A former military dictator, Mr Buhari was listed as the 17th most powerful Muslim and the 10th most powerful Muslim politician in the world in the latest ranking of the respected Muslim 500 publication.

PIX: BUHARI IN MECCA; SULTAN OF SOKOTO

The Muslim 500, a religious publication that rates important Islamic faithful worldwide, has ranked President Muhammadu Buhari as the 17th most powerful Muslim.

A former military dictator, Mr Buhari was listed as the 17th most powerful Muslim and the 10th most powerful Muslim politician in the world in the latest ranking of the respected Muslim 500 publication, seen by Peoples Gazette on Sunday night.

The Nigerian leader has been ranked among the top 50 Muslims globally since 2015, when he assumed office as a democratic head of state.

Mr Buhari was ranked 17th, trailing King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia (1), Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (4), President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (8), King Mohammed VI of Morocco (7), President of Indonesia President Joko Widodo (13) and other influential Islamic scholars.

According to the report, he was named the 17th most powerful Muslim figure among the roughly 1.94 billion Muslims today.

Muhammadu Sa’adu Abubakar III, Sultan of Sokoto, also made the list, coming in at number 18 just after Mr Buhari.

The report detailed that around one-fourth of all people on earth are devout Muslims.

In the who’s who of the Islamic world, Muslim 500 stated, “The Top 50 individuals are ranked and listed first. The remaining 450 names are then listed (not ranked) in categories of influence, with a small number also chosen to be in our Honourable Mentions section to value the notable contributions made in their fields.”

It added, “The individuals are ordered in each category according to geographical region (Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America, South America), then in alphabetical order by country and finally by surname. This publication combines aspects of a review of the past year, including a timeline and statistics, but it also hopes to serve as a prospective guide to the new year, much like a Who’s Who.”