Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is a seasoned politician known for pushing for reform, who’s also been a steady and determined figure in the country’s politics for years.
In fact, in the 2025 edition of The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims published by the Jordan-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC), Anwar was ranked as the 15th most influential Muslim figure globally.
Rulers and politicians
At the top of the list is Jordan’s King Abdullah II, followed by Yemeni scholar Sheikh Al-Habib Umar Hafiz, Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Hajj Sayyid Ali Khamenei.
The publication mentioned the influence of the Top 50 spans across various fields and can’t be confined to a single category, it’s helpful to group them into broader categories. In this context, Anwar was also ranked 9th in the “rulers and politicians” category.
Anwar’s political success
The Prime Minister has been through it all, imprisonment, exile, and countless political hurdles, before finally becoming Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister in November 2022.
Anwar’s political journey kicked off in 1982 when he accepted an invite from then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to join UMNO. He quickly climbed the ranks, holding several key positions in the following order:
- Minister of Youth, Culture, and Sports in 1983
- then moving to Minister of Agriculture in 1984
- Minister of Education from 1986 to 1991
- Minister of Finance from 1991 to 1998
- Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998
But Anwar’s impact goes beyond politics as he’s contributed to the academic world too, holding positions at places like St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown University.
The publication wrote,
“He’s also a co-founder of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), which was set up in the U.S. back in 1981.”
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