Muhammad Tānī (South Wällo, Ethiopia, 1913-14,- Addis Abbaba, April 1989) was an Ethiopian Muslim cleric, scholar, teacher and political leader. After the Ethiopian Revolution, Tānī became a member of parliament and served as an advocate for the Muslim community in Ethiopia Biography Tānī was born at Ančarro/Kärabitti in Qallu awrağğa, south Wällo administrative zone His father was al-Hāğğ Habīb, the son of Bašīr, a native of Wälqayet in Təgray, who migrated to Qallu “seeking knowledge” (talab al-‘ilm). Muhammad Tānī’s mother was Wäyzäro Fātuma Malik. When Tānī was four years old, his father went to Təgray and then to Asmära where he stayed for more than twenty years. As an adult, Tānī married Kubrā bt. Sheikh Sa‘īd Mansūr of Wärrä Himäno. The couple had six sons: Muhammad Nūr, ‘Abd al-Rahmān, Husayn, Bašīr, Ahmad and Hasan, and two daughters, Maryam and Rahma. Islamic Education and ministering Tānī’s first Qur’ān teachers were Sheikh Muftī b. Ibrāhīm of Wärrä Babbo and Ahmad Mahallī of Alašša in Wärrä Himäno, . He studied the Qur’ān, fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), tafsīr (exegesis), mantiq (logic), usūl (fundamentals [of jurisprudence]), hadīt and balāġa (rhetoric) under several ‘ulamā’. He also studied fiqh according to the Hanafī madhab, under al-Hāğğ Ahmad of Qallu, and nahw (Arabic grammar and syntax) and sarf (morphology) under Sheikh Kämmäläw b. Muhammad At age 23, Tānī went to Asmära in search of his father and returned with him after a year. After completing his religious education in 1937 (1944/45), Tānī’ taught for many years at mosques and Islamic schools in Dessie, Wällo and then in Massawa in Eritrea. The Arabic version of the account of his life partly confirms and partly contradicts some facts in the Amharic one as well as providing pieces of additional information in the latter: Journey to Mecca In 1938-39 Tānī left for Mecca to perform the Hajj However, when he stopped at Harqiqo near Massawa, the Muslim elders of the town, offered him the position of imām of the Mīrġanī Mosque which he accepted. He served in Harqigo for several years. Tānī finally made ti to Mecca and performed the hağğ. On his return to Wällo, Tānī studied ‘Ālā’ al-Dīn al-Haskafī's Durr al-Muhtār šarh tanwīr al-absār (a textbook of Hanafī fiqh) under al-Hāğğ Ahmad of Qallu. This was the second time for him to be tutored by him. On the completion of his studies, Tānī received an iğāza. Tānī then traveled to