Muhammad and History's 100 Most Influential People

The 100

Author	Michael H. Hart
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject(s)	World history, biographies
Publisher	Citadel Press
Released	1978
ISBN	0806510684
Followed by	A View from the Year 3000

This article analyzes the validity of apologetic assumptions based on reading Michael H. Hart's book, "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History".

Introduction

In 1978, Jewish American astrophysicist Michael H. Hart (born April 28, 1932) released a book titled "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History". This book, which has sold over 500,000 copies to date, has been somewhat controversial, not least due to its placing of Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, over Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.

This has led to the list, as with Paul Vallely's list of "20 greatest Islamic inventions", being used for the purpose of propaganda. Its choice of Muhammad as the most influential person in history has been, and still is being, celebrated on numerous Islamic websites and blogs, used in various videos on user-contributed media sites, and has been cited during the course of countless forum discussions.

The Top Ten

Rank	Name	Influence
1	Muhammad	Prophet of Islam; conqueror of Arabia
2	Isaac Newton	Physicist; theory of universal gravitation; laws of motion
3	Jesus Christ	Founder of Christianity
4	Buddha	Founder of Buddhism
5	Confucius	Founder of Confucianism
6	St. Paul	Proselytizer of Christianity
7	Ts'ai Lun	Inventor of paper
8	Johann Gutenberg	Developed movable type; printed Bibles
9	Christopher Columbus	Explorer; led Europe to Americas
10	Albert Einstein	Physicist; relativity; Einsteinian physics

Apologetic Conclusions

When faced with criticism of Muhammad's actions, apologists will often resort to protesting and gloating in equal measures:

How could the greatest man that ever lived be guilty of all those evil things attributed to him? Muhammad (pbuh) is ranked above Jesus (pbuh) and Buddha! He is surely the Messenger of Allah!

How accurate is this conclusion? Does ranking number one on a list bolster Muhammad's claim to prophethood and exonerate him from everything he is accused of by Islam's own scriptures?

Analysis

Subjective vs Objective Nature

To begin with, it must be noted that any list which attempts to measure greatness or influence of any sort is highly subjective, it is nothing more than merely a personal opinion. There are hundreds of similar lists which have been compiled by others.

For example, in December 2009, the St. Petersburg Times ranked the Muslim terrorist, Osama bin Laden, as the decades most influential person. So what makes this list by Hart, which is more than three decades old, any more authoritative than the next one?

Moreover, it rates Sir Isaac Newton above 'Isa (Jesus) the second most revered prophet of Islam. Does this mean Muslims consider a Christian scientist to be a greater and more moral man than one of Islam's very own prophets?

In 2013, computer scientist Steven Skiena and Google engineer Charles Ward released, "Who's Bigger: Where Historical Figures Really Rank". This book ranks historical figures in order of significance. Unlike Hart's method of using only his personal opinions, the methods used here were based on objective mathematical data and resulted in a reversal of Muhammad and Jesus' placing:

Rank	Name	Date	Description
1	Jesus	7 BC-30 AD	Central figure of Christianity
2	Napoleon	1769-1821	Emperor of France (Battle of Waterloo)
3	Muhammad	570-632	Central figure of Islam
4	William Shakespeare	1564-1616	English playwright (Hamlet)
5	Abraham Lincoln	1809-1865	16th President of the United States (U.S. Civil War)
6	George Washington	1732-1799	1st President of the United States (American Revolution)
7	Adolf Hitler	1889-1945	Führer of Nazi Germany (World War II)
8	Aristotle	384-322 BC	Greek philosopher and polymath
9	Alexander the Great	356-323 BC	Macedonian king and conqueror of the known world
10	Thomas Jefferson	1743-1826	3rd President of the United States (U.S Declaration of Independence)

The accuracy of the methods used are open to questioning, but it is certainly a huge step forward from Hart's approach which lacked any sort of scientific method at all.

Positive or Negative Influence

The list compiled by Hart only attempts to measure influence. Contrary to how it is often presented by apologists (for example; one site claims Hart's book is a rating of "men who contributed towards the benefit and upliftment of mankind"), it has nothing to say on “greatness”, moral character or personal deeds. And it most certainly does not state whether that influence was of a positive or negative nature.

Many could argue that no other historical figures actions have effected the modern world more potently or negatively than those of Muhammad, so his position at number one is well deserved. In fact, Hart lists several individuals who are universally reviled, were conquerors and/or have contributed negatively to humanity. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

Rank	Name	Influence
29	Genghis Khan	Mongol Conqueror
33	Alexander the Great	Conqueror
34	Napoleon Bonaparte	French Conqueror
39	Adolf Hitler	Nazi conqueror, responsible for the deaths of 11 to 14 million people, including approximately six million Jews
66	Joseph Stalin	Revolutionary, ruler of USSR and responsible for the deaths of 3 to 60 million people

Are we to assume that Hitler, who also happened to admire Islam, Stalin or Genghis Khan were not capable of, or are falsely accused of, the atrocities they committed due to them appearing alongside Muhammad on a list? Were they chosen due to Hart respecting them and their contributions towards the "benefit and upliftment of mankind", or were they, along with Muhammad, also messengers of Allah?

Other Religious Founders

The founders of seven other major religions make an appearance on the list. They are as follows:

Rank	Name	Religion
3	Jesus Christ	Christianity
4	Buddha	Buddhism
5	Confucius	Confucianism
15	Moses	Judaism
73	Lao Tzu	Taoism
93	Zoroaster	Zoroastrianism
100	Mahavira	Jainism

Many followers of the religions these individuals founded would not be tolerated under the second-class dhimmi status afforded to some by Islamic law. They are responsible for leading millions along a path other than Islam, and in doing so they have, according to the Islamic faith, earned their place in Jahannam.

Would apologists agree that these people are great and righteous individuals worthy of praise? Those who use this list as evidence of Muhammad's 'greatness' have to accept every single one. Pope Urban II who called for the first Crusade even makes an appearance at number 51. Is his position also to be celebrated?

Jewish Author

Michael H. Hart is Jewish. According to the Qur'an, the Jews, among other things, will listen to any lie. Although an individual's religious affiliation does not usually make them any more prone to telling or accepting lies than the next person, it is written in Islam's central text. So why trust the opinions of someone who your own faith brands as gullible?

Credit for Authoring Qur'an

In his book, Hart explained the reasoning behind his choice of placing Muhammad at number one. The first being Muhammad's more involved role in the development of Islam in comparison to Jesus with Christianity. For example; Muhammad is credited by him of authoring the Qur'an which he says contains Muhammad's ideas and teachings:

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.

This is something which no Muslim would agree with. But by their refusal to accept Hart's assertion that Muhammad, and not Allah, wrote the Qur'an, apologists then by their own admission have to accept that Muhammad does not deserve the position given him by Hart.

Credit for Success as Warmonger

The second reason given for his choice was Muhammad's success as a warlord. In Hart's own words:

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 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.

Are apologists now ready to admit that their prophet was a conqueror? Do they agree with Hart's parallel of Muhammad and Genghis Khan? Do they agree that Muhammad's continued influence was the "driving force behind the Arab conquests" which prompted Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus' to request military aid from Pope Urban II, and eventually led to the crusades?

Preserving Western Civilization

In 2009, Hart organized and spoke at a conference held in Baltimore titled "Preserving Western Civilization". On its official website, preservingwesternciv.com, it states:

We believe that America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and European identity must be defended. Today, our glorious Western civilization is under assault from many directions. Three such threats will be discussed at this conference. First, the massive influx to the United States and Europe of Third-World immigrants who do not share our fundamental political and cultural values. Second, the threat from Islam, a militant ideology that is hostile to our society and, in principle, committed to destroying it. Third, because of the persistent disappointing performance of blacks (which many whites mistakenly blame on themselves) many whites have guilt feelings that undermine Western morale and deter us from dealing sensibly with the other threats.

The sole reason Muhammad is on that list is due to his founding and setting in motion the Islamic ideology. If Hart himself considers Muhammad's one and only creation to be a militant invention committed to destroying the western world, is there any doubt left as to his personal opinion on whether the influence Muhammad has on the world is of a positive or negative nature?

Reading the Statement of Purpose, you may also notice his reference to "blacks". Hart is a "racial separatist", whom some would call racist. He believes that the best way forward for America is a voluntary partition of the country into three states; an integrated mixed-race state, a white state, and a black state.

Amazingly, this is the person apologists use to commit the logical fallacy of appealing to authority. If his opinions are so authoritative, then maybe they should also accept his opinions on race and that Islam itself is a threat to the freedom of the western world?

Muslim Contributions to the World

The only other Muslim to make the list is 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Caliph. He is placed at number 52, below Pope Urban II. There are no Muslim scientists, philosophers or inventors on the list, only two conquerors. Percentage-wise; Christians, Jews, atheists, Pagans, Chinese traditionalists and even Platonists place higher than Muslims. Is this an admission by those who hold this list in such high esteem, of how little Islam and its followers have contributed to this world?

Temporary Influence

Finally, does Hart see this influence of Muhammad's lasting into the future? This is an important question because throughout history many religions and their founders have come and gone.

Hart answers this question for us in his "sequel", A View from the Year 3000: A Ranking of the 100 Most Influential Persons of All Time, where (excluding fictitious entries from the years 2000-3000) he ranks Muhammad (No. 5) below Jesus (No. 4):

[S]ome people may feel that Jesus should not be accorded such a high place in this book. But the religion which he founded had so many adherents, for so many centuries… that the only question in my mind is whether I should have ranked him even higher.
. . .

Christianity has long since ceased to have any political influence. However, for over a millenium and a half it had enormous political effect, and throughout that time it profoundly influenced the personal lives of one-quarter of the world’s population. All in all, that young Judean who was executed thirty centuries ago – a young man who had no money or political power, and who left behind no writings – must still be considered one of the most significant figures in history
. . .
It was difficult for me to decide where Mohammad should be placed in this book… for fifteen centuries the religion he founded intimately affected the lives of a sizable fraction of the world’s population, and was a major factor in political developments as well.

On the other hand, Islam has had little residual effect on the culture of the modern world. Neither in science, nor politics, nor art is the modern world much affected by Islam, whereas it continues to be affected (albeit indirectly) by Christianity. That is the main reason why I have concluded that Mohammad… should be ranked lower than Jesus.

If we compare the top ten entries for the 1978 edition of his book, "The 100", and their ranking among the non-fictitious entries for, "A View from the Year 3000", we find that Hart expects all religious founders to lose some of their influence on the world, and, out of all these religious founders, he expects Muhammad's influence to decline the most dramatically.

He is no longer the "most influential person in history", nor the "most influential religious founder in history". Of the four religious founders in the top ten, Muhammad and Buddha see the biggest drop in influence (4 and 5 places), whilst Jesus and Confucius suffer comparably minor losses (1 and 3 places):

Name	Influence	Rank (1978)	Rank (3000)
Muhammad	Prophet of Islam; conqueror of Arabia	1	5 (-4)
Isaac Newton	Physicist; theory of universal gravitation; laws of motion	2	1
Jesus Christ	Founder of Christianity	3	4 (-1)
Buddha	Founder of Buddhism	4	9 (-5)
Confucius	Founder of Confucianism	5	8 (-3)
St. Paul	Proselytizer of Christianity	6	20
Ts'ai Lun	Inventor of paper	7	7
Johann Gutenberg	Developed movable type; printed Bibles	8	2
Christopher Columbus	Explorer; led Europe to Americas	9	11
Albert Einstein	Physicist; relativity; Einsteinian physics	10	13

Conclusion

Hopefully any apologist that reads this will ponder the following; what exactly do they (as followers of Islam) consider so great about a Jewish-American racist “Islamophobe's” opinion that an individual who he refers to as a “conqueror” ranked alongside Adolf Hitler is temporarily the most influential (not 'greatest') person in human history?

This page is featured in the core article, Islam and Propaganda which serves as a starting point for anyone wishing to learn more about this topic

See Also

• Michael H. Hart - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Michael H. Hart
• Refutations - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Refutations

External Links

• Religious Affiliation of History's 100 Most Influential People
• The Scientific 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Scientists, Past and Present