Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman; to sub-vert superstitions which had been imposed between man andhis Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; torestore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst thechaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then ex-isting. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyondhuman power with so feeble means, for he (Muhammad) hadin the conception as well as in the execution of such a greatdesign, no other instrument than himself and no other aid ex-cept a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revo-lution in the world, because in less than two centuries after itsappearance, Islam, in faith and in arms, reigned over thewhole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name, PersiaKhorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssin-ia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous is-lands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and part of Gaul. "Ifgreatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing re-sults are the three criteria of a human genius, who could darecompare any great man in history with Muhammad? Themost famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. Theyfounded, if anything at all, no more than material powers.