Michael H. Hart

(Written for the students of the English department of SBBU)

 By Prof Dr. Sohail Ansari

‘Michael H. Hart (is an American author, most notably of The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History’. The substance of book is widely perceived to be solidly constructed and therefore, continues to gain wider and wider currency. Perhaps no other book (on the same subject) has quite the cachet of ‘A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History’ and that renders its rendition of judgment quite seminal.

 Hart has earned kudos as he is credited to have the academic excellence and scholastic clinical detachment with penetrating insight sine qua non for seeing things in the light of balanced rationality and impartiality, and for delving into the ticklish discipline of history.

“A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text” I pasted below the passage in its entirety so that no one can say that context is not simply its immediate location in the paragraph (or periscope) followed by the selection of certain lines or words and their dissection in an attempt to teach students of the English department of SBBU how to winnow truth from biased opinions.

Perils are subtle because coded criticism is in the context of praise. Beliefs of Michael percolate through so insidiously that readers never know that egregious partisanship finds an echo in their own feelings. People lay themselves open _ always in unguarded moments_ to imbibing pernicious ideas.

‘This modern extension to forms of impression conveys information from below the threshold of consciousness. Intimations originate in the subliminal consciousness of the percipient and are thence transferred to the ordinary consciousness. Recipients are thus changed without their being aware of it’.    

 ‘ ‘MUHAMMAD, No. 1 
The 100, a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History 
by Michael H. Hart
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.’’

‘Nevertheless, as he approached forty, there was little outward indication that he was a remarkable person’.

Hart must explain what he means by outward indication? Is there any outward sign people exhibit before being granted prophet hood? If so, Hart must define and prove from history. Does Hart mean that people wields some supernatural power or demonstrate miraculous force before there is a halo or arch of light surrounds a person? Arabian society was not only pagan but also every facet of it was deeply contaminated with moral turpitude. Prophet (P.B.U.H) withstood the overwhelming influence of a society; he was intact, and this immunity itself is a testimony to his prophet hood.  Prophets demonstrate miraculous or preternatural l power after becoming prophet so to establish their supremacy. The Quran is living miracle of Prophet (P.B.U.H).

‘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’.

Hart is so emphatic ‘No doubt’. How Hart is so convinced? He must come up with conclusive evidence to back up his vehemency? He could put things in other ways without compromising his objectivity; he could replace ‘no doubt’ with ‘according to my belief’.

Verbal unity does not necessarily account for similarity in understanding or description. The word judge can simultaneously mean judge in a court (human) and God as a judge. Attributes and characteristics of God differ widely. Each religion has its God; therefore, the word God is same but God is not same. Muslims believe in God as introduced by Prophet (P.B.U.H). God of Muslims is Kind, Beneficent and independent of maliciousness. God of Muslims is different from God of Jews as God of latter is cruel and has been jealous of the great empires of Jews. God of Muslims is different from God of Christians as God of latter is three in one. God of Muslims would not have been different from God of Christians and Jews, had prophet (P.B.U.H) learnt about God from Jews and Christians.    

‘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’.

Difference between sane and insane is the knowledge of action. A Crazy person has neither reasons nor understanding of his actions or beliefs. Imposter never wants people to know his reasons for claiming to be someone he is actually not. The arguments and reasons imposter has in its arsenal cannot, however, withstand despite all plausibility logical scrutiny. Hart must come up with well-built genuine reasons or proofs to prove insanity or prove that arguments and claims of prophet (P.B.U.H) have the hollow ring.    

‘Muhammad played a far more important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in the development of Christianity’.

Different people as led by a team leader contribute in the development of a project; Mason builds up a building assisted by labors. The entire credit does not go either to team leader or mason as everyone has its own role in the accomplishment of objectives. There was the repeated demonstration on the part of a prophet (P.B.U.H) to establish himself as the only conduit of God’s Word in every circumstance. No one had any role other than prophet in the development of Islam; therefore, the adherents of Islam always know as the part of their faith that they could flow to God only through the channel of prophet (P.B.U.H).

Hart may be using the word development in a sense of propagation of a faith, if it is so, he must be specific so that readers may not confuse the evolution of philosophy with spread of philosophy. (People may say that prophet was the author of religion not the developer of it; however it is wrong as well because product of an author is the product of his imagination; and the Koran is revealed through prophet but authored by God.)

‘Moreover, he is the author of the Moslem holy Scriptures, the Koran, a collection of certain of Muhammad's insights…

 Hart has already mentioned ‘Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate’. Hart must either prove that illiteracy constitutes no impediment in writing a book or prove that Islamic tradition is wrong. Hart does neither. Koran as Hart says is the ‘collection of certain of Muhammad’s insights’. How opus can be termed the collection of certain insights?

 …that he believed had been directly revealed to him by Allah’.

The judgment of man is circumscribed by the time and context. Absolute impartiality is non-existent as feelings come into play to cloud rationality.  The books of the sages of ages are stained with the taints of flag-waving xenophobia, jingoism, racisms and male chauvinism. These sages _ venerated for experience, judgment, and wisdom_ have demonstrably been fallible and liable to err. Nuggets of oracle advice are not only non-applicable and unrelated to various aspects of contemporary life; but also the books of the sages of ages have poverty of ideas for the challenges of the modern world. The books of these sages of ages may not show intellectual bankruptcy, but certainly a kind of intellectual impoverishment.

Hart must demonstrate (through the text analysis of Koran) that Koran is marred by more numerous and more significant flaws; and if he fails to prove that Koran is inferior to the books of the sages of history, then he must answer to a question that How illiterate man can write not only a weighty tome but also transcend the barrier of time and feelings?

‘The Koran therefore, closely represents Muhammad's ideas and teachings…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’.

Koran is the invaluable compendium for Muslims as it has proven time and again the only guiding key to unlock every problem of modern life. How illiterate man can write such inevitable book?

‘the Koran, a collection of certain of Muhammad's insights’…

‘Learned’ Mr. Hart needs to learn that one must learn the meanings and differences of the basic terminologies and concepts before embarking upon the scholarly expedition to explore a subject. Mr. Hart purports to be the learned authority on the life of prophet (P.B.U.H), but Muslims readers cannot help laughing as they learn that Koran is ‘the collection of certain of Muhammad's insights’

Collection of prophet’s (P.B.U.H) insights are called Hadith or Hadees not Koran. This ‘classic description of Koran’ serves as a tonic as it can kid readers out of blues. Book may or may not contribute to the body of knowledge but it does contribute to body.

‘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’.

Two apparently similar activities cannot necessarily be comparable. Two individuals have channeled themselves in business. Both are fully extended; however one individual is altruist and philanthropist, while other is devoted to himself and has callous disregard for others. The activities of both individuals are similar but not comparable as they are directed toward different ends.

Genghis Khan was devoted to self- aggrandizement. Mongols warriors were not carriers of any divine message nor were charged with the mission to bring about social and cultural metamorphoses. Prophet (P.B.U.H) had passed away long before Muslim became the superpower. Rightly guided caliphs despite ruling over such a vast kingdom had Spartan life. One must compare the world before Muslim conquest with the world after Muslim conquest and then compare the world before and after the conquest of Mongol to understand that though conquests were similar but not comparable as they were directed toward ends.

‘Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive’.

The choice of a word ‘still’ is surprising. When we say that man is still young at the age of 70, we mean that a person cannot be young in this age but that person is. We also mean by extension that a person, however, cannot be as young at the age of 70 as he could be at the age of 25. We say that a book is still popular. We mean that a book should not be popular because it does not deserve to be popular for so long. When we say that a book is still popular, so we also mean that most probably book is not as popular as it used to be. Still is used when thing we believe should not exist as it exists but most likely thing is weaker in compression. Influence of prophet (P.B.U.H) is growing as the time advances (it is not the case of diminishing returns that as time goes influence wanes)

‘His economic position improved when, at age twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow’

Biography is the description of one’s life. Biography discusses each and every facet of life but it does not include any such aspect that has no impact on the life of a person biography covers. Biography for example does not discuss the content of breakfast, lunch and dinner until and unless food has a certain importance in building up or defining the characteristic of a personality. Wealth has no importance in the personal life of holy prophet (P.B.U.H) because if it had, Hart would have informed its readers. Proposal of marriage was from lady and the wealth of hers was spent on the charity or for the propagation of faith. Hart has given impression that prophet utilized the wealth to improve his economic position.

Line mentioning the marriage is not integrated with a passage; it could be, if Hart discussed the importance of wealth for the dissemination of faith. Inclusion of this fact is tailored for another purpose. The majority of the readers of this book would be the people from the west. The wealth is the main status indicator in the money-oriented materialistic world of west. Hart implies that prophet (P.B.U.H) was a poor man so that the readers of his book grow contemptuous of prophet (P.B.U.H).