Viewpoint
By Dr. Mujahid Ghazi
The 500 Most Influential Muslims; Power wins over intellect "The 500 Most Influential Muslims" is the title of the book recently released by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan through Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Georgetown University. The Royal Islamic Strategic Center is being run under the supervision of Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad in Amman, Jordan. Prince Alwaleed BinTalal and Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad, both are members of the Royal families of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The commonality between them is that both seem to be interested in the global interfaith initiatives and other academic and social causes and least interested in power struggle within their own countries. This is yet another success story in their remarkable track record.
It is a good effort to bring out such a list, but it would have been more acceptable by the world, if the criterion of selecting the individuals was made more transparent.
It is also obvious that the researchers are trying to satisfy all segments of Muslim Ummah. The short list of 50 followed by the extended list of 450 might be an effort to meet this goal. It is also evident from the list that it is slightly skewed towards power than intellect in suggesting the top ranks. Starting from the criteria of selection as defined in the book, a brief review might give you an idea of the book.
"The 50 most influential figures are profiled. Their influence comes from a variety of sources; however they are unified by the fact that they each affect huge swathes of humanity. We have then broken up the 500 leaders into 15 categories -Scholarly, Political, Administrative, Lineage, Preachers, Women, Youth, Philanthropy, Development, Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, Media, Radicals, International Islamic Networks, and Issues of the Day -- to help you understand the different kinds of ways Islam and Muslims impact the world today."
Apart from listing the personalities the book also lists populations of Muslims and their national distribution globally. It also briefly explains the history of Muslims' lineage, along with a brief history
of various schools of thought and their founders, with their percentage of population in the Muslim world.
Out of the top 50, starting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia: · 12 are people of power like kings, generals and presidents of the countries and most of them are ranked high in the list.
· 6 are outstanding scholars who are selected from different schools of Fiqh; it shows that the researchers tried to cover all bases.
· 11 are leaders of popular movements or organizations.
· 7 are preachers and leaders of Sufi schools of thought.
· 14 are religious authorities like Muftis and Ayatollahs.
· Hajji Mohammed Abdul Wahab, Ameer of Tablighi Jamaat in Pakistan is placed at number 15th, three ranks down from Mohammad Mahdi Akef, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, i.e. Ikhwan ul Muslimeen.
· The 49th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims His Highness Shah Karim al Hussayni, the Aga Khan IV is ranked at number 20th, while His Eminence Justice Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani, leading scholar of Islamic Jurisprudence is placed 27th. In the introduction of Prince Karim Agha Khan the population of Ismailia community is mistakenly given as 5 million instead of 15 million.
· Maulana Mahmood Madani, Secretary General of Jamiat Ulemae-Islam India, is 36th followed by His Holiness Dr Syedna Mohammad Burhannuddin Sahib, 52nd Da`i alMutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras who is at number 45th with Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's nuclear scientist following him at 46th position.
· Khaled Mashaal, leader of Hamas is listed before Sh. Hamza Yusuf at 34th. Though Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson of Zaytuna Institute is the only American who made the top 50 list at number 38th, US Muslims made the largest portion of the pie with a total of 72 American Muslims, which is indeed a very strong showing.
The editors are going to face some strong opinions from the critics.
For example, · 18 American Muslims are listed in the Scholars category. It includes Yusuf Estes, Sulayman Nyang, Muzammil Siddiqui, Sherman Jackson, Zaid Shakir, and Nuh Keller but strangely Dr. Abidullah Ghazi and Imam Siraj Wahaj are not included in this list and are categorized as administrators.
· The critics may also ask the editors why women are treated differently and mentioned in a separate women category. Especially in the backdrop of all that Muslim-Christian-Jewish interfaith dialogues, it looks very strange to downplay the role of Muslim women and keep them out of the classified categories. Furthermore, among the six names Ingrid Mattson and Dalia Mogahed are definitely well deserved names but the highly controversial, self proclaimed female Imam Amina Wadud's name is raising eyebrows about the selection process. She might have created a thrill in the global media for a short time but does not meet the criteria of popularity in the Muslim community.
· Two Americans are listed in the Youth category. Dr Eboo Patel is the founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Youth Core and Baba Ali is a famous comedian and presenter. Both of them are very well know among the young Muslims of America. Eboo's fans include people of all ages and religions.
· Chicago's very own Dr. Tariq Cheema, co-founder of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, is the only one in the Philanthropy category in the US.
· 13 Americans are listed under Development, including Dr. Khalid Riaz, a cardiologist from Chicago for his vision of human development in Pakistan's downtrodden rural community. He is the Founder and ExChair of HDF USA. He presently chairs the National Board of HDF Pakistan. Rami Nashashibi is another Muslim leader recognized in the Development category for his leadership skills in establishing IMAN and working with the inner city youth.
· 7 Americans are listed under Arts and Culture, including the notable actors Mos Def and Dave Chappelle, Javed Memon, also known as HijabMan, who is a young social
entrepreneur and Azhar Usman, also a Chicagoan, whose "Allah made me funny" brought him in the comedy world.
· Fareed Zakaria and the filmmaker Michael Wolfe are notable names in the Media category.
This book is written and edited by Chief Editors Prof. John Esposito and Prof. Ibrahim Kalin with Editors Ed Marques and Usra Ghazi. The editors did give a disclaimer saying this is the first effort and might contain glitches and errors but are asking the readers to contact them and point out their shortcomings. It seems like this book is going to be a regular feature in the Muslim world with deletion of some old names and addition of new names in the coming years.
