Comments on: Muslim blogger Mujahideen Ryder links to…

By: johnpi

johnpi — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:49:21 +0000

I was primed for looking at the list in terms of religion, but found many listed that didn’t seem to be influential as Muslims in a field, but whose only qualification was that they were Muslims.

For example, ‘Dr. Oz’ is listed in science and technology for North America:

Mehmet Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon who has been a frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He is professor of Cardiac Surgery at Columbia University, leads numerous organizations and charities, and has authored three books about personal health. He will star in his own talk show called ‘Dr Oz’ in late 2009.

By this broader standard, more on the business/investor side should have been included, but overall, I agree about the peculiar and subjective nature of ‘influence.’

By: Abu Noor Al-Irlandee

Abu Noor Al-Irlandee — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:20:21 +0000

I think one expects a bias toward religious figures when one explicitly makes the list about religion. More jarring is the list of royals at the top of the list, although it is of course important to note that these are countries where royals actually do wield power and are not just figureheads. Influence is a funny thing, and could be defined in even more ways than “most valuable player.”

By: johnpi

johnpi — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:58:01 +0000

Blogger Rob criticizes the fact that 33 of the top 50 are clerics, and the lack of businessmen/investors:

If influential means effecting how people think or act than any top 50 list should include at least 10-20 of the region’s major businessmen and investors. This is a bad example since he’s Coptic Christian but take Najib Sawaris, the Egyptian telecom magnate. Over the last 5-10 years communication patterns in the Arab world have been revolutionized by the mobile phone. Almost noone is without one, and the overwhelming social belief is that every HAS to have one. That didn’t exist one decade ago — who caused this to happen? Or how about the Saudi investor who owns the City Stars mall in Cairo, that guy probably has more influence over Egyptians that most of the clerics listed.

By: abunoor

abunoor — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:20:20 +0000

Rabiya,

I agree with your skepticism of both the Jordanian royal involvement and the top of the list listing of all the monarchs.

Are you asking why bin Laden isn’t in the top 50? ‘Cause he is in the list of 500, actually.

By: Rabiya

Rabiya — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:29:18 +0000

I can’t take seriously anything that come from official mouth pieces like this. Oh, royals in the top? How surprising, given that the report comes from the royal family of Jordan! Also, why isn’t Osama on there? Yeah he’s a bad, bad man, but I’d say he’s influenced a LOT.

By: willow

willow — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:46:34 +0000

We’re still proud of you.

By: shahed

shahed — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Of course you can include me. I (like you) am still poring over the report and trying to figure out the methodology behind these selections. I sent emails to the 20 or 30 people I knew on the list and more than half didn’t even know about the report.

By: abunoor

abunoor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:16:29 +0000

Like any list, the list is strange and includes people for a variety of reasons.

I don’t know for sure if al-Awlaki is one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world (the word influential is a tricky word anyways) but I know for sure that he is more influential than many of the names that are included.

Of course, again, people are more or less well known (are they really talking influential, or just prominent?) in different circles, no doubt. If I put together the 50 most influential Muslims on me or on Muslims I know, it would obviously be a lot different.

By: Buzz

Buzz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:08:05 +0000

Anwar Al-Awlaki didn’t make the list?
Shocking :-0

By: abunoor

abunoor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:39:51 +0000

Americans in the Top 50:
38. Hamza Yusuf
47. Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Keith Ellison and Dr. Ingrid Mattson are “honorable mention”‘ which means the authors basically consider them “as influential” as the top 50 but they weren’t in the actual top 50.