1000 Muslims

The 1000 Muslims app contains a selection of the most influential Muslims between the 7th and 20th century (600 to 1900 AD) in multiple fields. The selection is subjective based on our research but aims to provide equal balance between relevance, influence and contribution to Islamic civilisation in each person’s specialist field.

Persons are selected from significant empires, caliphates, sultanates and dynasties. These entities occupied the largest Islamic territories of their time and had the greatest impact on the progress of Islamic civilisation:

Rashidun Caliphate, Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate, Seljuk Empire, Ayyubid Dynasty, Anushtegin Dynasty, Khwarazmian Empire, Timurid Empire, Mamluk Sultanate, Ottoman Empire, Safavids Dynasty, Mughal Empire, Delhi Sultanate and Khalji Sultanate.

The selection also caters for geography wherever Islam has prospered: Arabia, Levant, Egypt, Iraq, Iran (Persia), North Africa (Tunis, Libya, Algeria, Morroco), Spain, Yemen, India, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and others.

The selection covers a wide spectrum of fields: Science, Art, Politics, Economics, Religion, Government, with deliberate balancing of choice (hence no singular field is dominant).

Specific Selection Criteria

o Born between 600 and 1900 AD (7th to 20th century).

o Must have a Wikipedia page; the overwhelming majority of selections have links to BOTH their English and Arabic pages. The user/reader can then review the relevant page, in their preferred language, for further study.

o All rulers of significant empires, caliphates, sultanates and dynasties are included. Some rulers had more significant impact than others (who may have ruled only for a few months), but within each entity all rulers are included to ensure an unbroken sequence of government (for the app Lists feature).

o Scientists in multiple fields of study (mathematics, physics, astronomy, astrology, chemistry/alchemy, etc.) are covered extensively, including polymaths, so are religious leaders, poets, historians, biographers, geographers, navigators, cryptographers, inventors, aviators and others who excelled in their fields.

o Early Islam figures (Ahl al-Bayt and the Sahabah) are selected to ensure due respect and remembrance of their contribution to Islam advancement.

o Persons with notable and tangible contributions in their field are prioritised. Examples: significant battles, well-known poems, recognised books, religious jurisprudence, important discoveries, pioneering experiments, and so forth.

To fulfil the above criteria, a wide (horizontal) selection was implementedy, to ensure balance between most fields, geographies, time spans, and dynasties. Hence, some worthy persons may not have been included due to the app 1000 criteria.

Examples of preferred selections: scientists and religious leaders with published widely-recognised books, rulers who governed for longer periods, military leaders who won significant history-changing battles, and pioneers in discoveries and inventions.

User Feedback:
If you feel a specific person should be included in future app versions, please contact us on the website 1000muslims.com (with English and Arabic Wikipedia URLs).

Images / Photos
Wikipedia, and many websites, do not publish personal images of leading Islamic figures and many others, especially in the eras of the Prophet & Rashidun. To avoid a ‘dry’ textual entries, we have used professional Islamic illustrations instead. We are confident the app users will appreciate the beauty and elegance of the illustrative images.

Sort Criteria:
Muhammad / Mohammad: Use Wikipedia standard (so, Muhammad)
Omar / Umar: Use Wikipedia standard (so, Umar and Uthman)
Use all prefixes Bin, Ibn, Abu, Al.
Remove all titles: Caliph, Sultan, Khan, Shah, Emperor, Amir
Use family or known-as names (e.g., Kindy, Sina, Rushd, Haytham, Razi)
Main Islamic leaders: use first or known-as name (e.g., Ali not Muttalib, Khalid not Walid)