Who is the Prophet Muhammad? What is his place in world history?

Hz. Muhammad, Alone. He Managed to Create a Much Greater Impact than Jesus and St. Paul

Considering the known world history, Hz. Muhammad is the most influential person who literally directs history. Muhammad is widely accepted, and even a devout Christian such as Michael H. Hart rejects his own prophet. Rather than Jesus. It puts Muhammad at the top of the list of the 100 most influential people who shape the world. Because Hz. Muhammad's personal influence in shaping the religion of Islam, Hz. The fact that Jesus' influence on the formation of the Christian religion was much greater than that of Jesus inevitably makes him feel like the Prophet. It forces Muhammad to place himself at number one in the rankings. So much so that, unlike Islam, Christianity is considered a religion founded not by one person but by two people (Jesus and St. Paul), and even the total influence of the two is considered to be the same as that of Hz. It can be said that it is overshadowed by Muhammad's personal influence. He is pointed out as the only person in history who has achieved outstanding success in both religious and non-religious fields.

As a matter of fact, the famous German Prime Minister Prince Otto von Bismarck says; “I claim that Hz. Muhammad is the most distinguished value. It is also unlikely that the Creator will bring such a second body into the realm of possibility. "I am sorry that I could not be in the same century with you, O Muhammad."

Hz. Who is Muhammad? How Did Islam Spread the Religion?

Coming from humble origins, Hz. Muhammad founded and spread one of the world's greatest religions and became an extremely influential political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence remains powerful and pervasive, and there is no doubt that it will continue to do so.

When we look at the majority of people who do things that shape the world, we witness that they were born in world-renowned centers of civilization, as members of nations with a high cultural level or great political importance. Therefore, it is understood that they have the advantage of being raised in these environments and have the chance to maximize their effectiveness by blending their innate and personal talents that they develop over time.

Hz. Muhammad was born in 571 in the city of Mecca in the south of Arabia, in a backward part of the world that was far from the centers of commerce, art and science at that time. Hz., a member of the Quraysh tribe. Muhammad was orphaned at the age of six and grew up in modest circumstances with relatives. Islamic sources tell us that he was illiterate. When she was twenty-five years old, Hz. became a rich widow. It is noteworthy that his economic situation improved after his marriage to Hatice (in 596). However, we do not have strong evidence or indication that he was an extraordinary person until he was close to forty years of age.

Most Arabs at that time were pagans; They believed in many gods. However, a small number of Jews and Christians also lived in Mecca. The existence of a single and absolute God who rules the entire universe. We can assume that Muhammad most likely first learned from the Meccan Jewish and Christian communities. Hz. When Muhammad reached the age of forty, in 610, he began his duty to explain the teachings of Islam to the people around him, believing that the absolute God, that is, Allah, had chosen him to spread this true faith (Islam), with the 'claim' that God was speaking to him through the archangel Gabriel. .

For three years, Hz. Muhammad could not go beyond preaching only to his close friends and disciples. Then, starting from 613, he started preaching publicly to the Meccan community. While he gradually gained those who believed in him, the authorities in Mecca, especially his own tribe, the Quraysh, began to see him as a dangerous person who disrupted the 'established' order in Mecca, disturbed the people. In 622, Hz. Muhammad emigrated to the city of Medina, about 500 km north of Mecca, where he was offered a position of significant political power.

Hz. Muhammad Migrates to Medina, Signs Political and Religious Unity in Medina

This migration, known as the "Hijra", was the turning point in the Prophet's life. The number of his disciples in Mecca was small. He left Mecca last. Undoubtedly, one of his purposes was to come to Medina not as an oppressed person left alone and out of law, but as the political leader, the head of the community of Muslims with certain laws. At first, the people of Medina saw Islam as a system that could provide them with security and protection rather than a new religion. Hz. They accepted Muhammad as a political leader in this respect. They were ready to accept the religious aspect of Islam with their own consent if their political and social needs were met. Thus, in Mecca, Hz. While Muhammad was a simple citizen, he managed to become the chief administrator of a community in Medina.

In this positive atmosphere, the number of Muslims in Medina increased in a short time, the number of believers began to grow like an avalanche, and this situation caused Hz. He elevated Muhammad to the position of absolute leader of Medina. Over the next few years, as his followers continued to proliferate, he personally commanded Muslim Armies in a series of battles between Medina and Mecca. The first of this series of wars took place on March 13, 624, at a well between Mecca and Medina belonging to a person named Badr. Badr was the first victory of a handful of Muslims. Then other wars were fought. Hz. Muhammad was the Commander of the Islamic Army in all wars.

During this period, Hz. Muhammad determined that his main goal was to spread the tenets of the Islamic religion. Since Muhammad decided that the support of a political organization was needed, he transformed his political power into a religious dominance by using skillful diplomacy and political maneuvers among the Muslims, Jews and non-Muslim Arabs in Medina. Among Muslims, asabiyyah began to be used as a binding element of religion rather than kinship ties. He eliminated blood feuds within the Islamic Ummah in Medina and strengthened internal unity thanks to the institution of arbitration. The system in which the source of sovereignty was based on tribes and city administrations were established with people elected by tribes was shelved. From now on, the sole source of sovereignty was accepted as God. Allah also said this to Hz. Muhammad as His Messenger. Since Muhammad also commanded the leadership, the leader of Muslims is automatically Hz. He was becoming Muhammad. The practical equivalent of this was that the Arabs, who were unfamiliar with the concept of political domination until that day, started to establish a state only with the help of religion.

Hz. Muhammad Teaches Arabs, a Stateless Society, How to Establish a State

Hz. He paved the way for the statehood of Arab societies. Muhammad both made Islam an umbrella religion and initiated the establishment of a state based on Islam. Hz. The first and clear purpose of Muhammad's strategy after the Hijra was to spread his influence at the expense of the Quraysh. He achieved this by keeping away from the extent of inter-tribal war. In his contacts with Arab tribes, he ensured that people focused only on military and political issues. Thus, it opened the way for tribal members to choose or change their religion with their own free will. Over time, being a Muslim took precedence over tribal ties. Thus, he began to establish an Islamic Civilization with Medina at the center.

Finally, in 630, Hz. With Muhammad's return to Mecca victoriously and as a conqueror, the opportunity to put an end to the wars between Mecca and Medina was seized. In the remaining two and a half years of his life, the Prophet witnessed the rapid acceptance of the new religion by the Arab tribes. When Muhammad died on June 8, 632, he became the most influential person in all of Southern Arabia and the absolute ruler of the entire geography where Islam spread in the name of Allah. The Caliphs who came after him also continued this tradition, Hz. They tried to rule Muslims by adhering to the principles laid down by Muhammad.

Small Arab Armies Defeat Large Byzantine and Persian Armies, Reaching as far as Spain

At that time, Arab Bedouins were known for being fierce warriors. But their numbers were few; The conflicts and destructive war between them were wreaking havoc. It was clear that the Bedouin warriors were no match for the large armies of the kingdoms settled in the agricultural lands of the north. But for the first time in history, Hz. After being united by Muhammad and filled with the enthusiasm of belief in God, these small Arab armies embarked on the most astonishing conquests in human history. In the northeast of Arabia was the great Persian Empire of the Sassanids, and in the northwest was the Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) with its center in Istanbul (then known as Constantinople). Numerically, the Arabs were no match for their opponents. But everything was completely different on the battlefield, and the enthusiastic Arabs conquered all of Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine by defeating the Byzantines in Yarmuk on August 20, 635. Until 642; Persian armies were defeated in the battles of Kadisiye (637) and Nihavent (642). In a short time, Egypt was taken from the Byzantine Empire and joined the Islamic lands.

Hz. Muhammad and the Arab conquests

Hz. Muhammad's close friends and successors. Abu Bakr and Hz. Even these great conquests commanded by Omar (Omar bin Hattab) were not enough for the Arab armies. Hz. Adopting the motto of the famous commander Khalid Bin Velid, who commanded the Islamic Armies during the reign of Muhammad, "Armies increase with victory and decrease with defeat", Muslim Arabs crossed North Africa from one end to the other until 711 and descended to the Atlantic Ocean. From here they headed north; They crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and destroyed the Visigoth Kingdom in Spain.

The conquest of Spain by Muslims on July 19, 711 raised the expectation that Muslims would defeat all of Christian Europe. However, when a Muslim army that had advanced into France was finally defeated by the Franks in the Battle of Puvatva (Poitiers), which took place in October 732, a barrier was set for the spread of Islam in the west of Europe for the first time. Still, Hz. These Bedouins, enthused by Muhammad's discourse, built a huge empire stretching from the Indian border to the Atlantic Ocean, in a period of war that lasted less than a century; They had established the greatest empire the world had ever seen. In addition to ensuring political and geographical unity, these conquests eventually led to a massive conversion to the new faith wherever conquered.

Not all of these conquests were permanent until today. The Persians (Iranians), although adhering to Islam, have since regained their independence from the Arabs, and more than seven centuries of war in Spain resulted in the Christians recapturing the entire peninsula. However, Mesopotamia and Egypt, the two cradles of ancient civilizations, remained under Arab rule, as did the entire coast of North Africa. The new religion continued to spread over the years, far beyond the borders reached by the first Muslim conquests. Today, tens of millions of Muslims live in Africa and Central Asia, and more in Pakistan, Northern India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The new faith is known to be a unifying factor in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the potential for conflict between Muslims and Hindus within Indian territory continues to exist.

Hz. Muhammad's Impact on Human History

Then Hz. How should the scope, breadth, and depth of Muhammad's influence on human history be assessed? Like all religions, Islam has a great impact on the lives of its believers. Political, scientific, cultural etc. in the world. This is why the influence of the founders of great religions is somewhat higher than that of influential people who are known worldwide in some aspects.

Since there are approximately twice as many Christians as Muslims in the world, Hz. Prophet Muhammad. It may seem a little strange at first that he is ranked higher than Jesus. However, Hz. We need to see two main reasons that make Muhammad stand out:

First; Hz. Muhammad in the development of Islam, Hz. It played a more important role than Jesus did in the development of Christianity. Hz. Jesus; Although he put forward the basic moral and spiritual tenets of Christianity (which are different from the tenets of Judaism), the main person who developed and spread Christian theology and the author of a large part of the New Testament is St. Paul of Tarsus. Hz. Muhammad is the person who revealed both the theology and the basic moral and spiritual principles of Islam. In addition, he single-handedly played the most important role in the acceptance of the new faith and the establishment of Islamic worship, guiding believers in all aspects.

Latter; In a sense, he is the sole 'author' of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, which came to him through revelation. It is Muhammad. Most of what he said was recorded more or less faithfully while he was alive, and the hadiths that were put together to serve as a ruling not long after his death were also very influential. Therefore, the Quran, Hz. It represents the ideas and teachings of Muhammad. Hz. We have no such compilation of Jesus' teaching. For Muslims, the Quran is at least as important as the Bible is for Christians. It appears that the impact Muhammad had through the Quran was enormous. Even for this reason, Hz. The relative influence of Muhammad on Islam, Hz. It turns out that the impact that Jesus and St. Paul had together on Christianity was greater than that. So, when viewed purely at the level of religion, Hz. Prophet Muhammad on human history. It is possible to say that it had a greater impact than the combined influence of Jesus and St. Paul.

Beyond that, Hz. Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a person who stood out as a leader in religious as well as non-religious fields and had a great influence. In fact, as the driving force behind the Arab conquests, he can be considered the most influential political leader of all time. Even after his death, the influence of his narratives and words continued to increase. For example, Sultan Mehmet, who became the head of the Ottoman Empire at a very young age; Hz. Muhammad said, “Istanbul will definitely be conquered. What a great commander is the commander who conquered it, what a great army that army is.” He devoted all his energy to conquering Istanbul as soon as he ascended the throne, 821 years after his death, in order to be the person who would realize the conquest that he heralded with his words, and shortly after, on May 29, 1453, he became the blessed Conqueror, who buried Byzantium in history.

If Muhammad had never lived, the Arabs would not have dominated a vast geography

For many important historical events, it can be said that they are inevitable and would have occurred without the political leader driving the events. For example, the South American colonies would probably have won their freedom even if Simon Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be said about the Arab conquests. Nothing similar had happened before the Prophet Muhammad, and there is no reason to believe that the conquests could have been achieved without him. 

The only conquests in human history that can be compared to this phenomenon are the joint conquests of the Mongols and Turks in the thirteenth century, mainly due to the influence and leadership of Genghis Khan. However, although the spread of these conquests was wider than the conquests of the Muslim Arabs, Genghis Khan's conquests lasted only as long as his lifetime. After his death, the empire was divided among his four sons and then each of them was wiped off the stage of history one by one.

In this respect, the Arab conquests have occupied a very different place in history. Today, from Iraq to Morocco, there is a chain of Arab countries united not only by the Islamic faith, but also by the Arabic language, history and culture. The fact that the Qur'an is at the center of Islam and is written in Arabic has probably prevented the Arabic language from splintering into dialects that could not be understood by everyone over the past thirteen centuries. Although there were differences and divisions among the Arab states, Islam and the Qur'an were seen as important factors holding Arabs together long before the emergence of nationalist movements. 

Conclusion

We can see, then, that the Arabs, energized by the Islamic faith in the seventh century, have continued to play an important role in the history of mankind to the present day, with their conquests stretching over vast geographies. The fact that the Islamic population, including the Arabs, has reached 1 billion 570 million (23% of the world's population) and that Muslims dominate a vast geographical area of the world, alone proves that the Prophet Muhammad deserves the title of "the most influential person in human history".

On the other hand, the Arabs, who define themselves in a sense close to Harvard University Professor Gibb's statement, "The Arabs, who defined themselves in a sense close to the discourse "Anyone who considers the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad and the memory of the Arab Empire as the most important event in history, in addition to this, anyone who accepts the Arabic language and its cultural heritage as a common ancestral heritage is an Arab!", the Islamic societies, which gathered under the rule of the Arab Empire in the early periods of Islamic history, transformed into an Islamic Empire that included different ethnic nations from the eighth century onwards. Thus, Islam ceased to be a national and tribal religion of the Arab conquerors and gained the character of generality, a characteristic that extends to the present day. Islam became a religion that belonged not only to the Arabs but to all humanity. This fact resulted in the influence of Prophet Muhammad embracing the whole of humanity over time.

References

Michael H. Hart. Dünyaya Yön Veren En Etkin 100. (Çev. Nurşan Üstüntaş). Güney Kitap, İstanbul. 2019.

Bernard Lewis. Uygarlık Tarihinde Araplar. (Çev. Hakkı Dursun Yıldız). Pegasus Yayınları. 1. Baskı. İstanbul. 2006.

Juan Cole. İslam Dünyasını Kavramak. (Çev. Deniz Merdevan). Sitare Yayınları. 1. Baskı. İstanbul. 2010.

Ali Çimen, Göknur Göğebakan. Tarihi Değiştiren Savaşlar. Timaş Yayınları. 6. Baskı. İstanbul. 2009.