PERSONS • OF THE YEAR • The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • B The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • i The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Chief Editor: Prof S Abdallah Schleifer Muslims, 2021 Editor: Dr Tarek Elghawary ISBN: print: 978-9957-635-57-2 Managing Editor: Mr Aftab Ahmed e-book: 978-9957-635-56-5 Editorial Board: Dr Minwer Al-Meheid, Mr Moustafa Jordan National Library Elqabbany, and Ms Zeinab Asfour Deposit No: 2020/10/4503 Researchers: Lamya Al-Khraisha, Moustafa Elqabbany, © 2020 The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre Zeinab Asfour, Noora Chahine, and M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin 20 Sa’ed Bino Road, Dabuq PO BOX 950361 Typeset by: Haji M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin Amman 11195, JORDAN www.rissc.jo All rights reserved. No part of this book may be repro- duced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanic, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Views expressed in The Muslim 500 do not necessarily reflect those of RISSC or its advisory board. Set in Garamond Premiere Pro Printed in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Calligraphy used throughout the book provided courte- sy of www.FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com Title page Bismilla by Mothana Al-Obaydi MABDA • Contents • INTRODUCTION 1 Persons of the Year - 2021 5 A Selected Surveyof the Muslim World 7 COVID-19 Special Report: Covid-19 Comparing International Policy Effectiveness 25 THE HOUSE OF ISLAM 49 THE TOP 50 61 HONOURABLE MENTIONS 131 THE 450 LISTS 139 Scholarly 141 Political 153 Administration of Religious Affairs 162 Preachers & Spiritual Guides 170 Philanthropy, Charity & Development 177 Social Issues 181 Business 190 Science & Technology 195 Arts & Culture 199 Qur’an Reciters 207 Media 208 Celebrities & Sports 212 Top Extremists 216 THE OBITUARIES 219 GUESTCONTRIBUTIONS 225 ‘Read in The Name of Thy Lord’ 227 by Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi Time for Humanity to Reckon with Itself 229 by Shaykh Faid Muhammad Said Islam in China and the Challenge of Sinicization of Religion—Past and Present 233 by Osman Bakar The Rise of Fascism in India Threatens its Minorities & Its Survival 238 by Dr Muhammad Gumnāmi The Unfinished Business of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 247 by Imam Zaid Shakir iii Faith-Based Harmony through Peaceful Engagement in Participative Plural- 249 ism: An American Experiment by Dr. Robert D. Crane Islam and Evolution: The Curious Case of David Solomon Jalajel 251 by Shoaib Malik On Fitrah, Morality, Nature, and Equivocation 255 by Moustafa El-Qabbany Modern Islamic Education: Principles and Values 257 by Muhammad Ziyad Batha Will This Generation of British Muslim Leaders Achieve Half as uchm as Their 263 Predecessors? by Sufyan Gulam Ismail The Hagia Sophia 270 By Faisal Kutty BOOK REVIEWS 273 MAJOR EVENTS 279 APPENDIX I: POPULATION STATISTICS 287 APPENDIX II: SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS 297 GLOSSARY OF ISLAMIC TERMS 303 THE INDICES 309 Index by Name 310 Index by Country 316 iv INTRODUCTION 1 In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful • Praise be to God; Lord of all Worlds. • The Compassionate, the Merciful.• Master of the Day of Judgement. • You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help. • Guide us to the straight path. • the path of those whom You have favoured, not the path of those against whom there is wrath, nor of those who are astray. The Opening, 1 - 7 A page from HM Queen Alia’s Mushaf © FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com elcome to the twelfth annual issue ofThe a remote area are also taken into account as we give Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most In- weight to people breaking barriers and to local influ- fluential Muslims. We are very pleased ence as well as global influence. This means that our Wthat we have made it this far and that the book has list of names will change gradually, rather than dra- evolved as it has. We thank you for all your support matically, year-on-year. and suggestions and look forward to continually re- The publication selects Muslim individuals from a ceiving them. range of categories of influence, 13 in total: There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims in the • Scholarly world today, making up 26% of the world’s popula- • Political tion, or just over one-quarter of mankind. As well as • Administration of Religious Affairs being citizens of their respective countries, they also • Preachers and Spiritual Guides have a sense of belonging to the ‘ummah’, the world- • Philanthropy/Charity and Development wide Muslim community. • Social Issues This publication sets out to ascertain the influence • Business some Muslims have on this community, or on behalf • Science and Technology of the community. Influence is: any person who has • Arts and Culture the power (be it cultural, ideological, financial, po- • Qur’an Reciters litical or otherwise) to make a change that will have • Media a significant impact on the Muslim world or Mus- • Celebrities and Sports Stars lims. Note that the impact can be either positive or • Extremists negative, depending on one’s point of view of course. The individuals are listed in each category accord- The selection of people for this publication in no ing to geographical region (Middle East and North way means that we endorse their views; rather we are Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, simply trying to measure their influence. The influ- North America, South America), then in alphabeti- ence can be of a religious scholar directly addressing cal order by country and finally by surname. Muslims and influencing their beliefs, ideas and be- This publication combines aspects of a review of haviour, or it can be of a ruler shaping the socio-eco- the past year, including a timeline and statistics, but it nomic factors within which people live their lives, or also hopes to serve as a prospective guide to the new of artists shaping popular culture. The first two exam- year, much like a Who’s Who. ples also point to the fact that the lists, and especially What’s in this issue? the Top 50, are dominated by religious scholars and We have our editor write about the ‘Persons of heads of state. Their dominant and lasting influence the Year’; these individuals achieved or represented cannot be denied, especially the rulers, who in many something significant in the past year. cases also appoint religious scholars to their respec- Our editor then offers his ‘Selected Survey’ of the tive positions. major events which have affected the Muslim world This doesn’t discount the significant amount of -in over the past twelve months. fluence from other sectors of society. How to meas- We then have a special commissioned report on ure this influence is of course the most challenging Covid-19. It investigates how different countries aspect of the publication, and the one where opin- around the world have dealt with the disease and it ions diverge the most. Influence can sometimes be composes a ranking of policy effectiveness based on gauged on a quantitative basis, the number of follow- an estimate of policy caused deaths (EPD). ers, the number of books written, the amount of sales Then we have our regular ‘House of Islam’ essay etc., but more often it is not something measurable which gives an overview of Islam and its branch- in quantitative terms and is more related to the qual- es. An updated ‘Top 50’ and ‘450 Lists’ (including itative and lasting effect of that influence. A combi- ‘Honourable Mentions’) then follows. nation of social metrics, public opinion (we have a Our ‘Guest Contributions’ section has exclusive month-long open call for nominations every year, articles covering a wide range of issues. These are sure and all of the suggestions are considered) and ex- to stimulate thought and discussion around current pert opinion are the basis of this attempt to measure pressing issues. influence. The achievements of a lifetime are given Our ‘Book Reviews’ review some books that have more weight than achievements within the current been published recently. The ‘Major Events’ section year. People who are trailblazers, or the lone voice in provides a timeline of the major events that have tak- 3 en place over the past year. We have also added write-ups within the main body Appendices I and II provide us with lots of statis- of the text about major initiatives (see the ‘Amman tics. Appendix I shows total population and Muslim Message’ on page 75, ‘A Common Word’ on page population by country, for all the countries in the 145, the ‘Marrakesh Declaration’ on page 152, ‘The world. Appendix II compiles a list of the highest Muslim Council of Elders’ on page 160, ‘Free Islam- Muslim Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users, as ic Calligraphy’ on page 169, ‘UN World Interfaith well as the highest in the world. Harmony Week’ on page 180, ‘Altafsir.com’ on page To give a richer visual experience we have also 194 and ‘QuranicThought.com’ on page 22) included several calligraphy pieces throughout the Our website (www.themuslim500.com) is a popu- book, which we hope will serve as a beautiful remind- lar destination. We welcome your feedback and will er to pause and reflect as you go through the book. take nominations for the 2022 edition through it. There is no power nor strength except by Allah © FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com (Right)—The Shaheen Bagh protest that took place from 14 December 2019 to 24 March 2020 to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 4 PERSONS OF THE YEAR - 2021 Woman of the Year BILKIS BANO, INDIA Eighty-two-year-old Bilkis Bano These moves by the BJP-dominated government has managed to moblilise and are another step in the realisation of Hinduvta by or- inspire many to stand up against ganisations like the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh an ideology that is threatening to (RSS).