Turkish Figures Rank High on List of World’s Most Influential Muslims
Names like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Fethullah Gülen, Abdullah Gül and Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu are ranked near the top of the world's 500 most influential Muslims, according to a report published by the Amman-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre.
"The 500 Most Influential Muslims 2009," a report edited by Georgetown University professors John Esposito and İbrahim Kalin, was released in book format last week and aims to "provide a window into the movers and shakers of the Muslim world" and "highlight people who are influential as Muslims, that is, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the fact that they are Muslim." The book profiles the top 50 influential Muslims in descending order in a list topped by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia and Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei. Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan comes in fifth on the list, with the book noting in its profile the efforts on the part of Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to increase religious freedom, bring the country into the European Union and increase rights for Turkey's large Kurdish minority.
The other three Turks who made the top 50 list are Muslim preacher Gülen (No. 13), Turkish President Gül (No. 28) and Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General İhsanoğlu (No. 40). The report notes in the case of Gülen that he is an exception to the general status of the top-50 players as attributable to the influence they wield as a result of their being monarchs, religious scholars and leaders of religious networks.
"[An] ... important exception is Fethullah Gülen, a preacher, thinker and educator, who having assumed the leadership of a religious movement started by Said Nursî (1878-1960) has gone on to become a global phenomenon in his own right. His popularity and authority in Turkey have been the driving force of the social movement that is widely thought to have brought around the social and eventually political changes of which politician Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been the ultimate heir -- that is the enfranchisement of Muslim politics in Turkey," the report says.
Zaman editor-in-chief, Gülen movement listed as influential
Outside of the top 50, the other 450 Muslims on the list are not in numerical order, but are rather grouped by nation within broader categories such as women, youth, media, arts and culture, and even radicals. Turkish daily Zaman's Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanli is on the list for his influence with the newspaper and for authoring five books and a play. Ali Bulaç, a columnist for both Zaman and Today's Zaman, is also listed, as "an influential pro-Islamic intellectual and journalist who … promotes the advantage of Islamic values and the revival of Islamic intellectualism in contemporary Turkey."
Three Turkish women made the list: Turkish first lady Hayrünnisa Gül (listed under women), Women's Rights Association against Discrimination (AKDER) Vice President Fatma Benli (listed under development) and haute couture fashion designer Rabia Yalçin (listed under arts and culture).
A total of 20 Turks were listed in the book, with other names including Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Religious Affairs Directorate head Ali Bardakoğlu, İbrahim Kalin, Harun Yahya, Hayrettin Karaman, Necmettin Erbakan, Fuat Sezgin, Mehmet Görmez, Halit Eren, Mehmet Aydin and Mustafa Çağrici.
In addition to the 500 individuals listed in the book, the book sets aside a section for international Islamic networks, in which the Gülen movement takes its place. Noting the Gülen movement's peaceful means of preaching and community organization, the book notes: "The Gülen Movement started out as a distinctly Turkish movement but has since spread worldwide. Gülen has schools in almost every corner of the globe."
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