from the book by Michael Hart.A Citadel Press Book, published by Carol Publishing Group
Ranking of the twenty from the list of 100:

Prophet Muhammad
Isaac Newton
Jesus Christ
Buddha
Confucius
St. Paul
Ts'ai Lun
Johann Gutenberg
Christopher Columbus
Albert Einstein
Karl Marx
Louis Pasteur
Galileo Galilei
Aristotle
Lenin
Moses
Charles Darwin
Shih Huang Ti
Augustus Caesar
Mao Tse-tung
why MUHAMMAD CAME 1ST HE WROTE:
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. Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive. The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art, and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate. His economic position improved when, at age twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow. Nevertheless, as he approached forty, there was little outward indication that he was a remarkable person. Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many gods. There were, however, in Mecca, a small number of Jews and Christians; it was from them no doubt that Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who ruled the entire universe. When he was forty years old, Muhammad became convinced that this one true God (Allah) was speaking to him, and had chosen him to spread the true faith. For three years, Muhammad preached only to close friends and associates. Then, about 613, he began preaching in public. As he slowly gained converts, the Meccan authorities came to consider him a dangerous nuisance. In 622, fearing for his safety, Muhammad fled to Medina (a city some 200 miles north of Mecca), where he had been offered a position of considerable political power. This flight, called the Hegira, was the turning point of the Prophet's life. In Mecca, he had had few followers. In Medina, he had many more, and he soon acquired an influence that made him a virtual dictator. During the next few years, while Muhammad's following grew rapidly, a series of battles were fought between Medina and Mecca. This was ended in 630 with Muhammad's triumphant return to Mecca as conqueror. The remaining two and one-half years of his life witnessed the rapid conversion of the Arab tribes to the new religion.

When Muhammad died, in 632, he was the effective ruler of all of southern Arabia. The Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia had a reputation as fierce warriors. But their number was small; and plagued by disunity and internecine warfare, they had been no match for the larger armies of the kingdoms in the settled agricultural areas to the north. However, unified by Muhammad for the first time in history, and inspired by their fervent belief in the one true God, these small Arab armies now embarked upon one of the most astonishing series of conquests in human history. To the northeast of Arabia lay the large Neo-Persian Empire of the Sassanids; to the northwest lay the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople. Numerically, the Arabs were no match for their opponents. On the field of battle, though, the inspired Arabs rapidly conquered all of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. By 642, Egypt had been wrested from the Byzantine Empire, while the Persian armies had been crushed at the key battles of Qadisiya in 637, and Nehavend in 642. But even these enormous conquests, which were made under the leadership of Muhammad's close friends and immediate successors, Ali, Abu Bakr and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, did not mark the end of the Arab advance. By 711, the Arab armies had swept completely across North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean There they turned north and, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, overwhelmed the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.

For a while, it must have seemed that the Moslems would overwhelm all of Christian Europe. However, in 732, at the famous Battle of Tours, a Moslem army, which had advanced into the center of France, was at last defeated by the Franks. Nevertheless, in a scant century of fighting, these Bedouin tribesmen, inspired by the word of the Prophet, had carved out an empire stretching from the borders of India to the Atlantic Ocean-the largest empire that the world had yet seen. And everywhere that the armies conquered, large-scale conversion to the new faith eventually followed. Now, not all of these conquests proved permanent. The Persians, though they have remained faithful to the religion of the Prophet, have since regained their independence from the Arabs. And in Spain, more than seven centuries of warfare, finally resulted in the Christians reconquering the entire peninsula. However, Mesopotamia and Egypt, the two cradles of ancient civilization, have remained Moslem, as has the entire coast of North Africa. The new religion, of course, continued to spread, in the intervening centuries, far beyond the borders of the original Moslem conquests. Currently it has tens of millions of adherents in Africa and Central Asia and even more in Pakistan and northern India, and in Indonesia. In Indonesia, the new faith has been a unifying factor. In the Indian subcontinent, however, the conflict between Moslems and Hindus is still a major obstacle to unity.

How, then, is one to assess the overall impact of Muhammad on human history? Like all religions, Islam exerts an enormous influence upon the lives of its followers. It is for this reason that the founders of the world's great religions all figure prominently in this book. Since there are roughly twice as many Christians as Moslems in the world, it may initially seem strange that Muhammad has been ranked higher than Jesus. There are two principal reasons for that decision. First, Muhammad played a far more important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in the development of Christianity. Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as these differed from Judaism), St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament. Muhammad, however, was responsible for both the theology of Islam and its main ethical and moral principles. In addition, he played the key role in proselytizing the new faith, and in establishing the religious practices of Islam. Moreover, he is the author of the Moslem holy scriptures, the Koran, a collection of certain of Muhammad's insights that he believed had been directly revealed to him by Allah. Most of these utterances were copied more or less faithfully during Muhammad's lifetime and were collected together in authoritative form not long after his death. The Koran therefore, closely represents Muhammad's ideas and teachings and to a considerable extent his exact words. No such detailed compilation of the teachings of Christ has survived. Since the Koran is at least as important to Moslems as the Bible is to Christians, the influence of Muhammad through the medium of the Koran has been enormous. It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity.

On the purely religious level, then, it seems likely that Muhammad has been as influential in human history as Jesus. Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as a religious leader. In fact, as the driving force behind the Arab conquests, he may well rank as the most influential political leader of all time. Of many important historical events, one might say that they were inevitable and would have occurred even without the particular political leader who guided them. For example, the South American colonies would probably have won their independence from Spain even if Simon Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be said of the Arab conquests. Nothing similar had occurred before Muhammad, and there is no reason to believe that the conquests would have been achieved without him. The only comparable conquests in human history are those of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, which were primarily due to the influence of Genghis Khan. These conquests, however, though more extensive than those of the Arabs, did not prove permanent, and today the only areas occupied by the Mongols are those that they held prior to the time of Genghis Khan. It is far different with the conquests of the Arabs. From Iraq to Morocco, there extends a whole chain of Moslem nations united not merely by their faith in Islam, but also by their Arabic language, history, and culture.

The centrality of the Koran in the Moslem religion and the fact that it is written in Arabic have probably prevented the Arab language from breaking up into mutually unintelligible dialects, which might otherwise have occurred in the intervening thirteen centuries. Differences and divisions between these Arab states exist, of course, and they are considerable, but the partial disunity should not blind us to the important elements of unity that have continued to exist. For instance, neither Iran nor Indonesia, both oil-producing states and both Islamic in religion joined in the oil embargo of the winter of 1973-74. It is no coincidence that all of the Arab states, and only the Arab states, participated in the embargo. We see, then, that the Arab conquests of the seventh century have continued to play an important role in human history, down to the present day. It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.

For me, the most influencial man to walk the earth is JESUS, the saviour of my soul.

What's op talking about? Muhammed is your No1? Someone that declared Jihad that killed a lot of souls he refered to as 'infidels'. Someone that got married to under age kids and still encourage it. Just because you are muslim doesn't justify your claim. The greatest of all is our Lord Jesus Christ. The author and finisher of our faith. Noone to be compared with Him.

When I saw your no 1 and 2 I decided not to waste my valuable time . Write up was Dead on arrival.

The author's yardstick is biased.
Jesus died at ~33.5yrs. Mohammed started his ministry at 40. Jesus started at 30. Both didnt have equal time spans to operate in.

2) by God's plan, Jesus was to be a Seed, that when sown(in death) would reap a harvest. The main goal of his ministry was to die.
His life and ministry was geared to this end, it doesnt require much organization or strategy or resources to achieve this.
Hence the short ministry.

Mohammed's was to gather a following build an empire,conquer cities, establish a dynasty etc.
This required lots of man power,time and resources.

Comparing Jesus to Mohammed, when they had such differing objectives , is erroneous.
The writer, upholds Mohammad's,objective as the yardstick.

3) the author doesnt understand the strategy of Jesus.
Paul cannot be separated from Jesus. Because, paul's writings were not his own thoughts but God's thoughts. Therefore crediting paul(a vessel) for his accomplishments is myopic ignorance.
Jesus, through his Spirit would continue His ministry through,human vessels. That was the divine strategy. So whether the vessel were paul, peter,martin luther, charles wesley etc. It was God,Jesus, doing the works. Just like it was when Jesus walked the earth. Because of this Jesus has the greatest influence.
On the other hand,Muhammad is dead and buried.
Jesus is Risen! Still doing his works,directing His company (the Church) beyond the grave.

But Islam is living or thriving off the ideologies ,not the person, of the founder.

*laughing hysterically*

johnydon22:
[s] And a Chronic pedophile just became OP's most influential human and possibly his role model..

Sick Humans[/s]

is it the op who made the list?
you are yet to explain what makes him a pedophile,myopic Igbo.

johnydon22:

[s] Pedophilia: Sexual or erotic feelings/acts directed by adults towards Children.

Muhammed married a 6year old Child, masturbated on her thighs and popped her cherry when she was 9..

Now we know how he is a pedophilic pervert [/s]

" Pedophilia or paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children, generally age 11 years or younger"
can you show me where he masturbated on her thighs while she was 9 years old.Aisha(RA) was 13 when she came to live with him(SAW),moreover why should a pedophile marry her? all his other wives where widows,with some even older than him

tartar9:

" Pedophilia or paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children, generally age 11 years or younger"

I am so happy for this your definition cus it totally makes your holy prophet Mo a Psychiatric patient..

can you show me where he masturbated on her thighs while she was 9 years old.Aisha(RA) was 13 when she came to live with him(SAW),moreover why should a pedophile marry her? all his other wives where widows,with some even older than him

Please don't be Mo.. You are showing potential pedophilic tendencies by defending a pedophilic Perv

johnydon22:
I am so happy for this your definition cus it totally makes your holy prophet Mo a Psychiatric patient..
Please don't be Mo.. You are showing potential pedophilic tendencies by defending a pedophilic Perv

Igbo human,you are yet to answer the question;
" can you show me where he masturbated on her thighs/had sex while she was 9 years old.Aisha(RA) was 13 when she came to live with him(SAW),moreover why should a pedophile marry her? all his other wives where widows,with some even older than him"

Jesus should be 1st.

tartar9:

Igbo human,

Hahahaha always and proud

you are yet to answer the question;
" can you show me where he masturbated on her thighs/had sex while she was 9 years old.Aisha(RA) was 13 when she came to live with him(SAW),moreover why should a pedophile marry her? all his other wives where widows,with some even older than him"

I always like it when dudes desperately clutch on some indefensible lunacy..

@bolded ... Because he was a pedophile, if he wasn't he wouldn't marry and bleep a god damn 9 year old..

God is busy forbidding pork meat but not bleeping little Children ...

johnydon22:
Hahahaha always and proud
I always like it when dudes desperately clutch on some indefensible lunacy..

@bolded ... Because he was a pedophile, if he wasn't he wouldn't marry and bleep a god damn 9 year old..

God is busy forbidding pork meat but not bleeping little Children ...

I added that to strengthen a point,a 'pedophile' marrying her,someone he's going to spend the remainder of his life with,like she will remain 'a child' forever.and its like you can't reason pass sex.first of all show me he had sex with her while she was 9 years old.

That we still have thousands of lunatics killing innocent people on his behalf and blowing themselves up to go to islamic heaven(hell) 1,400 years after he was murdered by his child bride is a testament to how influential mohamed was but his influence pales in significance to that of the greatest entity that ever bestrode the earth, a man who mohamed used his name to gain credibility by claiming he was a prophet sent by this man's father and God, a man whose miracles and teachings remain un matched in all history, a man who spread the message of Love and made the world a better place, a man that has been exalted above all in the universe who is now the prince of peace and king okings, a man whom through him God created the world and who now sits at the right hand side of God as God's right hand man interceding for all man kind, a man who even according to muslim texts is coming back to judge the world and bring salvation to mankind, a man who even though he was the most powerful entity on earth humble himself to be a common poor man, a man whose message was so strong and convincing that two thousand years later people are still following him(without force of the sword or evil apotasy laws) a man who was without sin and was simply known as Jesus Christ is the greatest and most influential person that ever lived, he not only has influence over 2.2billion christians who acknowledge him as the son of God but also over 1.5billion muslims who claim he is their prophet. This automatically means that Jesus has influence over 3.7billion people compared to mohamed who has 1.5billion mostly mis informed followers of islam(80% of muslims will renounce islam if they truly knew the kind of vermin mohamed was) so it's crystal clear who the most influential person is.

Infact it can even be argued that mohamed's real influence is limited to those we label as islamist extremist, in truth these vermins are the only true muslims because they are the only ones the follow mohamed's teachings to the letter and engage in terrorism, jihad and other evil islamic activities. According to current statistics, muslims with extremist views account for 15 to 20% of all muslims and this are the people that are truly influenced my mohamed, the majority of muslims who subscribe to peaceful co existence are more influenced by the man they call prophet Isa who is better know as Jesus Christ the prince of peace.

tartar9:

" Pedophilia or paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children, generally age 11 years or younger"
can you show me where he masturbated on her thighs while she was 9 years old.Aisha(RA) was 13 when she came to live with him(SAW),moreover why should a pedophile marry her? all his other wives where widows,with some even older than him

Oh, thank God you are getting it gradually. So you are just aware that your prophet had a psychological disorder, thank God for that.

true2god:
Oh, thank God you are getting it gradually. So you are just aware that your prophet had a psychological disorder, thank God for that.

Why should any sane person believe and follow a man with psychological disorder or any disorder? It is only the Devil that can have anyone with any kind of disorder as his prophet. None of Yahweh's prophets had any disorder.

true2god:
Oh, thank God you are getting it gradually. So you are just aware that your prophet had a psychological disorder, thank God for that.

It's amazing the depressed boy knows that his prophet had psychological disorder yet he wants to kill himself because of this same deranged prophet, I wonder if that is the effect camel piss has on their brains.

true2god:
Oh, thank God you are getting it gradually. So you are just aware that your prophet had a psychological disorder, thank God for that.

who summoned this one

Annunaki:
[s]That we still have thousands of lunatics killing innocent people on his behalf and blowing themselves up to go to islamic heaven(hell) 1,400 years after he was murdered by his child bride is a testament to how influential mohamed was but his influence pales in significance to that of the greatest entity that ever bestrode the earth, a man who mohamed used his name to gain credibility by claiming he was a prophet sent by this man's father and God, a man whose miracles and teachings remain un matched in all history, a man who spread the message of Love and made the world a better place, a man that has been exalted above all in the universe who is now the prince of peace and king okings, a man whom through him God created the world and who now sits at the right hand side of God as God's right hand man interceding for all man kind, a man who even according to muslim texts is coming back to judge the world and bring salvation to mankind, a man who even though he was the most powerful entity on earth humble himself to be a common poor man, a man whose message was so strong and convincing that two thousand years later people are still following him(without force of the sword or evil apotasy laws) a man who was without sin and was simply known as Jesus Christ is the greatest and most influential person that ever lived, he not only has influence over 2.2billion christians who acknowledge him as the son of God but also over 1.5billion muslims who claim he is their prophet. This automatically means that Jesus has influence over 3.7billion people compared to mohamed who has 1.5billion mostly mis informed followers of islam(80% of muslims will renounce islam if they truly knew the kind of vermin mohamed was) so it's crystal clear who the most influential person is. [/s]

jesus was a jew so moses should be the most influential person ever,TRASH!

meanwhile johnnydon22 and co are yet to show me where He(SAW) had sex with 9 years old Aisha(RA).maybe he mistook Him(SAW) to be the crucified genocidal child killing rapist! lunatic the xtians worship.

tartar9:
meanwhile johnnydon22 and co are yet to show me where He(SAW) had sex with 9 years old Aisha(RA).maybe he mistook Him(SAW) to be the crucified genocidal child killing rapist! lunatic the xtians worship.

Are you so depressed you believe your own lies Cause every muslim I know admits that that mohamed was a perverted paedophile who molested aisha when she was only nine years old and it's clearly recorded in several of your pathetic sahih islamic books so no sane muslim can deny it.

Ye, there is negative influence and there is positive influence. If your followers imitate you and they cannot impact the world positively, you are negative, a bad, and evil influence.

if indeed the marriage of Aisha was something which was despicable even at that time and in that culture, this fact would never have been recorded for posterity and all efforts to conceal or cloud it would have been undertaken.

But the fact that this hadith had reached us after it was recorded centuries ago and to all the Muslim generations in between proved that the marriage was culturally and morally acceptable and the fact is also that the Muslim community at that time remained unshakened in its faith in his Prophethood and the message which he had brought bear testimony to this assertion.

Secondly - we have to look at the life of Aisha afterwards. She was without doubt one of the foremost scholars of Islam. It is even said that she had attained in her lifetime the position of Mufti - someone capable of giving religious rulings - a position very few Muslims will ever occupy.

She was seeked by many, both men and women, who hungered for knowledge and they came to her from all directions, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria. History does not know of any woman who was approached by so many for such a noble purpose.

If indeed she had became a victim of sexual abuse she would in most probability be devastated emotionally, psychologically, mentally and perhaps even physically but the achievements she had made in her life after the death of the Prophet proved that she was a woman who was in complete control of her faculties, becoming one of the intellectual giants of Islam.

And the fact that she had spoken so dearly of the Prophet was indicative of the innocence of the marriage and of the impeccable character of her husband because given the trust enjoyed by her by the virtue of her relationship with him, she could have unleashed a vengeful attack against him by attributing to him words or deeds of horrendous nature if indeed she was a victim of his supposed lust, destroying both the Prophet and Islam.

No sexual abuse victim would ever spoke positively of her attacker, much less becoming a channel that promote love and understanding of him and the message which he had brought.

Demmzy15:
It's your opinion and it holds no water. It's as useless as the "ay" in "okay"

Yeah! You are right! It's my opinion and I didn't force it like a concoction down ur quirky throat.


So dude take the chill pill

Annunaki:


[s]Are you so depressed you believe your own lies Cause every muslim I know admits that that mohamed was a perverted paedophile who molested aisha when she was only nine years old and it's clearly recorded in several of your pathetic sahih islamic books so no sane muslim can deny it[/s].

simply show me or shut up

I was expecting johnnydon22 to also show me;'pedophile' Muhammad(SAW) and 11 wives,all 'children' or even half 'children'

INJESUSNAME:
Ye, there is negative influence and there is positive influence. If your followers imitate you and they cannot impact the world positively, you are negative, a bad, and evil influence.

mohammed comes to mind negative influence