Imran Khan

The Muslim 500 is a book that ranks influential Muslim leaders and scholars from across the globe. This is the 11th edition of the book.

“If The Muslim 500 was in print back in 1992 and I was then Chief Editor I would have nominated Imran Khan as our Muslim Man of the Year because of his brilliant performance in cricket, which culminated in Pakistan winning the 1992 Cricket World Cup,” wrote the editor of the book.

“I also was touched when Imran launched a successful fund raising campaign to establish a hospital (Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital) devoted to both the care of victims of cancer as well as research.”

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“This was his magnificent response to the loss of his mother to cancer in 1985 and given Imran Khan’s extraordinary popularity with Pakistanis both at home as well as among the large number of Pakistani expats along with his own, no doubt, generous personal contribution-he raised sufficient funds so that by 1994 the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital opened its doors in Lahore. 75 per cent of its patients receive free-care,” wrote the editor.

Imran Khan became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018 after 22 years devoted to building an opposition political party committed to reform; confronting Pakistan’s civilian political establishment over the issue of embedded corruption and mismanagement. This and his other accomplishments are detailed in the biography that accompanies his ranking (Number 16) in this, the latest edition of The Muslim 500.

But what is particularly to his credit is that upon taking office in August 2018 Imran Khan made it quite clear that one of his top priorities was to work for a lasting peace with India. He wanted to normalise relations through trade, and settling the Kashmir dispute, “the foremost impediment” in the prime minister’s own words “to the normalisation of relations between us”.

Imran ranks 16 on the list in the 2020 edition of The Muslim 500. Number one on the list is Mufti Taqi Usmani, followed by Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei of Iran and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

It listed Mufti Usmani’s source of influence as scholarly and lineage. “He is the leading scholar for the Deobandis and in Islamic finance,” according to the book and has authored 143 books in Arabic, English and Urdu. The book also named Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American congresswoman, Woman of The Year. She is the first woman of Palestinian origin and one of the first Muslim women to be elected to the American Congress as a member of the House of Representatives.

NNI News Service