Huffington Post: (RNS) There are more Muslims from America than any other country on this year’s “The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims,” compiled by theRoyal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, a respected think tank in Jordan, including two in the top 50.
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, a California-born convert who founded Zaytuna College, an Islamic college in Berkeley, Calif., and is a leading Islamic authority in America, ranked No. 42, two places ahead of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Islamic studies professor at George Washington University known for his work in Islamic philosophy.
America’s roughly 2.6 million Muslims are a tiny fraction of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, but they took 41 spots on the 500 list. Countries with the next highest number of names were Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, with 25 Muslims each, followed by Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, with 24.
“Compared to the global Muslim population, the representation of U.S. Muslims in this list is disproportionate, but yet representative in the way they shape global discourse,” said Duke University Islamic studies professor Ebrahim Moosa.
Chief Editor’s comments
First let me link a different post, how this publication highlights once again, why the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community should not have been declared non-Muslim.
This publication also shows the unfortunate lenses through which the people of Saudi Arabia see the world under the influence of the Monarchy. The 500 important ones that they see, I do not see many of them and what I or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community sees, is not visible to most or many of them. May Allah help us shrink this gulf.
The publication has conveniently excluded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from their publication, in an attempt to marginalize the community, by stating:
Traditional Islam (96% of the world’s Muslims): Also known as Orthodox Islam, this ideology is not politicized and largely based on consensus of correct opinion—thus including the Sunni, Shi‘a, and Ibadi branches of practice (and their subgroups) within the fold of Islam, and not groups such as the Druze or the Ahmadiyya, among others.
Categories: ISLAM
Quote from “The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims,” compiled by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre: “Traditional
Islam (96% of the world’s Muslims)Also known as Orthodox Islam, this ideology is not politicized and largely based on consensus of correct opinion—thus including the Sunni, Shi‘a, and Ibadi
branches of practice (and their subgroups) within
the fold of Islam, and not groups such as the Druze
or the Ahmadiyya, among others.”
Ahmadiyya is the only group that is no politicized and believe in the separation of mosque and state. How unfortunate are these analysis and distorted are the facts! This also fulfils the prophescy of Holy Prophet (sm) where 72 sects are mentioned to be hell bound and one true Jamaat.
beacause ahmidiya’s are not muslims.
what is the definition of a Muslim?
Yes, it seems that the book is a Royal decree. The King is sitting on top of the list. Hazrat Ibraheem a.s. built the Ka’abah well away from any of the Kings, according to the divine plan.
Hazrat Ibraheem a.s. had a bad experience of the king (Nimrod). He had to migrate away from Iraq. Hazrat Musa a.s. also had a bad experience of the king Pharoah of Egypt. Hazrat Isa a.s. was arrested by the aid of Emperor of Rome.
It was a divine plan for our prophet Muhammad s.a.w.s., being the best of all, was raised in Makkah where there was no king nearby.
Any Royal or government decree judges people not according to divine law but according to their fame. Befitting title of the book is “Most influential” muslims.
I wish all of them well. May Allah bless all to be the most pious (Muttaquee) persons too. Allah has granted them fame. It is their duty to be most just and pious persons. That will bring fame to Islam. Ameen.