Foreign Policy comes out with its list of Top 100 Global Thinkers.
11 Muslims make the list (I was liberal with my definition of Muslim but did not include those who have publicly stated they are not Muslims so I did include Fareed Zakaria but not Ayaan Hirsi Ali).
To avoid people having to page through the list like I did (although you may want to) they are:
Zahra Rahnavard
Sayyid Imam Al-Sharif
Mohamed El-Erian
Ashraf Ghani
Anwar Ibrahim
Fareed Zakaria
Abdolkarim Soroush
Muhammad Yunus
Tariq Ramadan
Ahmed Rashid
Salam Fayyad
bingregory 11:47 pm on November 29, 2009 Permalink |
- A lot of interesting people (muslim and non) on that list. I hadn’t heard of Sayyid Imam Al-Sharif before.
- The write-up on Anwar Ibrahim is nice.
- I assume Rizal Sukma, no 92, from Indonesia, is muslim also.
bingregory 11:51 pm on November 29, 2009 Permalink |
- I’m finally reading Ahmed Rashid’s “Taliban”; wish I’d picked it up years ago.
- Including Friedman on the list makes everybody look bad. In what world does he rate as a thinker?
bingregory 11:52 pm on November 29, 2009 Permalink |
Oh and you can browse the whole thing in one go if you select the Full Page view:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/node/75630?page=full
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 9:16 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
Jazzak Allaahu for the input bingregory.
Bang Gully 4:42 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
Fareed Zakaria has publicly stated that he is not Muslim.
shams 7:28 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
And Reihan Salam IS a muslim.
Not that he’d ever say it publically.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 9:16 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
Bang Gully,
Do you have a link? I know that he has said he is “not religious,” but there are actually numerous interviews and articles about him where he is referred to as a Muslim and he does not correct or challenge that assertion. Most of these are from 2002-2005, so I’m wondering if there was a point when he changed or what? Maybe he was simply acknowledging in the interviews I saw his Muslim background and in the statement you’re referring to the fact that he is not practicing or observant.
He named his son Omar, that’s gotta count for something
My son is named Umar as well.
Bang Gully 11:31 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
This is from a Newsweek op/ed from a couple of years ago:
The sentence from the article on which I based my prior assertion on:
“Nothing will be solved by searching for “true Islam” or quoting the Quran. The Quran is a vast, vague book, filled with poetry and contradictions (much like the Bible). ”
This is not an explicit statement by Zakaria asserting that he isn’t Muslim. However, I think it’s safe to assume from the sentence that he is not a Muslim.
Also, as an aside, his father Rafiq Zakaria is described as an “Islamic scholar” on his wikipedia page. However, I once read an interview with Rafiq Zakaria where he was criticizing Muslims for claiming that the Kaaba was built by Ibrahim(as) when there was absolutely no evidence of such a thing. I don’t know if this makes him a non-Muslim but its interesting nonetheless.
Bang Gully 11:32 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
whoops i didn’t mean to make all of that a link. Sorry.
abunoor 11:47 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
Bang Gully,
Jazzak Allahu Khayr for the response. That was my perception. Zakaria has made clear he is not religiously observant and has of course made statements that do not reflect orthodox Muslim belief. Also, I couldn’t really find any statement of his saying “I am a Muslim.” Still, as I said before, when people refer to him as Muslim he does not say they are wrong….I just think we should be extra careful of declaring anyone not to be a Muslim unless they say so themselves. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t beliefs or actions that could take one out of Islam, but that of course will be up to Allaah to judge, not us.
I haven’t ready anything by Rafiq Zakaria.
johnpi 11:59 am on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
A question Abunoor: If you met Fareed Zakaria, would you greet him with ‘Salaam Alaikum’?
shams 12:46 pm on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
I would.
Even if he’s not in my muslim tribe, he’s in my IQ tribe.
thabet 1:03 pm on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
Zakaria is lame.
shams 1:20 pm on November 30, 2009 Permalink
so’s ur mom.
thabet 1:30 pm on November 30, 2009 Permalink
What’s a “mom”?
Bang Gully 11:38 pm on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
Abunoor,
I appreciate your comment and i know that legally I really should retract my statement above stating that Fareed Zakaria is a non-Muslim.
Nevertheless, I was basing it on a probability as I would find it hard for someone to believe in the Quran as the Word of God when that someone also believes it to be full of contradictions.
I’m pretty sure not believing in the Quran as Divine Revelation would make one not Muslim insofar as the scholars are concerned. Am I wrong?
Also, I personally believe that Zakaria does not deny being a Muslim publicly because he plays himself off as some sort of Muslim expert because of his background. He has way too many opinions where he is against Muslims and against Islam.
Allahu Alim of course.
Secondly, since I’m interfacing with you here, I was wondering if you would be open to answering some questions about law school and your field of law? (I’m currently a 2L).I left a message on your blog a while back but never received an answer. Also, I put 2 and 2 together and figured out you were the brother that was on an episode of the Deen Show which is cool.
As salaam wa laikum
abunoor 1:03 pm on November 30, 2009 Permalink |
john,
Definitely.