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

advisor on religious matters to the Turkish National Security Council.
TURKEY
bardakoglu, ali
Ali Bardakoglu is the president of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey. He is a moderate
Islamic leader who supports interfaith initiatives and in 2005 appointed two women to the position
of Vice Mufti. The Presidency of Religious Affairs has significant influence over the activities of
religious associations and places of worship in the country. He is former professor of Islamic law
at the University of Marmara.
çagrıcı, his eminence prof. dr mustafa
Mustafa Çagrıcı is the mufti of Istanbul as well as a theology professor and is a respected figure
among Turkish Muslims. He welcomed and prayed with Pope Benedict XVI in the Blue Mosque
in 2006.
eren, his excellency halit
Eren is the director general of the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA)
of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The IRCICA is the leading center for research on
the Ottoman Caliphate, and an important center for research on Islamic history. Eren is an expert
on minority and non-Arab Muslim communities.
gormez, dr mehmet
Gormez is the vice president of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in Turkey. He has attracted
a lot of attention recently for a large research project that the Presidency is carrying out to
understand the role of Hadith in contemporary Turkey. Gormez is in charge of producing a number
of major publications for the Diyanet in the field of Qur’anic commentary, Islamic history and the
written sources of the Alevi tradition in Turkey.
UNITED KINGDOM
ahsan, dr manazir
Ahsan is the director general of the Islamic Foundation, Leicester. The Islamic Foundation is one
of the main centers working for integration and understanding of the British Muslim population.
Although the center has occasionally been referred to as extremist, it does accurately reflect the
diversity of the British Muslim community.
ali, amjad
Ali Amjad is the head of HSBC Amanah UK branch of the HSBC bank. HSBC Amanah UK is
Britain's largest provider of sharia-compliant financial services. HSBC Amanah UK is HSBC’s first
venture in Islamic banking outside the Muslim world.
el diwany, tareq
El Diwany is a key figure in British Islamic finance circles who wrote The Problem with Interest, a
key text on the Islamic perspective on banking, in 1997. He is a prominent speaker and continues
to be an editor of islamic-finance.com, as well as a partner in Zest Advisory LLP, which offers
consulting services in Islamic banking.
ghaffur, tarique
Ghaffur is a former high-ranking British police officer in London’s Metropolitan Police Service.
As the UK’s highest-ranking Muslim police officer, he often used his high profile position to
publicly comment on issues of alleged racism in the Metropolitan Police Service. He has spoken
out frequently, blaming discrimination against Muslims as a contributing factor to the incitement
of radical Islam.
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