Who was the most influential person in the whole human history?

[justanobserver]

Ashoka ! He controlled the largest Indian empire at that time. Under his command Buddhism spread well beyond the subcontient

 

[Juice]

i know he had to fight as he was forced out...but when it comes to Jesus and Muhammad i will always choose Jesus no matter what...

My culture IS Christian... but let us not go down this path. Both men did what they thought was right

 

[Madmen]

Ok..be as "neutral" ( and secular) as you can be.....Title explains it all..Who was the most influential person that ever walked on the face of the earth?

** Influence doesn't mean that he was the "greatest" or most "noble" etc...These things are subjective...

For me,it has to be either Muhammad or Jesus but I'll go with
Muhammad for sure..(note I am not writing "Prophet" Muhammad..)

My reasons for putting Muhammad above Jesus are...

Reason

Though Jesus was just like Buddah (means only a great spiritual leader/philospher) but on the other hand Muhammad (As a historical figure) was a very capable military commander,an orator,a statesman,a very influential Philosopher,a revolutionary legislator and a new law giver, ,a very wise diplomat,arguably THE MOST influential political leader ever and one of the greatest spiritual leader ever.Moreover he was the founder of one of the greatest faith of the world,Islam.

Further explanation..

1-At the time of Death,Jesus had JUST 9-500 followers ,Muhammad had 1,40,000 Followers.
2-Muhammad was ,arguably,THE MOST INFLUENTIAL political leader in the recorded history..And political achievement of Jesus???
3-Muhammad was very genius and one of the most successful military commander ever.Jesus never commanded a small expedition in life,forget about commanding forces against numerically very very superior adversary (Muhammad did it successfully many times)
3b-Muhammad was the driving force behind the "Great Arab Conquests"...Such grand and exceptional conquests had no precedent or antecedent in the history..
4-Muhammad was a very wise diplomat (Hudaibia treaty in which he apprantly gave Meccans the upper hand but later the very treaty caused the Meccans to lose ultimately to Muhammad in coming years) ..Jesus??? I don't know of any such thing
5-Muhammad was a revolutionary legislator ..he gave new laws ...Jesus wasn't a new law giver..
6-Muhammad was himself a very skillful warrior and a great philosopher ...Jesus was a great philosopher
7-Muhammad was a great orator and very, very capable statesman (Charter of Medina,establishment of "secular" state in Media) ... state Jesus governed..?
8-Muhammad was himself the AUTHOR of Qur'an (He commanded and supervised the scribes what to write and what to not write).Did Jesus EVER contributed in the development of Bible?
9-Both Jesus and Muhammad founded the two greatest religions in the world BUT Muhammad played a FAR GREATER role in the development of Islam than Jesus played in the development of Christianity. By the way,on a side note,Encyclopedia Britainica also calls Muhammad as most successful religious leader of all times..

Have your say...

I disagree with your analysis

1)I don't know where you get the 1.4 million followers I don't think they took a head count or census back then. Any how they weren't following him but his message.
2) I don't see how you can claim the Prophet (PBUH)was the greatest politician when before his nabowaat he had nothing to do with politics and even after his nabowaat most of his time was spent preaching about Islam not politics.
3)As far as I have read he had three major encounters. In two they were successful the third not so much and the last confrontation the conquest of Quraish there was hardly any fighting. So 3 out of 4 is good but I don't think it qualifies him as the greatest military commander.
4)Our beloved Prophet(PBUH) only gave the laws that he was commanded by Allah(SWT).
5)Although the prophet gave great inspiration the his followers on the battle field he was not known as a great warrior all during his life. Others such as Hazrat Hamza RA and Hazrat Ali RA and Hazrat Omar RA were known as warriors and feared amongst there enemies.
6) I must apologize but our beloved Prophet (PBUH)was a thoughtful man who pondered a great many things spent many days in the cave alone thinking about his creator but he wasn't a great philosopher he was never educated and never published any writings never had any students before his nabowaat and was not known for his philosophical sayings but rather was known for his incorruptibility and his truthfulness.
7)A secular state in medina would have been at odds with the principles of Islam being taught by the Prophet (PBUH)
8)So sorry the Prophet(PBUH) was not the author of the Holy Quran that would be ALLAH (SWT)
9) The Prophet Isa (PBUH) was not the founder of Christianity that would be St Paul.


Muslims are taught not to put one Prophet above the other.

 

[Vinod2070]

Genghis Khan is also pretty influential. His military achievements would have no parallel in history.

He united quarreling Mongol tribes and made them a world beater in no time.

 

[kingkobra]

Influence of military power? What a retard !! So,Muhammad's supervising of the process of writing Qur'an have no influence,his role as a religious leader has no influence but his role as a battlefield commander is what you are comparing with Jesus "love" ?

And I wasn't comparing Jesus and Muhammad...I said that in my point of view..It has to be either Jesus or Muhammad but I am giving Muhammad number one spot because of the reasons I mentioned...!!

And you 'genius'...again I am not interested in your inspiration or what influences you...I said most influential in human history ...So where does your "my inspiration" fit ?

well you are asking for people's opinion about most influential and if you don't have guts to listen to their opinions then do not dare to post such threads

when you compare two people side by side then you cant call people retard when they comment on it...

i do not find Muhammad inspirational for me that is the same reason i don't consider him as most influential in human history...

 

[farhan_9909]

Apart from religions parsonality

my most fav personality is Muhammad Bin qasim

the one who at the age of 17 started conquering india only to protect a girl of his place who was captured by hindus that time

and he's also called the first pakistani

 

[DelhiDareDevil]

Gandhi, Martin Luther King, mother Theresa and 1-2 more.

 

[Hindustani]

I really think it depends..

I mean Mahatma Gandhi (pbuh) has influenced a lot of freedom movement leaders across the globe which includes

Martin Luther King Jr. (Equal rights for African Americans)
James Lawson (Along with Martin Luther King)
Nelson Mandela (Activist and former president of South Africa)
Benigno Aquino, Jr. (the Philippine opposition leader during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and father of current Philippine president Benigno Aquino III).
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Friend of Gandhi (pbuh) and opposed the Muslim League of a separate state)
Romain Rolland ( French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic )
Maria Lacerda de Moura (Brazilian Feminist Anarchist)
Lanza del Vasto (An Italian disciple of Gandhi (pbuh) worked for inter-religious dialogue, spiritual renewal, ecological activism and nonviolence.)
Mirabehn (Daughter of a British Admiral and disciple of Gandhi (pbuh))
John Lennon (referred to Gandhi when discussing his views on non-violence.
Al Gore (spoke of Gandhi's influence on him at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in 2007)
Steve Biko (was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement)
Aung San Suu Kyi ( Burmese opposition politician and a former General Secretary of the National League for Democracy.)
Albert Einstein (exchanged written letters with Gandhi, and called him "a role model for the generations to come" in a later writing about him)
etc..

Then you have religious leaders such as the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, Shri Buddha Ji & the Philosophy of Buddhism/Hinduism, Various Gurus & the Hindu philosophy, Shri Jesus Christ Ji and his teachings, Confucius Ji and his teachings, Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji as well as the other 9 Human Gurus as well as the Philosophy written in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji etc who have influenced tremendous amounts of people over the world. (Way too many to list)


Then you also have other tyrants or even (freedom fighter to some people) such as Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Genghis Khan, Babur, Aurangzeb, Muhammad bin Qasim, Caligula, Henry VIII, Ivan the Terrible, Augusto Pinochet, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il etc.. (All who have inspired other leaders and/or nutcases)


Then you have social reformers such as Karl Marx, Susan B. Anthony, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Bodhisatva Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, etc


Then you have political leaders such as Mao Zedong, George Washington, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jinnah, President Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt etc...


Fictional Heroes such as, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Wonder woman, Spongebob Squarepants, etc..


(Notice how some influential people do fit in other categories as well in another pair of eyes) It is nearly impossible to find a single person that is most influential

 

[sreekimpact]

My fav personality is BUDDHA
the one who left his palace and all the luxuries to find the cause and remedy of human suffering .....
he conquered whole of Asia without killing any one....

 

[Urbanized Greyhound]

Sorry, freedom movement was nothing before gandhi(P.B.U.H.) came to the scene. It was an elitist movement, where lawers, doctors and some well to do people used to do some token protest, and masses did not give a sh*t.
Gandhi(P.B.U.H.) not only made it a mass movement, he guided it to its logical conclusion.
After India got independence, many other countries got inspired to get independence.

It is difficult to find 1 single person who was most influential, Gandhi(P.B.U.H.) was surely one of most influential person.

Thats not factually correct - as the war of Independence of 1857 ....even Maratha resistance before that , Tipu , etc many resistances to occupational forces were already in existence much before he came .

Leader of the Arya Samaj - Dayanand Saraswati and Narendranath Dutta ( Swami Vivekananda ) were both univocal in condemning foreign rule and pointing out its drawbacks in their books and Manuscripts .

These writings influenced a host of later fighters from Lala Lajpat Rai , Azad to Netaji .

Even Dadabhai Naoroji 's Drain of wealth book had a tremendous influence on Tilak , Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bipin Chandra Pal .

Gokhale later became Gandhiji's mentor ....so its all a series of resistances and historically it would be quite inaccurate to only credit Gandhiji with our Independence movement .


On-Topic :

Since its is the whole of Human History I think it should be a tie between

ISAAC NEWTON -

and

George Washington


Newton defined the laws of our physical world . It is inspired by his efforts that for 4 centuries humankind has been able to achieve their levels of technological progress . He was the first individual to scientifically observe and explain the various physical phenomenons using which later day scientists like Einstein , Bohr , Faraday , Davy,Tesla various Astronomers etc etc ...could evolve their theories ....

which has led to the development of microchips , Nanotechnological advancements in our current day and age..


As for George Washington :

He is admired and looked up to the world over for the Ideals - of morality , equality , freedom for all ,Human dignity for all, which today make up the benchmark for our way of life -in many many countries Democratic or otherwise .He was one of the first to free himself and his followers from the clutches of a Monarchial tradition ( british) to set up a nation and society where freedom and equality were taken as basic rights -thus setting and example to millions then and billions of people of the future generation who would remember his ideals and act upon them - consiously or unconsiously.

Its indirectly inspired by him that today - any activist or torch bearer in any corner of the world -- be it an NGO or A human rights group , a Social activist or a person languishing in a tyrannical and despotic regime , at all gets the idea - that a better life and better existence is quite possible .

 

[Vinod2070]

My fav personality is BUDDHA
the one who left his palace and all the luxuries to find the cause and remedy of human suffering .....
he conquered whole of Asia without killing any one....

Yes, that is what you really call influence!

 

[Bang Galore]

Genghis Khan is also pretty influential. His military achievements would have no parallel in history.

He united quarreling Mongol tribes and made them a world beater in no time.

To add to that, the guy left plenty of his DNA around, So probably qualifies as most influential.

 

[Hindustani]

I really hope this doesn't get into a religious debate. I do thank the OP for starting this thread. I wanna know who has influenced who. Because in my example that I have listed above, I know all that have been mentioned have somewhat influenced me more or less and if not rightly or wrongly.

 

[justanobserver]

To add to that, the guy left plenty of his DNA around, So probably qualifies as most influential.

Genghiz Khan is definitely the most influential alpha-male in history

 

[MilSpec]

Kindly try to write your reasons due to which you're naming the person....

Mikhail Klashnikov... the reason is pretty apparent in his last names.... used to gain liberty and justice against tyrannical rulers aswell as to impose tyranny and genocide on freedom and justice... Fear of the free world as well as crutches of the poor and deprived... used to kill as well as protect.

One tank commander's design changed, saved, as well as destroyed countless lives. One of the biggest names of this generations ...

But my list will also comprise of few others like (in no necessary order)

Einstein
Charles Darwin
Galileo
Edison/Tesla
James Watt

Political leaders are not worth mentioning... there works have always been divisive and cunning , always benefited the rich and harmed the poor .. hence no gandhi.. roosevelt.. washinton.. churchill.. atlee.. etc