THE 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS - CESD

AdministrativeWest AfricaMAURITANIAbah, prof. dr mohammed el mokhtar ouldBah is the president of the Chinguetti Modern University, Mauritania. Chinguetti is a UNESCOWorld Heritage site because of its importance as a center of Islamic learning in the North Westcoast of Africa. This gives Bah a position with considerable historical and religious capital in WestAfrica.NIGERIAajibola, his excellency prince bolaPrince Bola Ajibola is the former head of the Nigerian High Commission in London and thepresident and founder of the Islamic Movement for Africa. He also served as the vice chairmanof the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague between 1991 and 1994. In 1994 PrinceAjibola was appointed Judge ad-hoc to the Permanent Court of International Arbitration, withrespect to the court’s deliberations on the land dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon. He alsoserved as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in Nigeria. Most recently he founded theCrescent University, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He is also a senior fellow of the Aal al Bayt Institute forIslamic Thought in Jordan.mohamed, imam ustaz musa [new]Imam Mohamed is the chief imam of the Abuja National Mosque in Nigeria. As the leading imamof the national mosque of Nigeria, Imam Mohamed is often the spokesperson for Islamic religiousaffairs in the country.AsiaAFGHANISTANgilani, pir sayyed ahmad [new]Gilani is a Sufi cleric of the Qadiriyya tariqa as well as the leader of the National Islamic Front ofAfghanistan, a moderate Islamic resistance organization. Since taking leadership of the Sufi order,Gilani has liberalized the tariqa and made it more welcoming to all.samim, dr abdul zahir shafiq [new]Dr Abdul Zahir Shafiq Samim has recently been appointed deputy minister for Islamic educationat the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. Prior to his current position, Dr Samim served asdeputy minister at the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs. He has made important contributionsto Islamic education in Afghanistan and has assisted the national commission in the formulationand planning of Islamic education in Afghanistan through the Ministry of Education.BANGLADESHrahman, mohammad fazlurRahman is the leader of the Islamic Foundation, Bangladesh. The Islamic Foundation is a quasigovernmentalorganization working under the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Bangladesh. Itschief aims are educational, and organizational, researching, publishing, offering scholarships andalso providing funding to maintain mosques. The head office of the Islamic Foundation is inDhaka, and is supported by six regional offices and 58 district offices. The organization runs sevenimam training centers and 29 centers for da’wa.CAMBODIAadam, h.e. zakaryya [new]H.E. Zakaryya Adam is a member of the Cambodian parliament, and serves as a member of theCommission on Education, Youth, Sport, Religious Affairs, Culture and Tourism. Previously, heheld the position of secretary of state in the Ministry of Cult and Religion. In addition to his118