The 500 Most Influential Muslims - The Royal Islamic Strategic ...

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Scholarly
of the highest authorities on Islamic scholarship for South Africa’s large and affluent Muslim
population.
East Africa
ETHIOPIA
idris, his eminence hajji omar
Omar Idris is a mufti and leader in Ethiopian Muslim politics. A proponent of Muslim unity, he
is the current chair of the Addis Ababa Majlis and also the chair of the Addis Ababa Ulema Unity
Forum.
KENYA
mazrui, dr ali al’amin [new]
Dr Mazrui is a prominent scholar of African and Islamic studies and an outspoken commentator
on Islam. Noted for his stance on the applicability of sharia law within a democratic system and
his denunciations of violence in the name of religion, he is a widely-respected academic. A prolific
writer, Dr Mazrui is an Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and the Director of the
Institute of Global Cultural Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
UGANDA
mamdani, mahmood
Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in the Departments of Anthropology
and Political Science at Columbia University in the United States. Mamdani is also the director of
Columbia’s Institute of African Studies. He is a former president of the Council for Development
of Social Research in Africa in Dakar, Senegal. Mamdani is well-known for his book Good Muslim,
Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror, which became significant in liberal
policy circles in the US.
West Africa
BURKINA FASO
dokori, dr abu bakr
Abu Bakr Dokori is the president of the Islamic University of Ouagadougu. He is a major scholar
and advisor to the president. Dokori is also Burkina Faso’s representative to ISESCO. He is one of
the leading Muslim scholars in a country with around 8 million Muslims.
GAMBIA
jah, his excellency ambassador prof. dr omar
Jah is an important figure in the Muslim community of Gambia and in Gambian scholarship on
Islam. Jah was the former Gambian ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He is now the secretary of the
Muslim Scholars Council, Gambia, and a professor of Islamic Civilization and Thought at the
University of Gambia where he is the dean of the humanities faculty.
NIGERIA
ahmed, dr ibrahim datti [new]
Dr Ibrahim Datti Ahmed is the president-general of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria
(SCSN). The SCSN is the focal Islamic religious institution that deals with sharia in Nigeria, and is
also a representative body of Nigeria’s Muslim scholars. Recently, the SCSN has petitioned for fair
treatment of Muslim military officers and has spoken out against prejudice and violence against
Muslims, especially in light of the violent clashes between Christians and Muslims near the city of
Jos in January 2010.