Muslim socialists

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician, and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until his overthrow by Libyan rebel forces in 2011 during the First Libyan Civil War. He came to power through a bloodless military coup, first becoming Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977, Secretary General of the General People's Congress from 1977 to 1979, and then the Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1979 to 2011. Initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Gaddafi later ruled according to his own Third International Theory.

Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of the Ba'ath Party, he was a proponent of Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. The policies and ideologies he championed are collectively known as Saddamism, a right-wing variant of Ba'athism.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani female education activist, and producer of film and television. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, receiving the Peace Prize in 2014 at age 17, and is the second Pakistani and the only Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize. Yousafzai is a human rights advocate for the education of women and children in her native district, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement, and according to former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become Pakistan's "most prominent citizen".

Palestinian political leader (1929–2004) and Former President of the Palestinian National Authority (1994-2004)

President of Syrian Arab Republic from 2000 to 2024

Malcolm X was an African American revolutionary and Black nationalist leader who rose from a background of poverty, family disruption, and criminal activity to a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965. He discovered the religious organization the Nation of Islam while in prison and served as its spokesperson from 1952 until 1964. He was also a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the African American community. A controversial figure accused of preaching violence, Malcolm X is also a celebrated figure with Black people and Muslims worldwide for his pursuit of racial justice.

President of Egypt from 1956 to 1970

Sukarno (born Koesno Sosrodihardjo; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, activist, and revolutionary who served as the first president of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967.

President of Syria from 1971 to 2000

President of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh and the 2nd Prime Minister and first President of Bangladesh

4th President and 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan (1928–1979)

Zohran Kwame Mamdani is an American politician who has served as the 112th mayor of New York City since January 2026. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani served from 2021 to 2025 as a member of the New York State Assembly for the 36th district, representing Astoria, Queens.

President of Algeria from 1963 to 1965

President of Tanzania since 2021

The national Palestinian poet, and author (1941–2008)

President of Guinea from 2010 to 2021

President of Guinea (1922-1984)

4th General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan

Head of State of Algeria from 1965 to 1978

French philosopher, politician and Holocaust denier (1913-2012)

Political activist and Islamic ideologist (1838–1897)

Pashtun independence activist against British rule in India

Iraqi president (1914–1982)

Malian politician and President of Mali (1915-1977)

Iraqi politician (1921-1966)

President of Iraq from 1966 to 1968

President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana

American politician and lawyer (born 1976)

President of Djibouti (1916-2006)

President of Algeria from 1979 to 1992

Sudanese President (1931-2009)

President of Mauritania from 1960 to 1978

Pakistani Urdu poet and author (1911–1984)

Sahrawi diplomat and politician

Sahrawi politician

Iraqi military and politician (1942-2020)

Soviet politician (1892-1940)

Syrian politician (1912-1980)

Iraqi politician, academic and pan-Arab nationalist (1913–1973)

communist Indonesian politician (1897-1949)

Indonesian communist politician (1923–1965)

Uzbek politician (1896-1938)

writer, thinker, and social and political critic (1923-1969)

Prime Minister of Indonesia (1909–1966)

writer and politician (1885-1938)

Indonesian politician (1884–1954)

British journalist, war correspondent and political activist

pioneer of modern Kazakh literature (1894-1938)

Egyptian writer, professor, and human rights activist (1945–1992)

Syrian politician (1912–1996)

American mixed martial artist

Syrian theologian and philosopher (1855–1902)

leader of South Yemen from 1980 to 1986

British politician

Indian activist

Uzbek writer

President of South Yemen (1939-1986)

Chinese Islamic scholar and translator (1906–1978)

Indian independence activist and an Urdu language poet

Bangladeshi political leader (1880–1976)