World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims 2019
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tops the list of the world’s most influential Muslims, based on rankings released by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre for the year 2019.
Erdogan is followed by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud and Jordan’s King Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein.
The Top Ten also includes Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hajj Sayyid Ali Khamenei, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, Justice Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usman, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hussein Sistani, Sheikh Al-Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Professor Dr Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyeb, and Saudi scholar and educator Sheikh Salman Al-Ouda.
Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Uzbekistan’s Mufti Saidmukarram Abdulkodirzoda, Turkmenistan’s president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev are also in the Muslim 500.
Three Muslims from the United States were listed — MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and public intellectual Fareed Zakaria.
Arguably the most controversial inclusion in the list is that of Chechnya’s notorious warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.