Ebrahim Desai

Ebrahim Desai is an Indian South African Mufti and Islamic scholar. He is a Grand Mufti of South Africa and was trained in a Hanafi Deobandi legal school.
He runs the fatwa website "Ask Imam", an online Islamic questions and answers database of Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah. Previously, he used to head the Dar al-Ifta of Madrasah In'aamiyyah. 
 He is currently the senior lecturer of Hadith at Darul Uloom Nu'maniyyah in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal and Madrasah Hameediyyah in Durban. 
He has been ranked among The 500 Most Influential Muslims compiled by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre.
Early life.
After completing hifz of the Qur'an at the Waterval Islamic Institute (Mia's Farm), Desai studied traditional Dars-i Nizami course at the Jamia Islamia Talimuddin in Gujarat, India.
After completing his study in Dars-i Nizami, Desai pursued a takhassus (specialization) course in ifta under Ahmad Khanpuri of Dabhel for two years. There he learned the principles of issuing fatwas. After completing this course, he completed another year of studies in ifta under the former Grand Mufti of Darul Uloom Deoband, Mahmood Hasan Gangohi, the author of the multi-volume "Fatawa Mahmudiyyah".
Career.
In March 2008, he travelled to Hong Kong to lecture students at the Islamic Kasim Tuet Memorial College (IKTMC).
He currently teaches Bukhari at Darul Uloom Nu'maniyyah and Darul Uloom Hamediyyah and heads the Darul Iftaa Mahmoodiyyah at Sherwood, Durban, South Africa.
Desai's fatawa portal AskImam has been a subject of academic study of master's level at University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study entitled "An analysis of the discursive representations of women’s sexual agency in online fatwas : a case study of askimam.org" was done by Farhana Ismail in 2015.
Publications.
Desai authored two books, "“Introduction to Hadīth: A general introduction to Hadīth and its sciences”" and "“Introductions to Islamic Commerce”". His fatawa have been compiled in a book titled "Al-Mahmood". Another compilation of his talks at the Shariah Compliant Business Campaign is "Shariah Compliant Business Campaign". The latest compilation of contemporary verdicts is "Contemporary Fatawa" which has been published in 3 volumes.