By Akeem Oyetunji
In the 2026 World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims, an African woman made the list released by Jordan’s Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre.
Interestingly, the only woman who made the list in the 2026 edition, is the current President of Tanzania, Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan.
She’s the sixth and first female President of Tanzania, sworn in on 19 March 2021. President Samia Suluhu Hassan, a Sunni Muslim and aged 66, is recognised for her efforts in the administration of Religious Affairs in that country.
Prompt News Online reports that at the inception of The Muslim 500 ranking, four women had made the top 50 on the list while the current Tanzanian President makes the 5th woman.
Those before her were: Queen Rania, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, Sheikha Munira al‑Qubaysi and Halimah Yacob.
Find below the top 50 in the 2026 500 World’s Most Influential Muslim figures:
- Tamim bin Hamid Al-Thani
- Muhammad Taqi Usmani
- Habib Umar bin Hafiz
- Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
- HM Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein
- Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyeb
- President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
- Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud
- Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan
- Anwar Ibrahim
- Sayyid Ali Hussein Sistani
- HM King Mohammed VI
- Salman Al-Ouda
- Muhammad bin Salman
- Prabowo Subianto
- Mahmood Madani
- Muhammadu Abubakar III
- Abdullah Bin Bayyah
- Yahya Cholil Staquf
- Dr Ibrahim Kalin
- Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi
- Abdel Fattah El-Sisi
- Ali Gomaa
- Habib ‘Ali Al-Jifri
- Hamza Yusuf Hanson
- Ahmad Tijani bin Ali Cisse
- Usama al-Sayyid Al-Azhari
- Mustafa Hosny
- HE Captain Ibrahim Traoré
- Ilham Aliyev
- Habib Luthfi bin Yahya
- Tariq Jameel
- Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr
- Timothy Winter
- Samia Suluhu Hassan
- Uthman Taha
- Rached Ghannouchi
- Mohamed Salah
- Muqtada Sadr
- Maulana Nazur Rahman
- Ibrahim Salih
- Haibatullah Akhundzada
- Sheikh Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qadiri
- Mahmoud Abbas
- Khaled Mashal
- Ahmed Al-Sharaa
- Syed Naquib Al-Attas
- Mustafa Abu Sway
- Muhammad Yunus
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