My choice of Prophet Muhammad SAWS 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, Prophet Muhammad SAWS founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and became an immensely effective leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.
On the purely religious level, then, it seems likely that Prophet Muhammad SAWS has been as influential in human history. Furthermore, Prophet Muhammad SWAS 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 Prophet Muhammad SAWS, and there is no reason to believe that the conquests would have been achieved without him.
How, then, is one to assess the overall impact of Prophet Muhammad SWAS 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 Muslims in the world, it may initially seem strange that Muhammad has been ranked higher than Jesus.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 Prophet Muhammad SAWS to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.
