Muhammad

Born on the fringes of an unsettled and violent society, Muhammad emerged as one of history's most influential figures. In the course of twenty-three years he gave birth to a literary masterpiece, created a major religion and founded a new world power. Muhammad's revelations were of such imaginative force that a hundred years after his death Islam had spread across three continents, attracting enthusiastic converts from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas. Muslims continue to be powerfully motivated by their religion and their prophet. Partly for this reason they have been viewed for 1400 years, until the beginning of the Cold War and since its end, as a profound threat to Western civilization.