generally lists are problematic in my opinion. attempting to determine individuals' rank of importance, as I see it, is more divisive than helpful.

that being said, i am very interested to see how certain individuals play out on the list and what measure is being used to determine their ranking.

i think there was a quote somewhere on the difference between power and authority. i would argue some of the most authoritarian regimes are some of the most influential. but that, again is a difference between power and authority.

I guess in some ways, I'm surprised to see Jordan near the top, despite the King's initiatives and programs in Jordan and around the world. But honestly, Jordan is a small fish in a big pond.

Definition of influence according to Merriam-Webster:

1. the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command 2. the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways

Given this definition, how many people would automatically drop off the list?

LOL snark, and i thought you would never ask … its in shambles, tethered, miserable and highly irrelevant and yet loud and destructive. You don't need to read the minds of 1.2 billion people, you just need to listen to what they say and i would say half of those billion or so have been busy talking about “egypt and algeria” for a week now.

but only 340 million of those billion or actually arab, who are probably the only part of the world that cares about that match :-D

with that in mind, it's interesting how small the number of arabs are in the muslim world, yet they dominate this list.

LOve the Fact of how many titles you have to go through to get to the name that more often than not is not recognize beyond the border of the country of residence.
Thats about as tell tale of a sign as you need to comprehend the state of islamic thought.
Come to think of it what was the last thing that qaboos did for islam? can someone please help me with that one?

please bam, enlighten us on “the state of Islamic thought.” since you seem so enlightened on such topics and are able to read the minds of the estimated 1.2 billion Muslims in the world.

@raghda
“influence” = money in a lot of the people listed.
i think a lot of people would drop off. People like Hosni Mubarak use force and exertion as a method of rule.

I'm surprised Amr Khaled isn't higher. His group is building a movement that will shake the halls of power in a lot of Muslim countries.

And also, how many women are on the list? Are there more influential Muslim women? I'd venture there are.

What I'd really like to say to the top 50 above will most likely be deleted, reported, and get the عيب شو حفرتلي reaction. However, I will say that it's nothing to be proud of to be one of those 50 on the list. The Islamic world suffers from High Unemployment, Corrupt Governments, Inefficient Public Sector, Rampant Poverty, Monopolistic Private Sector, Incompetent Higher Education systems, No Freedom of Speech, No Freedom of Assembly, Lousy Judicial System, Ignored Women's Rights, and racism toward other people and other Muslims.