The 500 Most Influential Muslims

**500 Most Influential Muslims** is an annual publication that ranks the most influential Muslims in the world.

## Current top nine influential muslims in the World

|style="width:2em;"|Rank|style="width:2em;"|Change|Name|Citizenship|Age|Image|Occupation|Source of Influence|Influence|School of Thought|style="width:9em;"|Previous rankings:|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*01|align="center"|10+|Umar bin Hafiz|align="center"|Yemen|||Founder and Dean of Dar al-Mustafa Islamic seminary|Scholarly, Lineage|Preacher, Spiritual Guide|Traditional Sunni|33 (2009) 37 (2010) 4 37 (2011) 36 (2012) 1 28 (2013/14) 8 28 (2014/15) 28 (2016) 25 (2017) 3 10 (2018) 15 8 (2019) 2 9 (2020) 1 9 (2021) 11 (2022) 2 11 (2023)|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*02|align="center"|1-|King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud|align="center"|Saudi Arabia|||King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques|Political & Administrative.|King with authority over 38.5 million residents of Saudi Arabia and approximately 14 million pilgrims annually.|Hanbali Sunni-Salafi|3 (2016) 3 (2017) 2 (2018) 1 2 (2019) 4 (2020) 2 2 (2021) 2 2 (2022) 1 (2023) 1|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*03|align="center"|1-|Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei|align="center"|Iran|||Supreme Leader of the Republic of Iran|Political, Administrative|Supreme Leader of 82.5 million Iranians. Ayatollah of Twelver Shias worldwide.|Traditional Twelver Shi‘a, Revolutionary Shi'ism, Usuli|2 (2009) 3 (2010) 1 5 (2011) 2 6 (2012) 1 3 (2013/14) 3 3 (2014/15) 4 (2016) 4 (2017) 4 (2018) 4 (2019) 2 (2020) 2 3 (2021) 1 3 (2022) 2 (2023) 1|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*04|align="center"|1-|Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani|align="center"|Qatar|||Emir of Qatar|Political|Ruler of Qatar.|Traditional Sunni|19 (2019) 12 (2020) 7 11 (2021) 1 1 (2022) 5+ 3 (2023) 2|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*05|align="center"||King Abdullah II of Jordan|align="center"|Jordan|||King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan|Political, Lineage|King with authority over approximately 7 million Jordanians and outreach to traditional Islam. Custodian of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem.|Traditional Sunni|4 (2009) 4 (2010) 4 (2011) 7 (2012) 3 4 (2013/14) 3 4 (2014/15) 1 (2016) 3 2 (2017) 1 3 (2018) 1 3 (2019) 5 (2020) 3 4 (2021) 1 5 (2022) 1 5 (2023)|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*06|align="center"|2+|Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan|align="center"|UAE|||Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the UAE|Administration of Religious Affairs, Philanthropy, Charity and Development, Political|Military and political leadership.|Traditional Sunni|22 (2009) 22 (2010) 18 (2011) 4 15 (2012) 3 10 (2013/14) 5 9 (2014/15) 1 7 (2016) 2 12 (2017) 5 15 (2018) 3 15 (2019) 3 (2020) 12 7 (2021) 4 8 (2022) 1 8 (2023)|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*07|align="center"|3-|Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|align="center"|Turkey|||President of Turkey|Political|President of over 85 million Turkish citizens|Traditional Sunni, Hanafi|5 (2009) 2 (2010) 3 3 (2011) 1 2 (2012) 1 6 (2013/14) 4 6 (2014/15) 8 (2016) 2 8 (2017) 5 (2018) 3 1 (2019) 4 6 (2020) 5 1 (2021) 5 4 (2022) 3 4 (2023)|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*08|align="center"|2-|Mufti Taqi Usmani|align="center"|Pakistan|||Deobandi leader|Scholar|Leading scholar of Islamic jurisprudence who is considered to be the intellectual leader of the Deobandi movement. Veteran figure of Islamic banking and finance.|Traditional Sunni, Hanafi, Deobandi Movement|27 (2009) 31 (2010) 4 32 (2011) 1 32 (2012) 25 (2013/14) 7 19 (2014/15) 6 22 (2016) 3 6 (2017) 16 7 (2018) 1 6 (2019) 1 1 (2020) 5 5 (2021) 4 6 (2022) 3 6 (2023|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:center;"|*09|align="center"||Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani|align="center"|Iraq|||Marja' of the Hawza, Najaf, Iraq|Scholarly, Lineage|Highest authority for 21 million Iraqi Shi‘a, and also internationally as religious authority to Usuli Twelver Shi‘a.|Traditional Twelver Shi‘a, Usuli|7 (2009) 8 (2010) 1 10 (2011) 2 13 (2012) 3 8 (2013/14) 5 7 (2014/15) 1 9 (2016) 2 7 (2017) 2 8 (2018) 1 7 (2019) 1 8 (2020) 1 8 (2021) 9 (2022) 1 9 (2023)|

## Previous top ten entrants

|style="width:2em;"|Rank|style="width:2em;"|Change|Name|Citizenship|Age|Image|Occupation|Source of Influence|Influence|School of Thought|style="width:9em;"|Previous rankings|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|Top 10* List.:|align="center"|03*.|Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani|align="center"|Qatar Emir of Qatar|||Political, Administrative, Lineage, Philanthropy|Political leader of over 1.5 million residents of oil-rich Qatar.:|Moderate Sunni Islam.:|Top 10* List(2009) 21 (2010) 6 (2011) 15 5 (2011) 1 top 10* (2013/14) Top 450 (2014/15) Top 450 (2016)||
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|Top 10* List|align="left"|19*.|King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz|align="center"|Saudi Arabia|–||King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.:|Political,Administrative, & Lineage.:|King of over 31* million in Saudi Arabia, 2.4 million Hajj pilgrims and 12+ million Umrah pilgrims annually.|Moderate Sunni & Salafi.:|1 (2009) 1 (2010) 1 (2011) 1 (2012) 2 (2013/14) 1) 1 (2014/15) 1 top 10* (2016)08*.|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|11|align="center"|25*.|Suldan:Qaboos bin Said al Said|align="center"|Oman|||Sultan of Oman|Lineage, Political, & Development.:|Leader of 04 * million citizens and residents of Oman.|Traditional Ibadi.:|6 (2009) 6 (2010) 9 (2011) 3 12 (2011) 3 9 (2013/14) 3 8 (2014/15) 1 6 (2016) 2.|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|12.|align="center"|23*.|Sh.Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan: (General) (MBZ):|align="center"|UAE|||Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces|Administration of Religious Affairs, Philanthropy, Charity and Development, Political|Military and political leadership.|Traditional Sunni.:|22 (2009) 22 (2010) 18 (2011) 4 15 (2012) 3 10 (2013/14) 5 9 (2014/15) 1 7 (2016) !!.|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|Top 25* List.|align="center"|21*.|Dr. Mohamed Morsi : Prf.|align="center"|Egypt|||Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood|Administrative, Political, International Islamic Networks.:|Leader of a movement in Egypt the Middle East, Australia, Canada; & United Kingdom.:|Traditional Muslim Sunni, Islamic & Muslims+Brothers.:|Unlisted (2009) 12 (2010) 8 (2011) 4 4 (2012) 4 36 (2013/14) 32 Top 450 (2014/15) 414 Top 450 (2016) .|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|13.|align="center"|24*.|Dr. Sh.:Ahmed el-Tayeb Prf.:|align="center"|Egypt|||Grand Sheikh of the Al-Azhar University and Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque|Administrative, Lineage.:|Highest scholarly authority for most Sunni Muslims, runs the largest Sunni Islamic university. 450,000+” students.!!|Traditional Sunni|25 (2009) 7 (2010) 18 7 (2011) 8 (2012) 1 1 (2013/14) 7 2 (2014/15) 1 2 (2016) .|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|55|align="center"|25*.|(Dr.Sh.)Ali Gomaa: Emm.:|align="center"|Egypt|||Grand Mufti of The Arab Republic of Egypt|Scholarly, Political.:|Legal authority over 111+* million Egyptians.|Traditional Sunni, Shafi‘i|10 (2009) 10 (2010) 12 (2011) 2 14 (2013/14) 2 15 (2014/15) 1 16 (2016) 1.|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|Top 20* List*.|align="center"|26*.|||||||||||
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|48|align="center"|28*.|Dr. Prf. Sh.Muhammet Fethullah Gülen|align="center"|Turkey|||Turkish Muslim preacher and founder of the Gülen movement|Scholarly, & Lineage.:|Figure of spiritual and social leadership for millions of Turkish Muslims.|Own movement.:|13 (2009) 13 (2011) 15 (2011) 2 10 (2011) 5 11 (2013/14) 1 14 (2014/15) 3 15 (2016) 1.|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|Top 20* List|align="center"|29.|Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah (Dr.) (Prf.)|align="center"|Syria|||Supreme Guide of the Muslim Shia group in the Levant Area of Muslim Shia|Administrative, Political, International Islamic Networks|Leader of a movement in the Levant Area; Middle East; and the United Kingdom. !!|Traditional Muslim Shia|Unlisted (2009) 12 (2010) 8 (2011) 4 4 (2012) 4 36 (2013/14) 32 Top 450 (2014/15) 414 Top 450 (2016) .|
|style="padding-right:9px; text-align:right;"|Top 20* List|align="center"|31.|President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono|align="center"|Indonesia|||Indonesia : Former President.:|Development, Economical, & Political.:|Leader of 233.3 million citizens and residents of Indonesia.|Traditional Sunni. !!|Unspecified (2009) 9 (2010) 11 (2011) 2 9 (2011) 2 7 (2013/14) 2 Unlisted (2014/15) increase (2016)1. .: .:|

## Other websites

- The 500 Most Influential Muslims 2009 on Google Books
- A Defense of the Powerful: The Muslim 500 . _The Islamic Monthly_. June 18, 2012
- List of “Most Influential Muslims” Illustrates the Problem – and Presents Opportunities. _American Islamic Forum for Democracy_. November 30, 2012
.:

## Infobox (book)

- **name**: The 100 Most Influential Muslims
- **oclc**: 514462119
- **isbn**: 978-9957-428-37-2
- **pages**: 206
- **media type**: Online, print
- **publisher2**: Createspace
- **publisher**: Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre
- **genre**: Non-fiction
- **subject**: Biographical dictionary
- **series**: 1st Edition (2009)
2nd Edition (2010)
3rd Edition (2011)
4th Edition (2012)
5th Edition (2012/13)
6th Edition (2014/15)
7th Edition (2016)
8th Edition (2017)
9th Edition (2018)
10th Edition (2019)
11th Edition (2020)
- **language**: English
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **author**: John Esposito, John L. Esposito, İbrahim Kalın, Usra Ghazi, Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding, Kenan Stockmore
- **url**: https://www.themuslim500.com/