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

SCHOLARLY
ECUADOR
dassum, dr layla
Dassum is the vice president and co-founder of the Islamic Centre of Ecuador and the director of
the Muslim Ladies Committee. A well-known da’wa activist in Ecuador, Dassum hosts conferences
and awareness lectures locally and internationally and teaches women about Islam and the Qur’an.
Dassum has also represented her country in many conferences in the Islamic world.
ASIA
AZERBAIJAN
ibrahimoglu, ilgar
Ibrahimoglu is a charismatic young Islamic scholar and human rights activist, who is the head of a
pro-Iranian Shi‘a congregation in Baku. He received his religious education in Qom, Iran, but also
studied human rights in Poland. This combination of Islamic and secular education is attractive
for a population that was only recently part of the Soviet Union.
pashazade, sheikh ul islam haji allahshukur hummat
Pashazade is not only the Grand Mufti of Azerbaijan, but also the Mufti by election of the whole
Caucasus region—though the latter is largely a vestige of Soviet organization of religious leaders.
He is also the world’s only Sunni-Shi‘a Grand Mufti, giving each group fatwas according to their
relevant madhab, reflecting Azerbaijan’s Sunni-Shia mix.
BRUNEI
haddad, gibril
Haddad is a well-known scholar and religious leader of Lebanese-American background. He has
emerged as one of the clearest voices of traditional Islam in the West. A scholar and translator
of classical Islamic texts, Haddad converted to Islam while in his undergraduate years and then
travelled to Damascus to pursue his studies. A prolific author and a Hadith expert, Haddad has
translated and published over 30 works including Allah’s Names and Attributes by Imam al Bayhaqi
and The Prophet’s Night Journey and Heavenly Ascent by Sheikh Muhammad ibn `Alawi al Maliki.
bin juned, his eminence dr ustaz haji awang abd aziz
Bin Juned is the state mufti of Brunei. He is a well-respected scholar that advises the government
and the royal family on matters of faith.
al mahdali, abd al hamid
Al Mahdali is a leading scholar of Islamic theology at the Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University
(UNISSA), which is the main university for Islamic scholarship in Brunei. He is also a public
intellectual who has been invited all over Brunei to speak about Islam.
INDIA
engineer, asghar ali
Engineer is a Dawoodi Bohra Ismaili. He is the leader of the progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement.
He is a prominent scholar of Islam who is famous for his take on Islam and contemporary issues.
He has written many books and published articles in many international journals. He is the
founding chairman of the Asian Muslim Action Network, and of the Institute of Islamic Studies,
and the Center for the Study of Society and Secularism.
khan, wahiduddin
Khan has been called ‘Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’. Khan aims to teach about Islam as
a spiritual way of life, an approach that is popular among Indians, both Muslim and non-Muslim.
He established the Islamic Center in Delhi in 1970, and has written over 200 books since.
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