570~631 AD
I rank Muhammad at the top of the list of the most influential figures in the world, and some readers may be surprised or questioned, but he is indeed the only historical figure who has achieved unparalleled success in both religious and non-religious fields.
Muhammad came from a poor background. He founded and spread one of the world's largest religions and was a magical political leader. Thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still strong and enormous.
Most of the characters in this book have the advantage of growing up in the center of civilization, in a country with a developed culture and a strong political force. But Muhammad was born in 570 in the southern Arab city of Mecca, a backward region of the world at the time, far from the center of trade, art and culture. Orphaned at the age of six, raised in harsh conditions, Islamic legend tells us that he was illiterate and that it was only when he married a wealthy widow at the age of 25 that his financial situation improved. Yet at the time he was nearly forty years old, there was no clear indication that he was an extraordinary figure.
The Arabs were mostly pagans and believed in many gods. But there were a few Jews and Christians in Mecca, and it was in them that Muhammad no doubt learned that there was a unique Almighty one who ruled the entire universe, the Lord God. At the age of forty, Muhammad was convinced that this unique, true God (Allah) spoke to him and chose him to spread the true faith.
For the first three years, he had only preached to his family and friends. Then, around 613, he began preaching to the public. As he gradually won the hearts and minds of religious converts, the Meccan authorities finally recognized him as a dangerous and hated figure. In 622, Fearing for his personal safety, Muhammad fled to Medina, a city about two hundred miles north of Mecca. There he was given a position with great political power.
This escape, known as the Islamic Age, was a turning point in the prophet's life. His followers were few in Mecca, but in Medina he grew rapidly, and soon he gained the influence that a dictator actually had. In the years that followed, as Muhammad's followers grew rapidly, a series of wars began between Medina and Mecca. The war ended in 630 and Muhammad triumphantly returned to Mecca as a conqueror. Muhammad died in 632, when he was already a powerful ruler of all of Southern Arabia.
The people of the Arab Bedouin tribes enjoyed a reputation as strong warriors. But due to their small population and the fact that they were internally fragmented and killed each other, it was clear that they were not rivals to the kingdom's numerous armies located in the northern agricultural reclamation area. But this small Arab force, under the unified command of Muhammad and inspired by the strong conviction that there was only one Allah, began one of the most astonishing series of offensive battles in human history. Arabia was bordered to the northeast by the Sassanid Neo-Persian Empire and to the northwest by Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire in central Constantinople. Numerically, Arab strength and weakness had been determined, but on the battlefield, the inspired Arabs quickly conquered Mesopotania, Syria and Palestine. Egypt was captured from byzantines in 642 after fierce competition, while the Persian army suffered devastating blows at both the Battle of Cadizia and the Battle of Nehavind in 637 and 642.
These major victories were achieved under the command of Muhammad's close friends and immediate successors, Abu Bakr and Umar. While these major victories were achieved, they did not mark the end of Arab expansion. In 711, the Arab armies swept from North Africa to the Atlantic coast, and then marched north through the Strait of Gibraltar, completely conquering the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.
At first glance, it seems that Islam will conquer the whole of Christian Europe. But in 732 an Islamic force penetrating deep into central France was eventually defeated by the Franks at the famous Battle of Tours. Inspired by Muhammad's words, the Bedouin tribes, inspired by muhammad's words, fought less than a hundred years to create an empire stretching from the indian borders in the north to the Atlantic coast in the south—the largest empire ever seen in the world. Wherever the troops were at their disposal, people converted and eventually converted to Islam.
But not all of these victories are permanent. The Persians, though also converted to Muhammadism, gained independence from Arab rule ever since. In Spain, more than seven hundred years of war finally led the Christians to conquer the entire peninsula. But the cradles of two ancient civilizations, Mesopotania and Egypt, still belong to the Arab region as much as the entire Coastal Region of North Africa. Protestantism has spread over the centuries far beyond the boundaries conquered by the original Islam. It currently has tens of millions of adherents in Africa and Central Asia, and even more in Pakistan, northern India and Indonesia. In Indonesia, Protestantism is a unifying factor, but in the Indian subcontinent, the struggle between Islamists and Hindus remains a major obstacle to unification.
So how should one assess Muhammad's entire impact on human history? Like all religions, Islam has had a significant impact on the lives of its adherents.
It is for this reason that the founders of the world's major religions all stand prominently in this book. Since there are about twice as many Christians as There are Muslims, placing Muhammad before Jesus may at first glance surprise. There are two main reasons for this decision. First, Muhammad played a much greater role in Islam than Jesus did in the founding and development of Christianity. Although Jesus created the main ethical and moral code of Christianity (as opposed to Judaism), St. Paul was the main founder of Christian theology, the main contributor to the conversion of pagans to Christianity, and the main author of the New Testament.
Muhammad founded not only Islamic theology but also the Islamic code of ethics and morality. In addition, he played a key role in converting pagans to Protestantism and in founding Islam, and he was also the author of the Islamic Bible, the Koran, which collected some of the results of his insight into the world that he was confident that Allah showed directly to him. The main quotations of Muhammad were recorded to varying degrees during his lifetime, and compiled into a book by authoritative sources shortly after his death. Thus the Koran represents the ideas and ideas of Muhammad in an approximate manner, many of which are his original words. But no record is compiled in such detail as the words of Jesus. Since the importance of the Koran to Islam is at least comparable to the importance of the Bible to Christians, muhammad's influence through the Koran is enormous. Perhaps Muhammad's influence on Islam was relatively greater than that of Jesus and St. Paul on the christians combined. Thus, from a religious point of view alone, Muhammad's influence on human history is comparable to that of Jesus.
Moreover, Muhammad was not only a religious leader but also a non-religious leader. In fact, in terms of the enormous power of the Arab conquests, he was arguably one of the most influential political leaders who transcended the time limits.
One might think that many major historical events were inevitable, even if they were guided by individual political leaders. For example, even if Simon Bolivar had never survived, the South American colonies would have gained independence from Spanish rule. But the Arab conquests were different. No similar situation had happened before Muhammad, so there is no reason to think that his conquest would have been successful without him. "The only thing in human history that can be compared to this conquest is the conquest of the Mongols in the 13th century, mainly by the influence of Genghis Khan, which, although more extensive than that of the Arabs, did not last. The only territory occupied by the Mongols today is the territory they occupied before Genghis Khan.
But the Arab conquests were very different. From Iraq to Morocco there is a succession of Arab countries that are united not only for a common faith in Islam, but also for the same Arabic language, history and culture. In Islam, the centripetal effect of the Koran and its fact that it is written in Arabic may be the reason why the Arabic language did not split into a non-communicative dialect, which was possible during the 1300 years of unrest. There are, of course, differences and differences among these Arab states, and they are very large, but a certain degree of division cannot make us all think of the important elements of unity that remain to this day. For example, Iran and Indonesia, both oil countries and muslims, did not participate in the oil embargo of 1973-1974. But it is no accident that all the Arab states, and only the Arab States, took part in the embargo.
Thus we can know that the conquest of the Arab nation in the 17th century still plays an important role in human history to this day. It was muhammad's unparalleled religious and non-religious influence that led to the belief that he was the single most influential figure in human history.