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

[AUz]

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...

 

[MilSpec]

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?

My vote goes to mikhail kalashnikov

 

[acetophenol]

mahatma gandhi

 

[ashant]

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

 

[Karachiite]

For me it's Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

 

[Juice]

Hitler, only because the world we are in now was shaped by his action. However, after the cold war we are moving to a new phase...lets see where it heads.

 

[AUz]

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

 

[luckyyy]

the most influential person in the human history are mostly regilious people but unfortunaly in almost all of their cases they get their influence buildup after they passed away....
but i my view the most influential people in modren history are those who influence people to the extent of changing the innner core of a human behaviour , and the name of mahatma gandhi immidiatly stuck my mind...
retaliation , answering stone to stone and fire by fire , are gernal human behaviour but when we see pictures of countless mob just standing quitly , taking stick bolws on their head without any sort of retaliation , just because mahatama gandhi called then for non.volient protest , it's a ultimate example of how deep the man had influence the people...

 

[LEGENDARY WARRIOR]

For me its Khalid bin Waleed (R.A). .

A famous general of 7th century Islamic conquest, said this during Ridda wars:

He is a master of war; a friend of death. He has the dash of a lion and the patience of a cat !

Edward Gibbon 19th century historian said:

The fiercest and most successful of the Arabian warriors.

 

[blood]

Hitler, only because the world we are in now was shaped by his action. However, after the cold war we are moving to a new phase...lets see where it heads.

hitler's influence was limited to nazi germany and some blind german follower's. If you see recent history then it should be OSAMA bin laden , he had a lot of influence in the muslim world, lot of muslim support, leader of the most dangerous terror organisation that is al-qaeda, and also enjoyed the attention of the world and most powerfull country - america for more than two decade's.

 

[blood]

For me it's Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

please be realistic not patriotic, i would say the same to indian's as well, though mahatma gandhi taught the whole world the value's of non voilence i don't think he was as influential as hitler or osama-bin-laden, othewise you can even add nelson mendela's name into the list.

 

[DarK-LorD]

Most influential person for me is George Washington,He was involved in making one of the World's most powerful Country,Which ended the rule of many Dictators.
Caesar was also very influential after all Romans ruled the World for 500+years.

 

[Juice]

hitler's influence was limited to nazi germany and some blind german follower's. If you see recent history then it should be OSAMA bin laden , he had a lot of influence in the muslim world, lot of muslim support, leader of the most dangerous terror organistion that is al-qaeda, and also enjoyed the attention of the world's most powerfull country - america.

What I meant was the east bloc-west bloc rivalry...even East Asia was influenced by this because Japan would not have attacked western interest without Europeans being distracted by war. The Japanese occupations had much to do with shattering the myth of western invincability...and lead indirectly to Indian and Pakistani independence. The world-view and situation formed by WWII are fading... but still exert a lot of influence on today's situation. I do agree that the bigger picture was formed by Jesus (or Paul to be honest) and Mohammed, but I am thinking in terms of more direct relevance.

 

[indian dream]

For me its mahatma Gandhi, Nelson mandela, karl marx.

 

[kingkobra]

With all the points given in green highlighted text i find jesus better as he was the one who spread love..
i don't want any military leader as my inspiration...

so i will go with Mahatma Gandhi,he influenced Martin Luther King,Nelson Mandela which further inspired millions of people...