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

ADMINISTRATIVE
BRAZIL
othman, abdul-baqi sayed
Othman is the director of the Charitable Society of Muslims (Sociedad de Beneficiente Muçulmana)
of Rio de Janeiro. He has represented Brazilian Muslims in many international conferences. He is
also a da’wa activist, and runs the IQRA publishing center in Brazil where he helps publish translations
of various Islamic books.
saifi, ahmed
Saifi is a very active da’wa activist in Brazil. He is considered a distinguished member of Al Ikhwan
Al Muslimeen. He has been sent to several conferences as the representative of the Brazilian Muslim
community.
ECUADOR
suquillo, juan
Suquillo is an imam and the director and co-founder of the Islamic Centre of Ecuador. He has
been awarded for his services to the nation, and has translated many books into Spanish. These
have become very popular since the 9/11 attacks when non-Muslims became interested in learning
about Islam. His books have become bestsellers since then. He is very well respected by South
American Muslim scholars.
ASIA
BANGLADESH
rahman, mohammad fazlur
Rahman is the leader of the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh. The Islamic Foundation is a quasigovernmental
organization working under the ministry of religious affairs in Bangladesh. Its chief
aims are educational, and organizational, researching, publishing, offering scholarships and also
providing funding to maintain mosques. The head office is in Dhaka, and is supported by six
regional offices and 58 district offices. The organization runs seven Imam training centers and 29
centers for da’wa.
INDIA
ahmad, sheikh aboobackar
Ahmad is the secretary general of the Kerala-based Sunni Cultural Center Markazu Saqafathi Sunniya.
He is credited with creating a resurgence in the religiosity of southern India’s Muslim population.
The center has become one of the more significant educational organizations in Kerala with
40 schools going from primary to university level. There are about 9,000 students at the schools,
many of them orphans.
CHINA
guangyuan, imam chen
Chen Guangyuan is the Grand Imam of China as well as the president of the Islamic Association
of China and the president of the Chinese-Islamic Institute. He has a very important position, with
China’s roughly 20 million Muslims coming almost exclusively from minority groups.
CHINA (HONG KONG)
arshad, mufti mohammad
Mohammed Arshad is the chief imam of Hong Kong and the khateeb (sermon giver) of the largest
mosque in Hong Kong. Arshad keeps good relations with the government, police and foreign
consulates. Approximately 50,000 Muslims live in Hong Kong.
116