June 1975 in Salisbury to Gujarati Indian parents from the Bharuchi Vohra Patel community, being son of Maulana Musa Ibrahim Menk, a Muslim preacher in Zimbabwe. Mufti Menk is able to speak Gujarati and Urdu due to his parents being migrants from India, as common with the Bharachi Vohra community where he undertook his initial studies with his father, Moulana Musa, memorizing the Quran and learning Arabic. He went to St. John's College (Harare) for senior school. He then completed his religious education and Mufti course from Kantharia Darul Uloom located in Gujarat, India. Menk has been identified as a Deobandi as well as a Salafi by different sources, though he has not publicly acknowledged his involvement in either movement. Menk opposes terrorism and has pledged his aid in curbing religious extremism in the Maldives. On 31 March 2018, he urged Liberian Muslims to avoid Muslim—Christian violence, arguing that Muslims and Christians are brothers and sisters from one father, the prophet Adam. He blames western media for misleading the world that Muslims are terrorists. According to Gulf News, Menk said that everyone on this earth is a part of a family and has one maker, therefore, no one has the right to force any belief or faith on another. In 2018 he published a collection of his sayings as a book titled Motivational Moments and in 2019 published the second edition, titled Motivational Moments 2. Menk was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate of Social Guidance by Aldersgate College, Philippines and its collaborative partner Aldersgate College – Dublin, Ireland on 16 April 2016.