The authors of the book have used an arbitrary figure (without giving any source of information) of 4.5 million for the American Muslims while according to a CAIR study of 2000 the American Muslim population is estimated between six and seven million. Based in part on that report, most media organizations, as well as the White House and the State Department, have said that there are at least 6 million Muslims in the country. However, the PEW Research Center's one million dollar agenda-driven survey of American Muslims in 2007 said that the population of the American Muslim community is no more than 2.35 million. Tellingly the PEW figure is closer to the estimates announced by the American Jewish Committee in October 2001. The AJC study -- titled Estimating the Muslim Population in the United States - claimed that the best estimate of Muslims in the United States is 2.8 million at most. The 2007 PEW survey, just like the AJC report, was another desperate attempt to discount the role and undercut the influence of American Muslims. For more about the issue of American Muslim demography, please read: Hidden agenda of PEW Center's million dollar survey of American Muslims http://www.amperspective.com/html/hidden_agenda_of_pew.html
The famous Roman Consul Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla, whom the Roman people used to regard as a very honest and wise judge, was in the habit of asking, time and again, Cui bono - To whose benefits? Let the maxim of Cassius apply to the list of the 500 Most Influential Muslims of the World.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine the American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com email: asghazali@gmail.com
