the 500 most influential muslims - The Royal Islamic Strategic ...

POLITICAL
Berdimuhamedow visited Islamic holy sites in Medina underlining the relationship he is seeking
to build with the broader Muslim world. He is a moderate Muslim traditionalist who has sought
to normalize life in Turkmenistan after the more unorthodox religious beliefs of his predecessor
Niyazov.
EUROPE
DENMARK
khader, nasser
Khader is Denmark’s leading Muslim politician. As a member of parliament, he has represented
both the Social Liberal Party and the Liberal Alliance, the latter until 5 January 2009 as founding
leader. A leading proponent of peaceful co-existence of democracy and Islam, he established a new
movement, Moderate Muslims (later renamed Democratic Muslims), when the Jyllands-Posten
Muhammad cartoons controversy started.
mojaddedi, dr asmat
Mojaddedi is the head of the Muslim Council of Denmark, which is a key national voice for the
Muslim community; this makes him one of the most influential Muslims in Denmark. His position
has become increasingly important in Europe because of the rise in tensions between the Muslim
and non-Muslim communities there. In the aftermath of this, he has been key in important interfaith
activities between Christian and Muslim leaders in Denmark. Incidentally his father is the former
president of Afghanistan.
FRANCE
bechari, dr mohammad
Bechari, born in Morocco, is a leader and prolific and dynamic public figure in the landscape of
European Islam. He is the president of the French National Federation of Muslims, one of the leading
entities organizing Islam in France. He is also the secretary general of a Europe-wide umbrella
organization that seeks to be a single organization representing European Muslims at a European
level. He is the founder of the Avicenna Institute in Lille and is the vice president of the French
Council of the Muslim Faith.
KOSOVO
thachi, his excellency president hashim
Thachi was formerly a political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The KLA was the
guerrilla group that fought against Serb forces in the late 1990s. Thachi is the first president of the
newly formed Kosovan national government. Kosovo itself is significant as an important cause for
international Muslim solidarity, and the most recent Muslim majority country in the world.
RUSSIA
kadyrov, his excellency president ramzan
President of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov is the son of former president, rebel leader and preacher
Akhmad Kadyrov. He maintains an iron grip on Chechnya’s government and institutions.
shaimiev, his excellency president mintimer
Shaimiev is the first and current president of the Republic of Tatarstan, a Muslim republic in the
Russian Federation. He was awarded the King Faisal International Prize 2007 for his services to the
Muslim population. Tatarstan is an affluent region in the center of Russia, and its religious culture
has been lauded as a model of the combination of Islamic religion and European culture. Shaimiev
recently welcomed delegations from around the world to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, for the
1000th anniversary of the city.
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