Srinagar, Oct 07 : Jamia Masjid’s head cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has once again been chosen to the list of 500 most influential Muslim personalities across the globe by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan for the year 2025.
As per the news agency, Mirwaiz has been included in the “Muslim500” for the 11th time in a row by RISSC, Jordon.
On Mirwaiz, RISSC Jordan said, “He has been advocating dialogue with both India and Pakistan so that the aspirations of the Kashmiri people may be realised.” Specifically mentioning Mirwaiz’s four-year-long house arrest, it stated that his release in September and his attendance at Jama Masjid elicited an emotional response.
The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre is an independent research entity affiliated with the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, an international Islamic non-governmental institute headquartered in Amman, the capital of Jordan.
As per the “Muslim500”, Dr Farooq inherited the 14th Mirwaiz (Traditional preacher of Muslims in Kashmir) in 1990 at the age of 17 after the assassination of his father. At the young age of 20 he became Chairman and Founder of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a grassroots coalition of pro-freedom parties in Jammu and Kashmir. He has raised the Kashmiri problem at the UN, the EU parliament, and the IOC, advocating dialogue with both India and Pakistan so that the aspirations of the Kashmiri people may be realised. After being placed under house arrest in August 2019, he was eventually granted permission to leave in September 2023 and his attendance at prayers elicited an emotional response
