THE 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS - CESD

International Islamic NetworksHezbollahLEBANONnasrallah, seyyed hasan (p. 62)Seyyed Hasan Nasrallah is the current and third secretary general of Hezbollah (the Party of God).Hezbollah is a Twelver Shi’a Islamic political party and paramilitary organization based in Lebanon.Political and military successes have made Nasrallah a vastly influential figure in Lebanon, and in theMiddle East more broadly. Hezbollah’s ideology is based on seeking social justice through Islamicideals. Hezbollah appears at first to be a Lebanese national party, however its broad support fromacross the Middle East from individuals and communities supporting the idea of revolutionaryShi’ism have made it a global network. It has a significant following in Iran and Syria.MarjaiyyaIRAQsistani, his eminence grand ayatollah ali husseiniAli Husseini Sistani, a Grand Ayatollah and Twelver Shi’a marja is currently the highest-ranking Shi’areligious scholar in Iraq and leads the seminary of traditional Shi’a Islamic studies in Najaf. Since theIraq war, Sistani has played a wider political role in Iraq. He has been referred to as a key figure in theso-called ‘Shi’a revival’, for his central place in the Marjaiyya (the community of marjas).Dawat-e-IslamiPAKISTAN [NEW]qadiri, sheikh muhammad ilyas attar qadiri (p. 104)Dawat-e-Islami, which translates as ‘invitation to Islam,’ is a Sunni revival movement of the Barelwisect. Based in Pakistan, this network’s influence is spread over 6 continents and 71 countries with asubstantial following in the UK. Sheikh Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qadiri founded the group in 1980.Promoting an apolitical agenda--mainly to spread the message of the Qur’an and knowledge aboutthe prophetic tradition--this network has grown over the years and now produces a 24-hour satellitechannel, ‘Madani Channel.’Tablighi JamaatPAKISTANabd al wahhab, hajji mohammed (p. 58)Abd al Wahhab is the leader of the Pakistan-based organization, Tablighi Jamaat, which has chaptersin 120 countries. The movement’s Raiwind Tablighi Ijtima annual conference, in the Punjab, Pakistandrew 1.5 million attendees in 2009. With approximately 3 million members attending the annualBiswa Ijtima conference in Bangladesh, the Tablighi Jamaat is an increasingly influential Muslimnetwork from South Asia.Gülen MovementTURKEYgülen, hodjaefendi fethullah (p. 52)Fethullah Gülen is a preacher, thinker and educator, who having assumed the leadership of thereligious movement Nurcu—started by Said Nursî (1878-1960 CE)—has gone on to become a globalphenomenon in his own right. His popularity and authority in Turkey has been the driving forceof a social movement. This movement is widely thought to have brought around the social, andeventually, political changes of which politician Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the ultimate heir—that is the enfranchisement of Muslim politics in Turkey. Despite his peaceful means of preachingand community organization, Gülen is hated by the secularist establishment in Turkey and has beenliving in the US since 1999. The Gülen Movement started out as a distinctly Turkish movement buthas since spread worldwide. Gülen has schools in almost every corner of the globe.170