Rishad enters global Muslim500 league

Friday, 22 November 2013 03:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Rishad listed with likes of Saudi Prince Alwaleed

“Rishad’s focus of influence is business”: Muslim500

Yet another Sri Lankan has entered the global Muslim500 league. The latest Muslim500 ranking – the annual list of 500 most influential Muslims in the world – has listed Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka, among this global group of 500

influential Muslims in its latest ranking. Bathiudeen is listed in the 2013/14 Muslim500 ranking with “business” mentioned as his “source of influence”. “Abdul Rishad Bathiudeen is the Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka. He has been hailed for serving thousands of forcibly evicted Northern Sri Lankan Muslims over the past 22 years. He also helped resettle 300,000 people displaced because of the war, regardless of their race or creed,” stated 2013/14 Muslim500, without elaborating any further. Bathiudeen is ranked in the ‘Influential In Business’ category with the likes of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (world’s 26th richest as per Forbes ranking), Talal Abu-Ghazaleh (accredited for introducing the concept of Intellectual Property to the Arab world), and Prince Mohammed Al-Faisal Al-Saud (for setting up world’s first modern bank on Islamic finance, located in Cairo). Bathiudeen is the fourth Sri Lankan to enter this ranking since 2010 – previous Lankan entrants being Jezima Ismail, Justice Saleem Marsoof and M.I.M. Rizvi Mufthi. Edited by Dr. Joseph Lumbard and Dr Aref Ali Nayed, the annual Muslim500 global ranking is published by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC), Amman, Jordan. RISSC is affiliated with an international Islamic non-governmental, independent institute called the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, headquartered in Amman.