The Most Influential Muslims of the 21st Century
Published by Yala Media Group | April 2026
The 21st century has been one of the most consequential periods in Islamic history. Wars, revolutions, a global pandemic, the rise of Islamic social media, the Palestinian question reaching global consciousness on a scale not seen before — all of these have been navigated by a global Muslim community of nearly two billion people, shaped by leaders in scholarship, politics, science, art, and culture.
The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC) publishes The Muslim 500 annually — now in its 17th year — profiling the most influential Muslims worldwide across politics, religion, culture, technology, science, and social life. The 2026 edition made history by naming the people of Gaza collectively as its Person of the Year — acknowledging that moral influence can be demonstrated not by power but by endurance.
This article draws from that tradition — the Muslim 500's rankings, the broader sweep of 21st-century Islamic history, and an honest assessment of lasting impact — to profile the Muslims whose influence has most shaped the ummah and the world in the years since 2000.
Criteria and approach
This list does not rank by power alone. Political leaders command large institutions and significant resources, but influence is measured differently — by the depth of impact on how people think, believe, and live. The Muslim 500 itself weights influence across multiple categories: scholars whose fatwas shape billions of lives, political leaders who govern major Muslim states, cultural figures who shape global perception of Islam, and individuals whose work has had lasting consequence.
This article covers figures across categories: scholars and religious leaders, political figures whose decisions have shaped the Muslim world, scientists and intellectuals, and cultural figures who have carried the Muslim identity into the global conversation.
Islamic scholars and religious leaders
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (1926–2022) — the most-watched scholar in history
For much of the 21st century's first two decades, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi was the single most-watched Islamic scholar on earth. His television program Sharia and Life on Al Jazeera reached an estimated audience of 60 million viewers globally — a figure unprecedented in the history of Islamic scholarship. He combined classical training at Al-Azhar with a modern understanding of media and a commitment to engaging contemporary questions with Islamic scholarship.
His influence on the modern Islamic revival movement — the Islamic Brotherhood tradition globally, the popularization of accessible fiqh for ordinary Muslims, and the development of Islamic finance — is immeasurable. He passed away in 2022, but his body of work continues to shape Islamic discourse.
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf — the most influential Western Muslim scholar
Hamza Yusuf is widely regarded as the most influential Islamic scholar in the English-speaking world. Co-founder of Zaytuna College — the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States — he has spent three decades engaging American Muslim intellectual life, converting millions to a vision of Islamic scholarship that is classically rooted but fully engaged with the Western intellectual tradition.
His lectures, books, and public engagements have shaped the intellectual formation of an entire generation of American Muslim leaders. The Muslim 500 has consistently ranked him among the most influential Muslims in the world, specifically in the category of Western Islamic thought.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah — the jurisprudence of peace
Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah is one of the most respected living Islamic jurists, known particularly for his scholarship on Islamic jurisprudence in non-Muslim lands and on the Islamic foundations of coexistence and peace. His Fatwa Against ISIS — issued in 2014 when many were seeking Islamic counter-narratives to the group's theological claims — was signed by hundreds of scholars and widely credited with providing the most coherent Islamic response to the group's claims to religious legitimacy.
His work on the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies has made him a significant force in developing a global Islamic discourse of peace and coexistence grounded in authentic scholarship.
Habib Umar bin Hafiz — the living heart of Yemeni Islam
Consistently ranked at or near the top of The Muslim 500's influential scholars list, Habib Umar bin Hafiz of Tarim, Yemen represents a Sufi scholarly tradition that has spread from the Hadramawt Valley to the global Muslim community. His students span dozens of countries and his influence on Islamic spirituality — the cultivation of love for the Prophet ﷺ, the tradition of classical Islamic learning, and the revivification of the Sufi scholarly tradition — is profound.
In a century that has often prioritized political Islam and legalistic engagement over spiritual depth, Habib Umar's influence represents an important counterweight.
Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani — the global authority on Islamic finance
Muhammad Taqi Usmani ranks #2 in The Muslim 500's 2026 Top 50, reflecting his extraordinary influence as a Deobandi scholar who has become the world's foremost authority on Islamic finance. His rulings and guidance shape a global Islamic finance industry now worth trillions of dollars.
His influence extends beyond finance to being one of the most authoritative living Islamic jurists in the Hanafi tradition — a reference point for Muslims across South Asia, Central Asia, and the broader Sunni world on questions of contemporary jurisprudence.
Political and governance leaders
King Abdullah II of Jordan — the steady hand
King Abdullah II of Jordan, ranked #5 in The Muslim 500 2026 edition, has maintained Jordan's role as a stabilizing force in one of the most volatile regions on earth while navigating impossible political terrain — between Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia — with a consistent commitment to moderation and dialogue. His custodianship of Jerusalem's Islamic and Christian holy sites and his consistent advocacy for the Palestinian cause have made him one of the most respected political voices in the Muslim world.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — the most consequential Muslim political leader
Erdoğan is the Muslim political leader whose decisions have most shaped the Muslim world in the 21st century. His 20-year tenure has transformed Turkey from a secular Kemalist state into a global power that positions itself as a champion of Muslim causes — from Palestinian rights to the Muslim minorities of Myanmar, from the restoration of Hagia Sophia as a mosque to the support of Muslim Brotherhood governments across the Arab world.
His influence is intensely polarizing — loved by many as the first Muslim leader to challenge the Western-dominated global order with genuine confidence, criticized by others for democratic backsliding and authoritarian tendencies. But his impact on Muslim political consciousness globally is impossible to dispute.
Anwar Ibrahim — Malaysia's long-awaited reformer
Anwar Ibrahim's story is one of the 21st century's most remarkable political trajectories. Imprisoned on politically motivated charges in the late 1990s, he spent years as a symbol of the Muslim intellectual tradition's potential for democratic reform. When he finally became Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2022 at age 75 after decades of opposition, he became the living embodiment of patient political hope.
His influence on Muslim political thought — the argument that Islam and democracy are compatible, that Muslim political leaders must be accountable to law, and that the Muslim world can develop political systems that honor both Islamic values and human rights — has been significant across the Muslim-majority world.
Science and intellectual life
Dr. Ahmed Zewail (1946–2016) — Nobel laureate
Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry (1999), died in 2016 but his influence on Muslim scientific achievement and on the aspiration of Muslim youth toward science has extended well into the 21st century. As the first Arab scientist to win the Nobel Prize in science, he demonstrated that Muslim intellectual tradition's historical excellence in science could find contemporary expression at the highest level.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus — the Nobel of economics
Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist who pioneered microfinance through Grameen Bank and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, demonstrated that Islamic values of justice and economic dignity for the poor could be expressed through innovative institutional design. His work has lifted millions out of poverty and inspired an entire global microfinance movement.
Malala Yousafzai — the youngest Nobel laureate
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani Muslim activist for girls' education who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012 and became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2014, represents Muslim women's global influence in a way that transcends politics. Her work through the Malala Fund has advocated for the Islamic principle — grounded in the Prophet's ﷺ statement that seeking knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim — that education is a right for all Muslim children, including girls.
Cultural and media figures
Nouman Ali Khan — the Quran educator of the internet age
Nouman Ali Khan has brought Quranic literacy to more English-speaking Muslims than any scholar in history, through YouTube, the Bayyinah TV platform, and live lectures that have filled arenas across the Western world. His accessible, linguistically grounded approach to Quranic Arabic and tafsir has introduced millions of Muslims to their scripture in a way that changed their relationship with it.
His influence specifically on American Muslim millennials and Gen Z — who grew up watching his YouTube videos — represents a new model of Islamic scholarship distributed through digital media.
Mo Salah — the Muslim athlete who changed perceptions
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool FC and Egyptian national team forward, is consistently among the most popular athletes in the world. His open, confident, unashamed Muslim practice — praying publicly, fasting Ramadan during the season, crediting Allah for his goals, performing Sujood on football pitches in front of billions of viewers — has made visible Islamic practice aspirational rather than marginal in the global popular imagination.
His influence extends beyond sport. Research suggests that in areas where Liverpool played after his signing, Islamophobic hate crimes decreased significantly — suggesting that his visibility as a proud Muslim performing excellently in the world's most-watched sport has had measurable real-world effects on how British communities perceive Muslims.
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — the first Muslim women in Congress
The elections of Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) to the United States Congress in 2018 marked a historic moment for Muslim representation in American political life. Both have been consistently vocal about their Muslim identity and its relationship to their advocacy — particularly on Palestinian rights, where both have faced significant political consequence for positions that they have grounded in Islamic values and human rights principles.
Their influence on Muslim American civic participation — the signal their election sends to Muslim Americans that full political participation is possible and consequential — extends well beyond their specific legislative achievements.
The Person of the Year 2026: The People of Gaza
The Muslim 500's 2026 decision to name the people of Gaza collectively as Person of the Year represents a recognition that influence in the Islamic tradition is not ultimately about power, position, or achievement — it is about moral witness.
The editorial board stated: "This year, The Muslim 500's Man and Woman of the Year are the collective men and women of Gaza who have endured unimaginable horrors, yet continue to live with humanity. They pray over and bury their loved ones with dignity, share their meagre resources, risk their lives to treat the wounded, and document the truth for which they are targeted and killed."
The people of Gaza have demonstrated in the 21st century something that Islamic history has always known: that the highest human dignity is not in power or achievement but in how people maintain their humanity, their faith, and their care for one another under conditions that would break most of what we consider civilization.
That witness — of people who pray over the bodies of their children, who share their last food with neighbors, who make the adhan from bombed minarets — is the most morally influential act of the 21st century's Muslim world. And it needs no monument other than the record of what it was.
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