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

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Sheikh Hamza Yusuf
Hanson
Founder of Zaytuna Institute,
United States of America
Country: United States of America
Date of Birth: 1960
Source of Influence: Scholarly
Influence: Leading Islamic authority in
a country with 4.6 million Muslims
School of Thought: Traditional Sunni,
Maliki, Asha’ri
Rank: 2010:42 · 2009:38
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson is the
Western world’s most influential Islamic
scholar. He is seen as one of the foremost
authorities on Islam outside of the Muslim
world, having spent a decade learning
at some of the premier institutions in the
Islamic world. He runs the very successful
Zaytuna Institute in California.
American Scholar
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson converted to
Islam in 1977 when he was only 17 and spent
many years studying Arabic, Islamic jurisprudence
and philosophy with some of the
Muslim world’s most prominent and wellrespected
teachers. His popularity, and accordingly
his influence, stem from the fact
that his application of Islamic knowledge is
rooted in the lived experience of a normal
American. In his speeches Sheikh Hamza
is able to relate traditional Islamic teachings
in a way that American Muslims find
easy to relate to.
Educator
Hanson is the founder of the Zaytuna Institute,
one of the most well-respected centers
of Islamic education in North America. It
has been groundbreaking in combining
cutting edge educational technologies with
traditional Islamic education—setting the
standard for Islamic education in the West.
43
His Eminence Sheikh
Professor Dr
Mustafa Ceric
Grand Mufti of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date of Birth: 1952
Source of Influence: Administrative,
Scholarly
Influence: Grand Mufti of approximately
2.8 million Bosnian Muslims
School of Thought: Traditional Sunni
Rank: 2010:43 · 2009:39
Mustafa Ceric is a guiding light for Islam
in Europe and the leading Islamic authority
there; he became Grand Mufti of Bosnia
and Herzegovina in 1993. Ceric is outspoken
on interfaith initiatives in the Muslim
world and is considered one of the most
influential contemporary Muslim leaders.
Advocate of Cross-Cultural Engagement
In 2006, Ceric issued the ‘Declaration
of European Muslims’ to the European
Union stating that European Muslims are
dedicated to the common values of law,
tolerance, democracy and human rights,
the value of life, faith, freedom, property,
and dignity. In May 2009 Ceric disregarded
warnings of possible violent protest by
visiting Serbia and spoke at a sermon in the
town of Tutin about the need for Bosnian
and Serbian Muslims to unite as one entity.
Peace Activist
Ceric joined the International Religious
Advisory Council of the Tony Blair Faith
Foundation in 2008, committing himself
to its mission of promoting respect and
religious pluralism through discussions on
social injustice.