THE TOP 50
1. His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdul
Aziz Al Saud, King of
Saudi Arabia, Custodian of the Two
Holy Mosques
2. His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Prime Minister of the
Republic of Turkey
3. His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Hajj
Sayyid Ali Khamenei,
Supreme Leader of the Islamic
Republic of Iran
4. His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al
Hussein, King of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
5. His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King
of Morocco
6. His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id
al Sa’id, Sultan of Oman
7. His Eminence Professor Dr Sheikh
Ahmad Muhammad al
Tayeb, Grand Sheikh of the Al Azhar
University, Grand Imam of
the Al Azhar Mosque
8. His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Sayyid
Ali Hussein Sistani, Marja
of the Hawza, Najaf, Iraq
9. His Excellency President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, President
of Indonesia
10. His Eminence Sheikh Dr Ali Goma’a,
Grand Mufti of The Arab
Republic of Egypt
11. His Eminence Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn
Abdullah Aal al Sheikh,
Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
12. Dr Mohammed Badie, Supreme Guide of
the Muslim
Brotherhood
13. Hodjaefendi Fethullah Gülen,
Turkish Muslim Preacher
14. Sheikh Dr Yusuf al Qaradawi, Head
of the International Union
of Muslim Scholars
15. Amr Khaled, Preacher and Social
Activist
16. Hajji Mohammed Abd al Wahhab, Amir
of Tablighi Jamaat,
Pakistan
17. Sheikh Dr Muhammad Sa’id Ramadan
al Bouti, Leading Islamic
Scholar in Syria
18. Seyyed Hasan Nasrallah, Secretary
General of Hezbollah
19. Dr KH Said Aqil Siradj, Chairman of
Indonesia’s Nahdlatul
Ulama
20. His Royal Highness Shah Karim al
Hussayni, The Aga Khan IV,
49th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims
21. His Highness Emir Sheikh Hamad bin
Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of
Qatar
22. His Highness General Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan,
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy
Supreme Commander
of the UAE Armed Forces
23. His Royal Eminence Amirul Mu’minin
Sheikh as Sultan
Muhammadu Sa’adu Abubakar III,
Sultan of Sokoto
24. Her Eminence Sheikha Munira
Qubeysi, Leader of the Qubeysi
Movement
25. Sheikh Salman al Ouda, Saudi
Scholar and Educator
26. Mufti Muhammad Akhtar Raza Khan
Qaadiri Al Azhari, Grand
Mufti of India, Barelwi Leader and
Spiritual Guide
27. His Excellency Colonel Muammar
Gaddafi, Brother Leader of the
Revolution of the Great Socialist
People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
28. His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal
Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin
Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang
Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam
29. His Eminence Mohammad bin Mohammad
al Mansour, Imam
of the Zaidi Sect of Shi’a
Muslims
30. His Eminence Sheikh Abdullah Bin
Bayyah, Deputy-Head of the
International Union of Muslim
Scholars
31. His Eminence Justice Sheikh
Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Leading
Scholar of Islamic Jurisprudence
32. His Excellency President Abdullah
Gül, President of the Republic
of Turkey
33. Her Majesty Queen Rania al
Abdullah, Queen of the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan
34. Sheikh Mohammad Ali al Sabouni,
Scholar of Tafsir
35. Dr Aaidh Al Qarni, Saudi Scholar
36. His Eminence Sheikh Ahmad Tijani
Ali Cisse, Leader of the
Tijaniyya Sufi Order
37. Sheikh al Habib Umar bin Hafiz,
Director of Dar Al Mustafa,
Tarim, Yemen
38. Khaled Mashaal, Leader of Hamas
39. Professor Dr M Din Syamsuddin,
Chairman of the
Muhammadiyah, Indonesia
40. Maulana Mahmood Madani, Leader and
Executive Member of
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, India
41. Sheikh Habib ‘Ali Zain al Abideen
al Jifri, Director General of
the Tabah Foundation, UAE
42. Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Founder
of Zaytuna Institute,
United States of America
43. His Eminence Sheikh Professor Dr
Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti
of Bosnia and Herzegovina
44. His Excellency Professor Dr
Ekmelledin Ihsanoglu, Secretary
General of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference
45. Adnan Oktar, Authority on Islamic
Creationism
46. His Excellency Mir-Hossein Mousavi
, Iranian Opposition
Leader
47. His Holiness Dr Syedna Mohammad
Burhannuddin Saheb, The
52nd Da‘i l-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi
Bohras
48. Professor Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr,
Scholar of Islamic Philosophy
49. Sheikh Mehmet Nazim Adil al Qubrusi
al Haqqani, Leader of
Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order
50. His Excellency Dr Abd al Aziz bin
‘Uthman Altwaijiri, Secretary
General of the Islamic
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
26
Mufti Muhammad Akhtar Raza
Khan Qaadiri Al Azhari
Barelwi Leader and Spiritual Guide
Country: India
Date of Birth: 23 November 1943
Source of Influence: Administrative,
Scholarly
Influence: Approximately 2 million
Barkatiya Barelwis worldwide
School of Thought: Traditional Sunni,
Hanafi, Sufi
Rank: 2010:26
Mufti Muhammad Akhtar Raza Khan is the
leader of the Indian Barelwis and
consid-
ered by his followers as the Grand
Mufti of
India. He is the great-grandson of
Ahmed
Raza Khan (d. 1921), who founded the
Barelwi movement in South Asia.
Scholarly Lineage
Mufti Akhtar Raza was ordained at the
age
of 20 by his predecessor Mufti Mustafa
Raza
Khan. He was subsequently granted per-
mission to lead the Qaadriya,
Barakaatiyah,
and Nooriyah Sufi orders in India. He
was
also appointed to the position of
Muslim
Chief Justice of India in 2006.
Dynamic Mufti
Mufti Akhtar Raza is esteemed for his
exten-
sive collection of English-language
rulings,
the Azharul Fatawa. He became involved
in
issuing Islamic rulings from the age of
17
and is noted for having issued over
5,000
rulings since attaining leadership as
mufti.
Spiritual Tradition
The Barelwis are an apolitical Sufi
com-
munity based in a volatile region
where
religion has been used as a platform
for vio-
lence—despite this, it thrives as a
socially
engaged mystical movement. A
missionary
movement, the Barelwis have spread
their
message within South Asia and also
among
diaspora communities. This group is
dis-
tinct from Deobandi Muslims—who
prac-
tice a more conservative brand of
Islam.
