The self-published book that ranked Muhammad as history's most influential person
In 1978 an American astrophysicist, Michael Hart, published a list of the hundred people who most changed the course of history, printed by his father's publishing house. He put the Prophet Muhammad first, a choice that drew criticism in the West, delighted readers across the Muslim world and helped make the book famous.
Hart was explicit that he was not measuring greatness or goodness. He asked instead whose actions altered history most, and he gave extra weight to people whose achievements seemed unusual or unlikely to have happened without them. Founders of religions scored highly because they shaped many lives intensely over long periods. Muhammad topped the list because Hart judged him supremely successful in both spiritual and worldly affairs: he laid the foundations of Islam and drove the conquests that united Arabia. Christianity's influence, by contrast, Hart split between Jesus and the apostle Paul, who spread the faith and set it apart from Judaism. The Buddha, Confucius and Moses also ranked near the top.
The reaction was mixed. Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt's president, honoured Hart in 1988, and Muslim writers such as Ahmed Deedat cited the ranking, even though Hart credited Muhammad with writing the Quran, which contradicts Muslim belief. Only two women made the list, which Hart blamed on women historically being denied the chance to wield great influence. Abraham Lincoln was relegated to the honourable mentions, a notable omission. Hart himself was also a white nationalist.
A revised edition in 1992 demoted Lenin and Mao after the fall of European communism and added Mikhail Gorbachev. Hart swapped Shakespeare for Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, siding with the minority theory that de Vere wrote the plays, and Henry Ford replaced Picasso. The top ten stayed exactly as before.
At least 60,000 copies sold, and it appeared in many languages. The authors of a later study, Who's Bigger?, judged it probably the best-known influence ranking of historical figures.
Source: The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History
