He had top marks, a UCT mathematics degree, and lucrative bursary offers on the table — a clear road to actuarial science and comfortable money. He walked away from all of it, into the Darul Uloom of Mufti Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), and says he would make that decision "every single day of my life again."
In this episode of ROOTED, Shaykh Irshaad Sedick sits down with his former student, travel companion, and close friend Mawlana Zakariyya Harnekar — graduate of Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah, MJC executive and fatwa department researcher, and teacher at the Qurani Institute and Mizan Institute — for a conversation inside the chain: what it costs to choose ilm over income, who Mufti Taha Karaan was when the cameras were off, and what it takes to carry a teacher's legacy.
ROOTED traces the chains that connect our community to the Prophet ﷺ — because knowledge without isnad is information; knowledge through isnad is inheritance.
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Institutions mentioned:
Darun Naim - darun-naim.co.za
Mizan Institute — mizan.co.za
Kurani Institute — kurani.org.za
Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah (DUAI) — duai.org.za
SeekersGuidance — seekersguidance.org
00:00 "I would make that decision every single day"
00:15 Welcome to ROOTED: a conversation inside the chain
03:09 The road not taken: a maths degree or the deen
08:34 What the Darun Na'im years do to a person
10:49 His mother's advice: university first
14:34 His father's advice: shoulder the responsibility
16:40 Choosing maths & stats — and the MSA years
18:20 Arriving in Strand: meeting Mufti Taha Karaan
21:51 The Pelican Park walk: "You only start learning when you start teaching"
24:59 "I don't feel like I gave up anything"
28:27 Join the Isnad Academy community
28:58 Does the maths ever leave you? Logic and usul al-fiqh
32:20 What really happens inside an Islamic seminary
35:22 Mufti Taha Karaan: the man behind the mind
44:50 The Goudini dictation story
49:32 Weeping over the names of Badr
51:32 Carrying the legacy after his passing
58:30 Teaching Qur'an to dentists and grandmothers
59:51 Inside the MJC
01:05:05 Women, youth, and identity
01:07:08 His primary concerns for the Ummah
01:12:12 Advice to a matric student: deen or degree?
01:14:25 Where to start studying in Cape Town
01:17:39 Closing duas
