No doubt, Halima Aden is the most influential on this influencer list, but she’s arguably also one of the most inspiring. Born to Somali parents, Halima was brought up in a Kenyan refugee camp until the age of six after the family home in Somalia was tragically burned down. After settling in Minnesota in the US, Halima was the first to do many things… The first Somali American to be crowned homecoming queen in her high school. The first woman to wear a hijab in a US beauty pageant. The first woman to wear a headscarf and burkini on the swimsuit cover of Sports Illustrated. As a woman and a Muslim she’s breaking down barriers wherever she goes, meaning she’s definitely one to watch.

That’s the thing, the stereotype is that Muslims want to come to this country and they want to change the rules, they want to change everything. That’s the opposite of what I want. I just want to participate.

@BeardedPashtun

Currently at 4414 followers on Instagram, Fahd, the man behind @beardedpashtun is growing rapidly. Aside from an epic handle name, Fahd’s aim is to ultimately ‘create posts that start conversations exploring potential solutions for issues that we face as young Muslims living in the West’. He’s taken this initiative to the real world as well with monthly gatherings in Birmingham where young Muslims can freely talk and build a community that many of us yearn for.

Don’t learn about Christianity from the Imam and Islam from the priest. Be fair and just.

Aida Azlin

Singapore born Aida Azlin has grown a solid community of Muslim women over the years through her beautiful love letters every Tuesday where she discusses topical issues, her thoughts and reflections of today’s society. With 100s of testimonials for her letters on her website, it’s clear that she connects with others on a seriously deeper level; such as one woman professing “I want to read Aida’s letters over & over as it reminds me of who I am. I’m Allah’s.”

Aïcha Sebaa

As a board licensed acupuncturist and clinical herbalist, Aïcha helps women in all phases of their life starting from acne issues as a teenager to menopausal conditions when women get older. Aïcha’s childhood love of nature led her to a career in natural and East Asian medicine as she believes that the human body is self healing and capable of much more than we tend to give credit to. Follow along on her social media as she instills her knowledge of all things health and wellness.

Despite the challenges that we all go through, fortunately, the human body is brilliant and has its own resilient self healing capacity that we just need to recognize and tap into.

Elena Nikolova

Ever wanted to find out how to do Ummrah for a lower price, or find more Muslim friendly travel destinations? Elena Nikolova is the answer to your questions. Her travel blog has grown to become the largest website covering Muslim and Halal travel.  As seen in the likes of BBC, Islam Channel, Business Traveller Middle East, Thomson Reuters and others, she’s definitely making her mark. She’s even written a book all about travel hacks on how to make your Ummrah experience under £300 if you really want!

Abdul Aziz

We end our fabulous list of influential Muslims on a light hearted note because Abdul Aziz aka Bin Baz is probably the funniest guy in the Middle East. He’s best known for his short few second videos about his everyday life in Dubai. Whether he’s pranking his friends or teaching Logan Paul Arab traditions, he’s always having a laugh and will definitely make you smile.