The Muslim500——————————————— THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS ——————————————— � 2017 � The Muslim500——————————————— THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS ——————————————— � 2017 � · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Set in Garamond Premiere Pro & Myriad Pro The Muslim 500: 2017 Printed in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims, 2017 © 2016 The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre ISBN: 978-9957-635-02-2 20 Sa’ed Bino Road, Dabuq ISBN (PDF): 978-9957-635-03-9 PO BOX 950361 Amman 11195, JORDAN Jordan National Libruary http://www.rissc.jo Deposit No: 2016/9/4505 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · All rights reserved. No part of this book may be re- produced or utilized in any form or by any means, Chief Editor: Prof S Abdallah Schleifer electronic or mechanic, including photocopying or Editor-at-Large: Mr Aftab Ahmed recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the Editorial Board: Dr Minwer Al-Meheid, Mr Aftab publisher. Ahmed, and Ms Zeinab Asfour. Views expressed in The Muslim 500 do not necessarily Researchers: Aftab Ahmed, Lamya Al-Khraisha, reflect those of RISSC or its advisory board. Simon Hart, Zeinab Asfour, Farah Elsharif , and Mr. M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin. Calligraphy used throughout the book provided courtesy of www.FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com Typeset by: Simon Hart 2 Contents 5 Introduction 7 Foreword 9 Introduction - A Regional Survey 25 The House of Islam 37 The Top 50 105 Honourable Mentions 113 The Final 450 115 Scholarly 126 Political 134 Administration of Religious Affairs 141 Preachers & Spiritual Guides 147 Philanthropy, Charity & Development 150 Social Issues 158 Business 163 Science & Technology 166 Arts & Culture 171 Qur’an Reciters 172 Media 175 Celebrities & Sports Stars 179 Top Extremists 183 Obituaries 189 Guest Contributions 192 Muhammad Ali: A Humble Mountain by Imam Zaid Shakir 194 Setting Science Free From Materialism by Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. 205 Crescent-Visibility and Hijri-Calendar: The Limitations of Mediocre Erudition by Prof. Abdelhaq M Hamza and Dr. Karim Meziane. 212 How close are the Rohingya in Myanmar to mass genocide? by Dr. Azeem Ibrahim 3 216 Political Islam: Can It Be Reformed by Dr. Robert D. Crane 225 Building Communities with Zakat by Sohail Hanif 228 Do all lives really matter?. by Faisal Kutty 230 European Muslims, the migrant crisis and reflexive prejudice by Shenaz Bunglawala 232 The increasing importance of investing in soft power resources by Muddassar Ahmed 233 Intimate Enmity: Sectarianism in the Muslim world by Dr. Ali Khan Mahmudabad 237 Issues of the Day 245 Major Events Timeline 253 Appendix I (Population Statistics) 261 Appendix II (Social Media Statistics) 267 Glossary 271 Index INTRO- DUCTION The Shahadatayn Calligraphy by Hasan Kan’an © FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com INTRO- DUCTION “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful” Calligraphy by Mothana Al-Obaidy © FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com Foreword elcome to the eighth an- • Science and Technology Wnual issue of The Muslim 500: The • Arts and Culture World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims. • Qur’an Reciters There are approximately 1.76 billion Muslims in the world today, making up 23.85% of the world’s popu- • Media lation, or just under one-quarter of mankind. As • Celebrities and Sports Stars well as being citizens of their respective countries, they also have a sense of belonging to the ‘ummah’, • Extremists the worldwide Muslim community. How to measure this influence is of course the This publication sets out to ascertain the influ- most challenging aspect of the publication, and the ence some Muslims have on this community, or on one where opinions diverge the most. Influence can behalf of the community. Influence is: any person sometimes be gauged on a quantitative basis, the who has the power (be it cultural, ideological, fi- number of people influenced, the number of books nancial, political or otherwise) to make a change written, the amount of sales etc., but more often it that will have a significant impact on the Muslim is related to the qualitative and lasting effect of that world. Note that the impact can be either positive influence. The achievements of a lifetime are given or negative, depending on one’s point of view of more weight than achievements within the current course. The selection of people for this publication year. People who are trailblazers, or the lone voice in no way means that we endorse their views; rather in a remote area are also taken into account. This we are simply trying to measure their influence. means that our list of names will change gradually, The influence can be of a religious scholar directly rather than dramatically, year-on-year. This list acts addressing Muslims and influencing their beliefs, as an opportunity to shed some light on the many ideas and behaviour, or it can be of a ruler shaping challenges and pioneering triumphs that are present the socio-economic factors within which people at the very crux of shaping the Muslim community. live their lives, or of artists shaping popular culture. The first two examples also point to the fact that the What’s In This issue? As well as the updated Top 50 and 450 lists, we lists, and especially the Top 50, are dominated by have our regular House of Islam essay which gives religious scholars and heads of state. Their dominant an overview of Islam and its branches. and lasting influence cannot be denied, especially We have our distinguished chief editor sharing the rulers, who in many cases also appoint religious his annual regional survey of the major events in scholars to their respective positions. the Muslim world over the past twelve months. This doesn’t discount the significant amount of Our Guest Contributions section has exclusive influence from other sectors of society. The publi- articles covering a wide range of issues from Islam cation selects Muslim individuals from a range of and modern science to the plight of the Rohingya. categories of influence, 13 in total: The Issues of the Day section compiles short • Scholarly reports on some contemporary issues. The ‘Major Events’ section provides a timeline of the major • Political events that have taken place over the past year. Our • Administration of Religious Affairs two Appendices provide us with lots of statistics. Appendix I shows total population and Muslim • Preachers and Spiritual Guides population by country, for all the countries in the • Philanthropy/Charity and Development world. Appendix II compiles a list of the highest • Social Issues Muslim Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users, as well as the highest in the world. • Business To give a richer visual understanding of the Mus- 7 lim world we have not only increased the number of the Marrakesh Declaration on p.125, Free Islamic photographs in the Top 25 section but have added Calligraphy on p. 133, Altafsir.com on p. 162, and a some in other sections as well. We have also includ- list of the Muslim medal winners in the 2016 Rio ed several calligraphy pieces throughout the book, Olympics p.177.) which we hope will serve as a beautiful reminder to Our website [www.TheMuslim500.com] is a pause and reflect as you go through the book. We popular destination. We welcome your feedback have also added write-ups within the main body of and will take nominations for the 2018 edition the text about major initiatives (see Generations through it. for Peace on p. 112, A Common Word on p. 118, The Holy Qur’an, Al-Talaq 65, 12 “Allah has encompassed all things in knowledge.“ Calligraphy by Hasan Kanan © FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com 8 Introduction A Regional Survey Prof. S. Abdallah Schleifer o much has changed in one year. expansive air war against the rebels that destroyed SAleppo, now the last Syrian city under 209 oil production and transfer facilities generat- rebel control, is at risk of falling to the Syr- ing millions of dollars a day of revenue in sales for ian Army and its allied fighting forces — DA’ISH via Turkey; it also helped Syrian government above all, Russian war planes bombing with forces retake 400 villages, towns, and cities and regain control of 10,000 sq km (3,800 sq miles) devastating effect those parts of Aleppo of territory. still under rebel control . Unless the U.S. What tends to be ignored is that the Russian and perhaps some NATO allies, France or intervention at the request of the government of perhaps the U.K., intervene in some drastic Syria— included re-training and re-arming the Syr- way that cannot but involve a direct clash ian Army as well as the engagement as advisers of with the Russian Air Force, or unless that a limited number of Russian special forces and very threat of war, however limited between artillery units— is no doubt as legitimate, however Americans and Russians, forces both pow- bloody, as a number of American military inter- ers to enforce a ceasefire, Aleppo is doomed ventions during the Cold War at the invitation to fall. Perhaps its fall will be the price for of government forces threatened by Communist Russia and America to sit down despite the rebellions or invasions. What is so shocking is that combative verbal exchanges by both as the Russia which had seemed to acquiesce in its new status of a minor power following the collapse of bombing of Aleppo intensified, and work the Soviet Union and then NATO advancing to its out a political solution for Syria that takes very borders no longer does so. into consideration a role for the greatly Our minds are so conditioned by the defeat of strengthened Bashar al-Assad. Communism and the transformation of Russia This time last year this annual Regional Survey (which today, at least on an official basis is prob- was reporting that the Assad regime in Syria was tot- ably the most religious country in Europe with tering .