Musa RazaM. S. Abdullah's Reasons Why Muhammad (Not Jesus) Should be Ranked as Most Influential Person in History

Musa RazaM. S. Abdullah's
Reasons Why Muhammad (Not Jesus)
Should be Ranked as Most Influential Person in History

For the most part Hart's list is accurately ranked and well rationalized.

Clearly, Muhammad has affected the lives of a great many people on the planet and, coupled with the fanatical influence of the Quran on world population, including Christians, deserves to be ranked first. By similar rationale of how religion has affected the number of people in the world, alive and dead, Buddha and Confucius, whose teaching pervade the lives, and are followed by, even many Christians, should be ranked slightly ahead of Jesus Christ.

Philo Farnsworth should be added to the list without saying as the inventor of the television.

I agree with Jukka Vatanen of Finland, Nicola Tesla does precede Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi brought the radio to contemporary society, where it was made popular, but Tesla made it work first.

Hernando Cortes, ranked at 63, is not noted [in the "Influence" column of table] for genocide of the Aztecs [but this notation should be added]; through introduction of disease and war he led the obliteration of the way of life for over 25 million people. This definitely puts him ahead of Francisco Pizarro and, in some ways, even ahead of Adolf Hitler for eliminating a way of life in the world for so many people before it's time.

Johann Sebastian Bach does not deserve the ranking of 72. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is far more widely recognized over time. At any rate, any composer, including Ludwig van Beethoven ranked at 45, should be ranked in the runner up section, at best. While many composers throughout history have touched the lives of others in some way, all others in the list affected a way of life for a great many people.

Nicoli Machiavelli is noted for The Prince, but there is no mention of Sun Tzu for The Art of War in the ranking. Sun Tzu's writings should rank ahead of Nicoli Machiavelli for influencing both military and personal achievement and because it is still read and used by leaders today.

John F. Kennedy should not be in the list; he is a runner up at best, but certainly not ranked ahead of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Henry Ford should note for his achievement in manufacturing and assembly, as well as development of the automobile. His ranking should not change.

Mikhail Gorbachev affected all of Russia, Europe, and North America, by ending the Cold War through Glasnost, nearly a religion in itself. Personally, for this achievement, I would rank Mikhail Gorbachev 28, right behind Karl Marx. By similar reasoning for the bringing together the Chinese, I would rank Sui Wen Ti at 69, behind William the Conqueror.

Finally, I would add Miguel de Cervantes to the list at a rank of 45, behind John Locke for his prolific literature, including having an influence on William Shakespeare, but, more importantly, for influencing the way many people write and read by the example of the revolutionary style of the flowing narrative he is famous for: Don Quixote.

Dr. M. A. Hafeez: 
Ibn Nafis instead of William Harvey first described the circulation of blood

A Muslim biologist wrote to suggest that British scientist William Harvey should be replaced with Muslim scientist Ibn-e-Nafis:

I looked through the list of 100 most influential personalities, by Hart... On circulation of blood the author gives credit to William Harvey (1578-1657). It was Ibn-e-Nafis (Allauddin Abul Hassan ali-bin-abi-al-Hazm al Qarshi-ud-Damishqui, 1210-1288, Damascus) who has been historically and correctly credited with discovery of circulation of blood. If the idea is to give credit to Harvey as a scientist, it would be fair to include him in the list but if importance is placed on discovery of circulation of blood, then Ibn-e-Nafis should replace him.

Dr. Hafeez was very fair-minded in noting that Harvey may have been included for the sum of his contributions to science, and not simply for "discovering" the circulation of blood. Indeed, this is the case. In the "influence" column next to Harvey's name we previously mentioned only "discovery of the circulation of blood," which is does not do justice to all that Harvey did, and it does not do justice to all that historian Michael H. Hart discusses in the Harvey chapter of his book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. In response to Dr. Hafeez's letter, I replaced "discovered" with "described," although this should not be taken to mean that Harvey was the first to describe the circulation of blood. But his 1628 book An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals was certainly immeasurably influential on Western medical practice. I also added a note about Harvey's 1651 Essays on the Generation of Animals, which is the basis for modern embryology.

None of this takes away from what Ibn Nafis accomplished.

Mark Soakai: 

Mark Soakai, a native of Tonga who lives in San Diego, California wrote:

I really appreciate the time and effort you have spent to create this great website... I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it bothers me that the founder of our church is not listed on the list of "History's 100 Most Influential People." Consider these facts:

1) 14th largest church in the world with more that 12 million and counting 

You can work in to any Marriott Hotel in the world and you will find a Book of Mormon in their Hotel rooms. If it wasn't for Joseph Smith, there would never be a Brigham Young University. Apart from our love of sports, BYU is listed by US News (USNews.com) as on of the Top 50 Business Schools (ranked 40), and also one of the Top 50 Law Schools (ranked 35).

I am hoping that one day, may be someone else other than the 12 million plus members of our church members will give this man, Joseph Smith, some credit.

I hope this facts alone will earn Joseph Smith the right to be at least in the top among History's 100 Most Influential People. Thank you for what you do and all these informations you gathered and make it available for us to see on the internet.

Hamzah Jaradat: 
Mohammad is the not the author of the Qu'ran

Hamzah Jaradat of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada wrote (26 April 2005):

The sole author of the Qu'ran is not Mohammad, but God, this is a belief that all Muslims share. Mr. Hart's comments stating that Mohammad is the author of the Qu'ran are incorrect. The Qu'ran was sent to Mohammad piece by piece through memorization by the angle Jibreel (sent by God); Mr. Hart stated that Mohammad's thoughts and ideas were put into the Qu'ran by Mohammad. This is untrue, as I mentioned above; the sole author of the Qu'ran is Allah (meaning God in Arabic or Aramaic).

However, Mohammad did show the Muslims (his companions) the way to lead a life successfully, happily and in an Islamic manner. He would talk, and share his ideas and thoughts with his companions. Muslims believe that this, his thoughts and knowledge, were a gift from God after Mohammad began his prophetic journey. His thoughts and ideas are a great part of the fundamental Islamic belief and lifestyle. Mohammad's teachings are called Sunnah. An example of the Sunnah is as follows: The prophet used to pray 7 times a day while the only mandatory requirements (from Allah) were 5; some people today pray 7 times a day just like the prophet Mohammad (Sunnah) although it is not mandatory.

Mr. Hart was incorrect in stating that the author of the Qu'ran is Mohammad, as I have briefly explained, the creator of the Qu'ran is Allah and not Mohammad. I hope to have informed you about the truth behind the Qu'ran and its author.



Nauman Awan: 
Mohammad deserves to be ranked first. There are far more Muslim prayers than Christian prayers.

Nauman Awan (nauman.awan@ntlworld.com) sent us the following on 12 August 2005:

This is to support the authors Michael H. Hart's decision in his book, History's 100 Most Influential People.

According to him MUHAMMAD (SAW) deserves the first ranking. I have a very simple example and argument to support this decision. We Muslims, pray five times a day and before pray we give ADAN, a mandatory act to say our NAMAZ (PRAY). During ADAN we say that "MUHAMMAD IS THE LAST PROPHET OF ALLAH". This process continues 24 hrs a day in the whole world as you can well imagine our prayer timings, which changes due to longitude and latitude. That means if it is sunrise in east than we will say our morning pray while west Muslims will say their night pray. So in this way ADAN is being going on 24 hrs a day throughout the world.

With all kind respect for Mr. Paul, his argument of JESUS NAME in 6 billion books and MUHAMMAD'S in 1 billion has no solid ground, without any proved research. And if it is there i.e. proved, can you compare a person whom NAME is being respectably called 24 hrs a day through out the whole world in groups of trillions of people, with a person whose NAME is called out only once in a week as a group. A PROPHET who carries a book from ALLAH (GOD), which has not been changed after 14 centuries, can you compare HIM with a PROPHET whose book itself has been changed many times?

MUHAMMAD was sent by ALLAH and ALLAH REVEALED QURAN ON HIM, it is not HIS BOOK and ALLAH ALSO REVEALED BIBLE ON JESUS. Why QURAN has not been changed yet or no body has dared to change it? Because responsibility of protecting QURAN is being taken by ALLAH (GOD).

The original version of BIBLE itself tells an incident in which JESUS was telling his followers about MUHAMMAD, who would come after HIM but with a long gap. And also HE is ordering them to follow HIM because HE WOULD BE LAST ONE AND THE LEADER OF ALL THE PROPHETS.

Being MUSLIMS we also believe that JESUS is alive and HE will come back when ALLAH (GOD) will ask HIM TO DO SO. But HE WILL COME AS A FOLLOWER OF MUHAMMAD BECAUSE HE WILL BE COMING IN MUHAMMADS ERA WHICH IS TILL THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT and no one can now come from ALLAH saying that I am the last prophet, because MUHAMMAD IS THE LAST PROPHET - THE NUMBER ONE and also THERE IS NO NEED OF ANY PROPHET BECAUSE HE HAS TOLD US EACH AND EVERYTHING THAT IS TO BE NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND THIS LIFE AND THE LIFE AFTER DEATH THROUGH QURAN AND THOURGH HIS HADITHS AND DEEDS (SUUNAH).

The above arguments are made just to support the author’s point of view and have no intention to harm any Religion's credibility, or to harm any personal feelings. These arguments are made just to support authors decision and not to let any others arguments down or not to negate his understanding about author's point of view.



Guralivu Paul: 
Christ should be first. Here's why

Guralivu Paul [lukka2019@yahoo.com] wrote (4 July 2005):

With all respect for Muslims, Jesus Christ should be first because:

* Everybody has a belief about Him. For example, Christians say He is God. Muslims say He is a prophet. Hindus says He is an incarnation of Krishna. Buddhists say He is only another path. 

* Napoleon said that Jesus is the greatest man that ever lived. This is because He shares with us His divine love. Jesus has a great empire of love, and it remains with us after 2000 years. Many people had empires, but where are these empires today?

* Every year 6 million Muslims leave Islam for Christ in Africa alone. (Ahmad Al Katani said this.)

* Jesus should be the first because everybody agrees that He is alive. 

I don't understand why Issac Newton is listed at #2 and Jesus #3. Issac Newton should be #3 because he did believe in Jesus and he loved Jesus. If Newton were alive today he would probably say that Jesus should be listed first.

Patrick Egbuchunam: 
Jesus is first and clearly the greatest figure in human history

Patrick Egbuchunam of Lagos, Nigeria wrote (11 October 2005):

I have been to your site on the web and must thank you for the information contained there.

I wish to comment on the list of the 100 most influential people in human history and the listing of Mohammed as first, Isaac Newton as second and Jesus as third.

Firstly, I must say that as you rightly pointed out, such an analysis is subjective. I also think it should not be done by only one person as was the case. It is best carried out by a committee of academic professors of world history who should come from varying religious and cultural backgrounds and must include atheists and secular humanists.

I believe the sole author of your analysis did a bad job probably because he has Christian roots (I may be wrong) and did not want to be accused of bias.

The simple truth is that Mohammed the founder of Islam has not affected human history the way the Galilean carpenter has.

Firstly, the fact adduced that Jesus of Nazareth did not found an empire even makes his influence the more glaring. Jesus also did not write anything nor cause anything to be written about him while on earth.

Secondly, Jesus is recognized by Christians the way Peter made his profession of faith. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God". All Christians despite being hopelessly divided and fragmented hold fast to this statement and also use the New Testament without disagreement. On the other hand, Moslems and the Koran recognize Jesus as the Christ but declare that God cannot have a son. The Koran spends so much time debating and disputing Christianity's claim that Jesus is the Son of God, that the status of Jesus is the single most topical issue that Islam has had to confront in its fourteen centuries of existence. Jews totally reject Peter's profession of faith but Jesus for them remains an enigma and a mystery. The fact that a fellow Jew founded the world's most predominant and influential religion still baffles them to no end. Other religious groups such as Eckankar and the Grail message and even founders of major religious/philosophical systems such as Karl Marx who do not accept Peter's declaration still refer to Jesus in superlative terms, calling him, for example, "one of the masters," etc.

The great influence of Jesus can be seen in the pre-eminent status of Europe (the so-called Christian continent). Europe colonized most of the world - Africa, Latin, Central and North America, Australasia and small parts of the Middle East and Asia. Missionaries followed the colonialists and adventurers everywhere.

The Crusades against the Moslem Ottoman Turks were instigated by a Pope and actually brought Europe in contact with a better civilization and signaled the beginning of Europe's ascendancy. The quarrel was about the use of Jesus birthplace.

Let us also consider that despite twelve centuries of different Moslem empires in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, these people did not make much technological and economic progress. It was Christian Europe that did. Even the discovery of oil in the Middle East in the 20th century has not had much impact in the closed Moslem societies where women have no liberty and despots are in control.

What about the modern miracle of the founding of the modern nation state of Israel? This was facilitated by the United States and Britain, two clearly Christian powers. Moslem protests, suicide attacks and terrorism have failed as Israel has gone on from strength to strength.

What about the impact of the Papacy? Peter's successors for good or for bad have had a great impact on the world stage since Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 AD. For over sixteen centuries Popes have remained undisputed as the most visible, most influential and best known religious leaders in the world. We are all living witnesses to the impact of Pope John Paul II. He was not the first great Pope. Even going back to 1968, check out the mass reaction to Pope Paul's decision to ban artificial forms of contraception among Catholics. It generated wide furor.

One can go on and on. One billion Moslems know him and debate and argue about Jesus. Two billion Christians worship him. This totals about half the earth's current population. But what about the Bible? The world's runaway best seller with over 6 billion copies sold. It is Jesus that makes the Bible tick. Without him it would just be the Jewish scriptures.

What about the influence of his mother Mary? She is the most important woman in Islam and a whole chapter in the Koran is devoted to her (the only woman to be so honored by the Koran). In fact, Moslems always refer to Jesus as the son of Mary. The Koran accepts the virgin birth of Jesus.

On the other hand, Mary divides Christians. One one hand are the half of the world's Christians who are Catholics (the world's biggest religious denomination) along with some other sects that revere and honor her. On the other hand are the other half that reject her pre-eminence or at best prefer to ignore her.

To place Jesus at third place behind even Isaac Newton is, to say the least, a travesty of judgment, if I may call it that.

I know that every child that goes through school learns of Newton in elementary physics, but what is the percentage of the world's children in school? Most of the humanitarian organizations that give aid to impoverished regions of the world where children cannot go to school are Christian. They bring Jesus along with their aid.

I submit that Jesus is first and clearly the greatest figure in human history. Mohammed comes a distant second and Newton may be third.

Thank you.

Patrick Egbuchunam

Ramazan Saeed wrote (31 October 2005):

I was reading the section on your site about the religious affiliation of history's 100 most influential people (http://www.adherents.com/adh_influ.html). I would just like to make a point that everyone else seems to have forgotten, and please feel free to add this to your website.

Many can argue whether Muhammad, Jesus and Newton should be the most influential using numbers on how many followers they have, how great a secular influence they had, whose empire was larger, etc etc. However one thing that differentiates one from the others, is that Muhammad was beyond what is already described, a family man. Not only did he marry, he also had children. And as any father alive will testify, marriage and the raising of children are very difficult tasks, and for Muhammad to do this as well as his other accomplishments show how great a man he was.

Dragon Atma: 

Dragon Atma wrote (31 May 2007):

Christopher Columbus's only real draw is that he discovered America... problem is, he didn't! Leif Ericson discovered it a good five hundred years earlier. Don't believe me? They actually found the remains of a Norse settlemant in L'anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

Furthermore, sticking a religious founder at #1 is a complete joke. Why not stick other religious nutjobs like Osama Bin-Laden in too?

As for who should go at the #1 spot, there are only three possibilities: The man who created computers, the man who created the internet, and the man who discovered electiricty -- all three changed the world more than jesus or mohammed did and in a far shorter amount of time.

Time Magazine's Person of the Century Poll

"While Time deliberated on its Person of the Century, the magazine's Web site invited readers to vote. [Source: The King of the Century" in the San Jose Mercury News, 27 Dec. 1999.; URL: http://www7.mercurycenter.com:80/premium/nation/docs/timebox27.htm]

The runners-up for Time's Person of the Century were Franklin Roosevelt (an Episcopalian) and Mohandas Gandhi (a devout Hindu whose mother was a Jain and whose beliefs and practices were partially Jain).

• 
  Hirohito
  
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  Ho Chi Minh
  
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  Pol Pot
  
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  Issey Miyake
  
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  Daisuke Inoue
  
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  Rabindranath Tagore
  
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  Sun Yat-sen
  
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  Mohandas Gandhi
  
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  Sukarno
  
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  Mao Zedong
  
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  Lee Kuan Yew
  
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  Deng Xiaoping
  
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  Corazon Aquino
  
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  Park Chung Hee
  
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  Eiji Toyoda
  
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  King Rama
  
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  Swaminathan
  
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  Akira Kurosawa
  
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  Dalai Lama
  
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  Akio Morita
  

• 
  Biography.com - In association with the A&E television show.
  
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  Catalog of the Scientific Community in the 16th and 17th Centuries
  

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  100s: Books and Lists Ranking People in Various Categories
  
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  The 100 Most Influential Jews in History
  
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  The Film 100 - most influential people in movie history
  
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  Religious Affiliation of History's Greatest Philosophers
  
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  History's Great Religious Leaders
  
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  Religious Affiliation of U.S. Presidents
  
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  Religious Affiliation of U.S. Congress
  
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  Religious Affiliation of Famous Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers
  
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  Famous Adherents - Famous Christians, Famous Muslims, Famous Zoroastrians, etc.
  
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  Most Admired Men and Women - Gallup poll results show Pope John Paul II, Billy Graham, Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley and Dalai Lama on short list of men Americans admire most
  
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  The 100 Greatest Heroes of All Time
  
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  The 100 Most Influential Military Leaders in History
  
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  The 100 Most Influential Figures in Modern Business
  
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  The 100 Most Influential Hispanics in American History
  
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  The Novel 100: A Ranking of Greatest Novels All Time
  
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  The 100 Most Influential Novelists, Playwrights, and Poets
  
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  The 100 Greatest Golfers of All Time
  
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  100 Women Who Shaped World History
  
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  100 Most Powerful Women in the World
  
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  100 Greatest Men of All Time
  
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  100 Scientists Who Shaped World History
  
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  The Millennium 100 - results of a reader poll: most influential people of the 2nd millennium B.C.
  

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  Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century
  
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  Biography of the Millennium - Top 100 most influential people of the millennium, from the A&E program Biography
  

Our thanks to Jason Quartarone for assistance with some Voltaire, Marconi and Copernicus facts. Thanks to Joe Rowe for assistance with Johann Gutenberg info. Thanks to Ann Rodgers-Melnick of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for additional Edison information.