Muhammad - the Most Influential Person in History\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Home | New <\/small><\/small>|\r\nIslam | God | Revelation | Back to Messengers | Religions | Converts | Links | Chat | Search | Email<\/small><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n Muhammad - the Most Influential\r\nPerson in History<\/big><\/big><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n From The\r\n100, a ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History by Michael H. Hart<\/small><\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the\r\nworld's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by\r\nothers, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the\r\nreligious and secular levels. <\/small><\/p>\r\n\r\n Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of\r\nthe world's great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today,\r\nthirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive. The\r\nmajority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers\r\nof civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was\r\nborn in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backward\r\narea of the world, far from the centers of trade, art, and learning. Orphaned at age six,\r\nhe was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate.\r\nHis economic position improved when, at age twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow.\r\nNevertheless, as he approached forty, there was little outward indication that he was a\r\nremarkable person. Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many gods. There\r\nwere, however, in Mecca, a small number of Jews and Christians; it was from them no doubt\r\nthat Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who ruled the entire universe. <\/small><\/p>\r\n\r\n When he was forty years old, Muhammad became convinced that\r\nthis one true God (Allah) was speaking to him, and had chosen him to spread the true\r\nfaith. For three years, Muhammad preached only to close friends and associates. Then,\r\nabout 613, he began preaching in public. As he slowly gained converts, the Meccan\r\nauthorities came to consider him a dangerous nuisance. In 622, fearing for his safety,\r\nMuhammad fled to Medina (a city some 200 miles north of Mecca), where he had been offered\r\na position of considerable political power. This flight, called the Hegira, was the\r\nturning point of the Prophet's life. In Mecca, he had had few followers. In Medina, he had\r\nmany more, and he soon acquired an influence that made him a virtual dictator. During the\r\nnext few years, while Muhammad s following grew rapidly, a series of battles were fought\r\nbetween Medina and Mecca. This was ended in 630 with Muhammad's triumphant return to Mecca\r\nas conqueror. The remaining two and one-half years of his life witnessed the rapid\r\nconversion of the Arab tribes to the new religion. When Muhammad died, in 632, he was the\r\neffective ruler of all of southern Arabia. The Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia had a\r\nreputation as fierce warriors. But their number was small; and plagued by disunity and\r\ninternecine warfare, they had been no match for the larger armies of the kingdoms in the\r\nsettled agricultural areas to the north. However, unified by Muhammad for the first time\r\nin history, and inspired by their fervent belief in the one true God, these small Arab\r\narmies now embarked upon one of the most astonishing series of conquests in human history.\r\nTo the northeast of Arabia lay the large Neo-Persian Empire of the Sassanids; to the\r\nnorthwest lay the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople.\r\nNumerically, the Arabs were no match for their opponents. On the field of battle, though,\r\nthe inspired Arabs rapidly conquered all of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. By 642,\r\nEgypt had been wrested from the Byzantine Empire, while the Persian armies had been\r\ncrushed at the key battles of Qadisiya in 637, and Nehavend in 642.<\/small><\/p>\r\n\r\n But even these enormous conquests-which were made under the\r\nleadership of Muhammad's close friends and immediate successors, Abu Bakr and 'Umar ibn\r\nal-Khattab -did not mark the end of the Arab advance. By 711, the Arab armies had swept\r\ncompletely across North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean There they turned north and, crossing\r\nthe Strait of Gibraltar, overwhelmed the Visigothic kingdom in Spain. For a while, it must\r\nhave seemed that the Moslems would overwhelm all of Christian Europe. However, in 732, at\r\nthe famous Battle of Tours, a Moslem army, which had advanced into the center of France,\r\nwas at last defeated by the Franks. Nevertheless, in a scant century of fighting, these\r\nBedouin tribesmen, inspired by the word of the Prophet, had carved out an empire\r\nstretching from the borders of India to the Atlantic Ocean-the largest empire that the\r\nworld had yet seen. And everywhere that the armies conquered, large-scale conversion to\r\nthe new faith eventually followed. Now, not all of these conquests proved permanent. The\r\nPersians, though they have remained faithful to the religion of the Prophet, have since\r\nregained their independence from the Arabs. And in Spain, more than seven centuries of\r\nwarfare finally resulted in the Christians reconquering the entire peninsula. However,\r\nMesopotamia and Egypt, the two cradles of ancient civilization, have remained Arab, as has\r\nthe entire coast of North Africa. The new religion, of course, continued to spread, in the\r\nintervening centuries, far beyond the borders of the original Moslem conquests. Currently\r\nit has tens of millions of adherents in Africa and Central Asia and even more in Pakistan\r\nand northern India, and in Indonesia. In Indonesia, the new faith has been a unifying\r\nfactor. In the Indian subcontinent, however, the conflict between Moslems and Hindus is\r\nstill a major obstacle to unity.<\/small><\/p>\r\n\r\n How, then, is one to assess the overall impact of Muhammad\r\non human history? Like all religions, Islam exerts an enormous influence upon the lives of\r\nits followers. It is for this reason that the founders of the world's great religions all\r\nfigure prominently in this book . Since there are roughly twice as many Christians as\r\nMoslems in the world, it may initially seem strange that Muhammad has been ranked higher\r\nthan Jesus. There are two principal reasons for that decision. First, Muhammad played a\r\nfar more important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in the development of\r\nChristianity. Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of\r\nChristianity (insofar as these differed from Judaism), St. Paul was the main developer of\r\nChristian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the\r\nNew Testament. Muhammad, however, was responsible for both the theology of Islam and its\r\nmain ethical and moral principles. In addition, he played the key role in proselytizing\r\nthe new faith, and in establishing the religious practices of Islam. Moreover, he is the\r\nauthor of the Moslem holy scriptures, the Koran, a collection of certain of Muhammad's\r\ninsights that he believed had been directly revealed to him by Allah. Most of these\r\nutterances were copied more or less faithfully during Muhammad's lifetime and were\r\ncollected together in authoritative form not long after his death. The Koran therefore,\r\nclosely represents Muhammad's ideas and teachings and to a considerable extent his exact\r\nwords. No such detailed compilation of the teachings of Christ has survived. Since the\r\nKoran is at least as important to Moslems as the Bible is to Christians, the influence of\r\nMuhammed through the medium of the Koran has been enormous It is probable that the\r\nrelative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of\r\nJesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. On the purely religious level, then, it seems\r\nlikely that Muhammad has been as influential in human history as Jesus. Furthermore,\r\nMuhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as a religious leader. In fact, as the\r\ndriving force behind the Arab conquests, he may well rank as the most influential\r\npolitical leader of all time. Of many important historical events, one might say that they\r\nwere inevitable and would have occurred even without the particular political leader who\r\nguided them. For example, the South American colonies would probably have won their\r\nindependence from Spain even if Simon Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be said of\r\nthe Arab conquests. Nothing similar had occurred before Muhammad, and there is no reason\r\nto believe that the conquests would have been achieved without him. The only comparable\r\nconquests in human history are those of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, which were\r\nprimarily due to the influence of Genghis Khan. These conquests, however, though more\r\nextensive than those of the Arabs, did not prove permanent, and today the only areas\r\noccupied by the Mongols are those that they held prior to the time of Genghis Khan. It is\r\nfar different with the conquests of the Arabs. From Iraq to Morocco, there extends a whole\r\nchain of Arab nations united not merely by their faith in Islam, but also by their Arabic\r\nlanguage, history, and culture. The centrality of the Koran in the Moslem religion and the\r\nfact that it is written in Arabic have probably prevented the Arab language from breaking\r\nup into mutually unintelligible dialects, which might otherwise have occurred in the\r\nintervening thirteen centuries. Differences and divisions between these Arab states exist,\r\nof course, and they are considerable, but the partial disunity should not blind us to the\r\nimportant elements of unity that have continued to exist. For instance, neither Iran nor\r\nIndonesia, both oil-producing states and both Islamic in religion, joined in the oil\r\nembargo of the winter of 1973-74. It is no coincidence that all of the Arab states, and\r\nonly the Arab states, participated in the embargo. We see, then, that the Arab conquests\r\nof the seventh century have continued to play an important role in human history, down to\r\nthe present day. It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence\r\nwhich I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in\r\nhuman history. <\/small><\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n Home | New <\/small><\/small>|\r\nIslam | God | Revelation | Back to Messengers | Religions | Converts | Links | Chat | Search | Email<\/small><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/thetruereligion.org\/index.htm","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels. \r\n\r\n","numcomment":4,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2002\/10\/19733.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":19773,"heading":"Proud Infidel","article":"Dream on faggot.....","author":"john Buchanan","parent_id":19733,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2002-10-08 22:46:22","modified":"2002-10-08 22:46:22","fileurl":""},{"id":20017,"heading":".","article":".rgesjykl\r\nsveliighlf","author":".","parent_id":19733,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2002-10-12 21:43:42","modified":"2002-10-12 21:43:42","fileurl":""},{"id":20247,"heading":"Don't be so close-minded !!! Yes, Muhammad was VERY successful!!","article":"The man who calls himself "Proud infidel" DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT... He may not even know what an infidel (truly) is... \r\n\r\nNow I don't believe in the concept if Infidel either..., BUT IT IS TRUE THAT MUHAMMAD was HIGHLY logical and empirical... In the beginning of the Qu'ran, individuals were asked to seek the truth themselves.. (Something I DEFINIETLY defend and agree with ..) also: much of the teachings expressed that "God is in all things"... ... among other teachings.. (When one interprets Ji'had as a STRIVING FOR PERFECTION = = the anti-thesis of complacency and "non-active acceptance of less than what one knows is just or correct" the concept of "sacred struggle" becomes VERy APPLICABLE (aspecially in light of the CREATIVE FORCE\/POWER WITHIN EACH OF US... \r\n(Which CAN BE GIVEn MANY NAMES...: infinite light, love, and creative force.. = = God = = Allah... )\r\n\r\nNote: In Islam, God is seen as within all things, and all individuals can find that truth\/ (or "know that truth" inherently....) THIS IS LOGICALLY CONSISTENCE WITH THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE (the laws of physics, and supposes that INDIVIDUALS CAN LOGICALLY ARRIVE AT TRUTHS INDEPENDENTLY... (Note: Truth experienced directly WILL BE CONSISTENT.. (and as in the empirical sciences: can be reproduced..)\r\n\r\nSo: it encourages individual thought, logic and the seeking of knowledge-- (it does NOT contradict with science !!!), and it refers to truths that can apply to the individual... (So it can apply of the MYSTICAL LEVEL and the internal level.. \r\n\r\nIslam, refers to many GENERAL CONCEPTS which can be seen in any individual... and which EXIST on a UNIVERSAL scale: at made a discovery of many of these "truths"... (And there are others in other religions, and some ("non-religious"... Though Love and consciousness\/ creation exists throughout ALL OF THE UNIVERSE...\r\n\r\nMANY RELEIGIONS, AND LAWS OF PHYSICS, etc SIMPLY SAY VERY MUCh THE SAME THING in different words\/contexts... \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThere is more to Islamic history , and to what the Qu'ran (was ACTUALLY saying) than you realize... Besides, the Arab (not all Arabs were Muslim...) world (AS WELL ) has MANY POSITIVE qualities.... \r\n\r\nDO NOT assume of discount all of them... (based upon superficial prejudices...!! AND HORRENDOUS MISUNDERSTANDINGS.... (propaganda...etc etc etc, assumption... etc etc etc..)","author":"Erin Emerson","parent_id":19733,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2002-10-18 04:46:51","modified":"2002-10-18 04:46:51","fileurl":""}]}