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
