Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad speaks during their first annual general meeting in Putrajaya December 29, 2018. ― Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been named The Muslim 500’s 2019 Muslim Man of the Year by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan.

In the list honouring the most influential Muslims across the globe, Dr Mahathir was feted both for his long list of achievements that included his leading an unlikely band of opposition parties to depose one of the oldest ruling regimes in the world.

“The Muslim Man of the Year is Tun Dr Mahathir, prime minister of Malaysia — the second

time he has served in this position — and at 93 years old Mahathir is now the world’s oldest sitting head of government.

“This quite extraordinary man has had a dynamic political career spanning 70 years and yet at the same time been the author of 17 published books,” read the entry of Dr Mahathir in the ebook announcing this year’s The Muslim 500.

Opposite Dr Mahathir as Muslim Woman of the Year is Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teen who publicly hit an Israeli soldier last year.

On the actual The Muslim 500, Dr Mahathir was 44th in the list topped by Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein.

Other Malaysian entrants in The Muslim 500 include PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who were both included in the political category.

For the academic category, Malaysia provided Datuk Afifi al-Akiti (KFAS Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies), philosopher Tan Sri D. Syed Muhammad al Naquib Ali al-Attas, and Dr Osman Bakar (Al-Ghaz-zali Chair of Epistemology and Civilizational Studies and Renewal at Istac, International Islamic University Malaysia).

In the subcategory of the Top 100 Most Influential in last decade, Anwar was 80th, ahead of Dr Mahathir who was 96th and the late Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat who was accorded 99th place.