Non-muslim Views of Muhammad (peace be upon him)
Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Warrior, Conqueror of ideas, the Restorer of rational beliefs, the Preacher of a religion without images, the Founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one heavenly Empire, that is Muhammad. As regards all standards [I repeat, “ALL”] by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, “Is there any man greater than he?” [Alphonse Lamartine, French poet]
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? Mohammad established a system based upon true and immortal ideology. Is there any like he? [Alphonse Lamartine]
People like Pasteur and Salk are leaders in the first sense. People like Gandhi and Confucius, on one hand, and Alexander, Caesar and Hitler on the other, are leaders in the second and perhaps the third sense. Jesus and Buddha belong in the third category alone. Perhaps the greatest leader of all times was Mohammed, who combined all three functions. To a lesser degree, Moses did the same. [Jules Masserman, Professor of History]
My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels. [Michael H. Hart, The 100]
I believe that if a man like Mohammad’s caliber were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today. [George Bernard Shaw]
I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him – the wonderful man, and in my opinion, he must be called the Savior of Humanity. [George Bernard Shaw]
He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pop without Pope’s pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue; if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammad, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. [Reverend B. Smith]
Mohammad never assigned himself a status more than a common man and a messenger of God. People had faith in him when he was surrounded by poverty and adversity and trusted him while he was the ruler of a great Empire. He was a man of spotless character who always had confidence in himself and in God’s help. No aspect of his life remained hidden nor was his death a mysterious event. [M.H. Hyndman]
The personality of Muhammad, it is most difficult to get into the whole truth of it. Only a glimpse of it I can catch. What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes! There is Muhammad, the Prophet; there is Muhammad, the Warrior; Muhammad, the Businessman; Muhammad, the Statesman; Muhammad, the Orator; Muhammad, the Reformer; Muhammad, the Refuge of Orphans; Muhammad, the Protector of Slaves; Muhammad, the Emancipator of Women; Muhammad, the Judge; Muhammad, the Saint. All in all these magnificent roles, in all these departments of human activities, he is like a hero. [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
I become more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme for life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and his own mission. These and not the sword, carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble. [Mahatma Gandhi]
An honest man, as the saying goes, is the noblest work of God, Mohammad was more than honest. He was human to the marrow of his bones. Human sympathy, human love was the music of his soul. To serve man, to elevate man, to purify man, to educate man, in a word to humanize man – this was the object of his mission, the be-all and end all of his life. In thought, in word, in action he had the good of humanity as his sole inspiration, his sole guiding principle. [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
The supremacy of the East was not only military. Science, philosophy, poetry, and the arts, all flourished in the Muhammadan world at a time when Europe was sunk in barbarism. Europeans, with unpardonable insularity, call this period ‘the Dark Ages’: but it was only in Europe that it was dark — indeed only in Christian Europe, for Spain, which was Muhammadan, had a brilliant culture. [Bertrand Russell]
It was in the Islamic Middle East that Indian numbers were for the first time incorporated in the inherited body of mathematical learning. From the Middle East they were transmitted to the West, where they are still known as Arabic numerals, honoring not those who invented them but those who first brought them to Europe. To this rich inheritance scholars and scientists in the Islamic world added an immensely important contribution through their own observations, experiments, and ideas. In most of the arts and sciences of civilization, medieval Europe was a pupil and in a sense a dependent of the Islamic world, relying on Arabic versions even for many otherwise unknown Greek works. [Prof. Bernard Lewis]
It must be owned that all the knowledge whether of Physics, Astronomy, Philosophy or Mathematics, which flourished in Europe from the 10th century was originally derived from the Arabian schools, and the Spanish Saracen may be looked upon as the father of European philosophy. [John Davenport]
It is highly probable that but for the Arabs, modern European civilization would have never assumed that character which has enabled it to transcend all previous phases of evolution. For although there is not a single aspect of human growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in the genesis of that power which constitutes the paramount distinctive force of the modern world and the supreme course of its victory — natural sciences and the scientific spirit. What we call sciences arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry; of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of Mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs. [Robert Briffault]
Mohammad was the greatest Executive Officer for implementation of the Divine Will. Like other prophets he knew that time will come when all mankind will become one community. [H.N. Spalding]
If the object of religion be the inculcation of morals, the diminution of evil, the promotion of human happiness, the expansion of the human intellect, if the performance of good works will avail in the great day when mankind shall be summoned to its final reckoning it is neither irreverent nor unreasonable to admit that Muhammad was indeed an Apostle of God. [S. P. Scott]
Muhammad adhered meticulously to the charter he forged for Medina, which – grounded as it was in the Qur’anic injunction, “Let there be no compulsion in religion” (2:256) – is arguably the first mandate for religious tolerance in human history. [Huston Smith]
Mohammad introduced the concept of such Glorious and Omnipotent God in Whose eyes all worldly systems are pieces of straw. Islamic equality of mankind is no fiction as it is in Christianity. No human mind has ever thought of such total freedom as established by Mohammad. [Dr. Mawde Royden]
The Book revealed to Muhammad is one and unique of its kind. It has left indelible impression on the hearts of humanity. Nothing can overcome its majesty. The Qura’n has given new dimensions to human thinking – Surprising reforms, stunning success! [Rev. B. Margoliouth]
Muhammad saved the human civilization from extinction. [J.H. Denison]
He laid the foundation of a universal government. His law was one for all. Equal justice and love for everyone. [George Rivorie]
Islam is the only religion that gives dignity to the poor. [Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General]
The message of Mohammad, Islam, is nothing but a blessing for mankind – The usher from darkness to light and from Satan to God. [Rev E. Stephenson]
In Islam the believer is a worshiper and a soldier ever ready to go to the battlefield but only for that battle which is waged to eradicate the evil. [H.N. Spalding]
Mohammad’s religion reformed all existing dogmas and brought the Arabs ahead of the super powers of the time. [Dr. Marcus Dods]
Islam does not set impossible goals. There are no mythological intricacies in this message. No hidden meanings or secrets and absolutely no priesthood. [Phillip K. Hitti, American historian and philosopher]
Kingdom of God on Earth! God’s messenger serving as the greatest proponent of human brotherhood, His viceroy on earth in the form of Muhammad. [Philip K. Hitti]
Between the middle of the eighth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, as we have noted before, the Arabic-speaking peoples were the main bearers of the torch of culture and civilization throughout the world. Moreover they were the medium through which ancient science and philosophy were recovered, supplemented and transmitted in such a way as to make possible the renaissance of Western Europe. In all this, Arabic Spain had a large share. [Philip K. Hitti]
During the almost 1,000 years that science was dormant in Europe, the Arabs, who by the 9th century had extended their sphere of influence as far as Spain, became the custodians of science and dominated biology, as they did other disciplines. [Encyclopaedia Britannica]
Muhammad was the most successful of all religious personalities. [Encyclopedia Britannica, 4th & 11th editions]
The Message of Mohammad is not a set of metaphysical phenomena. It is a complete civilization. [W.A.R. Gibb]
The Christian World came to wage crusades against Muslims but eventually knelt before them to gain knowledge. They were spellbound to see that Muslims were owners of a culture that was far superior to their own. The Dark Ages of Europe were illuminated by nothing but the beacon of Muslim civilization. [F.J.C. Hearushaw]
The power that created in Muslims a ravenous appetite for knowledge sprung from the Qur’an. [Rev. B. Margoliouth]
The solution to all international conflicts lies only in embracing Islam en masse because Islam is the only religion that can transcend nationalism. I see, with great dismay, that nationalism is gaining grounds even among the bearers of the Qur’an. I will hope for the day when all humanity will break this idol and unite all as the children of God. [Arnold J. Toynbey]
Fellow inhabitants of the planet! Search for the ideal Prophet, who in the 7th century, has shown you the way to total success. [Lewis Mumford]
All religions, save the word of Muhammad, are broken boats. They cannot take humanity to the shore of serenity. [Dr. E.B. Hocking]
Mohammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him. [Diwan Chand Sharma]
I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of Qur’an which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness. [Napoleon Bonaparte]
The Islamic teachings have left great traditions for equitable and gentle dealings and behavior, and inspire people with nobility and tolerance. These are human teachings of the highest order and at the same time practicable. These teachings brought into existence a society in which hard-heartedness and collective oppression and injustice were the least as compared with all other societies preceding it. Islam is replete with gentleness, courtesy, and fraternity. [H.G. Wells]
The Creed of Mohammad is free from ambiguity and the Qur’an is a glorious testimony to the unity of God. [Edward Gibbon, British historian]
The greatest crime, the greatest ‘sin’ of Mohammad in the eyes of the Christian West is that he did not allow himself to be slaughtered, to be ‘crucified’ by his enemies. He only defended himself, his family and his followers; and finally vanquished his enemies. Mohammad’s success is the Christians’ gall of disappointment: He did not believe in any vicarious sacrifices for the sins of others. [Edward Gibbon]
The towering personality of Muhammad has left bright and indelible imprints on all mankind. [John William Draper]
The man who of all men exercised the greatest influence upon the human race–Muhammad. [John William Draper]
Among leaders who have made the greatest impact through ages, I would consider Muhammad before Jesus Christ. [James Gavin, Speeches of a U.S. Army General]
Absolutely unique in history, Muhammad is a threefold founder of a nation, of an empire and of a religion. [Reverend B. Smith]
The noble founder of a nation, an empire and a religion. The unlettered one bestowed upon the world the Book which is a miracle, the eternal miracle and the true miracle. [Reverend B. Smith]
In the person of the prophet of Islam we see the rarest phenomenon on earth walking in flesh and blood i.e. the union of the theorist, the organizer and the leader in one man. [Prof. K.S. Ramakrishna Rao]
A man of truth and fidelity, true in what he did, in what he speaks and thought – this is the only sort of speech worth speaking. [Thomas Carlyle, British author]
The lies that we (Christians) have heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only. [Thomas Carlyle]
The word of Mohammad is a voice direct from nature’s own heart – all else is wind in comparison. [Thomas Carlyle]
The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can. [Thomas Carlyle]
History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword is the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated. [De Lacy O’ Leary]
He was the Messenger of the One True God: And never to his life’s end did he forget for a moment who he was! He was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of making one great truth their very life-spring. [Stanley Lane Poole]
Mohammad was an enthusiast in the noblest sense. [Stanley Lane Poole]
The Renaissance of Europe did not take place in the 15th century. Rather, it began when Europe learned from the culture of the Arabs. The cradle of European awakening is not Italy. It is the Muslim Spain. [Robert Briffault]
The height of human achievement and glory, Mohammad. [Pringle Kennedy]
Under his influence people became united in one bond which they knew not, the bond of true monotheism. [L.E. Browne]
Mohammad brought an end to idol worship. He preached Monotheism and infinite Mercy of God, human brotherhood, care of the orphan, emancipation of slaves, forbidding of wine. No religion achieved as much success as Islam did. [Sir William Muir]
The Arabian Prophet Mohammad is the founder of a revolution unparalleled in history. He founded a political state that will ultimately embrace the entire planet. The law of that Government will rest on justice and kindness. His teachings revolve around human equality, mutual cooperation and universal brotherhood. [Raymond Lerouge]
Islam is a forceful spiritual energy. Its true meaning will manifest itself when it will be implemented on a large scale. [Tor Andre]
The Book revealed to Muhammad defines an unalterable guide to individual and collective lives of people. [Sir Richard Gregory]
Think and ponder! Which person is it who taught mankind the way to establish the greatest society; the society in which blessings descend upon every individual? [J.H. Dennison]
The message of Mohammad is flowing toward its noble destination like a pure, fresh and transparent rivulet. [Johann Goethe]
The critics are blind. They cannot see that the only ‘sword’ Muhammad wielded was the sword of mercy, compassion, friendship and forgiveness – the sword that conquers enemies and purifies their hearts. His sword was sharper than the sword of steel. But the biased critics of Islam are prejudicial and partisan, who are narrow minded and whose eyes are covered by a veil of ignorance. They see fire instead of light, ugliness instead of beauty and evil instead of good. They distort and present every good quality as a great vice. It reflects their own depravity. [Pandit Gyanandra Dev Sharma Shastri]
Some people say that Islam was preached by the sword, but we cannot agree with this view. What is forced on people is soon rejected. Had Islam been imposed on people through oppression, there would have been no Islam today. Why? Because the Prophet of Islam had spiritual power, he loved humanity and he was guided by the ideal of ultimate good. [A Hindu Editor of Sat Updaish]
In the beginning the Prophet’s enemies made life difficult for him and his followers. So the Prophet asked his followers to leave their homes and migrate to Medina. He preferred migration to fighting his own people, but when oppression went beyond the pale of tolerance he took up his sword in self-defense. Those who believe religion can be spread by force are fools who neither know the ways of religion nor the ways of the world. They are proud of this belief because they are a long, long way away from the Truth. [Sikh Journalist, Nawan Hindustan]
It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to how I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher. [Dr. Annie Besant]
But do you mean to tell me that the man who in the full flush of youthful vigor, a young man of four and twenty (24), married a woman much his senior, and remained faithful to her for six and twenty years (26), at fifty years of age when the passions are dying married for lust and sexual passion? Not thus are men’s lives to be judged. And you look at the women whom he married, you will find that by every one of them an alliance was made for his people, or something was gained for his followers, or the woman was in sore need of protection. [Dr. Annie Besant]
No great religious leader has been so maligned as Prophet Mohammed. Attacked in the past as a heretic, an impostor, or a sensualist, it is still possible to find him referred to as ‘the false prophet’. A modern German writer accuses Prophet Mohammed of sensuality, surrounding himself with young women. This man was not married until he was twenty-five years of age, then he and his wife lived in happiness and fidelity for twenty-four years, until her death when he was forty-nine. Only between the age of fifty and his death at sixty-two did Prophet Mohammed take other wives, only one of whom was a virgin, and most of them were taken for dynastic and political reasons. Certainly the Prophet’s record was better than the head of the Church of England, Henry VIII. [Geoffrey Parrinder]
His readiness to undergo persecutions for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement – all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad. [Montgomery Watt]
Of all the world’s greatest men none has been so much maligned as Muhammad. It is easy to see how this has come about. For centuries Islam was the great enemy of Christendom, for Christendom was in direct contact with no other organized states comparable in power to the Muslims. [Montgomery Watt]
It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for in the mosque, when the call for prayer is sounded and worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and king kneel side by side and proclaim: ‘God Alone is Great’ … I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother. [Sarogini Naidu]
No other religion in history spread so rapidly as Islam. The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was made possible by the sword. But no modern scholar accepts this idea, and the Qur’an is explicit in the support of the freedom of conscience. In all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred, and rumors of God’s personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is said to have announced, “An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to the death or birth of a human being.” At Muhammad’s own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: “If there are any among you who worshipped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you worshipped, He lives forever.” [James A. Michener]
If ever any man on this earth has found God; if ever any man has devoted his life for the sake of God with a pure and holy zeal then, without doubt, and most certainly that man was the Holy Prophet of Arabia. [Major A. Leonard]
Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times ‘by the sword’ to get them to abandon their faith. [Uri Avnery, A Jew]
The teachings of Islam can fail under no circumstances. With all our systems of culture and civilization, we can not go beyond Islam and, as a matter of fact, no human mind can go beyond the Qur’an. [Johann Goethe]
People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already, it fell the day Muhammad was born. [Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson]
The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was effected by sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword. [Edward Gibbon]
The picture of the Muslim soldier advancing with a sword in one hand and the Qur’an in the other is quite false. [A. S. Tritton]
Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically….the teachings of the Prophet, the Qur’an has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam….A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men. [Edward Montet]
It was the genius of Muhammad, the spirit that he breathed into the Arabs through the soul of Islam that exalted them. That raised them out of the lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation up to the high watermark of national unity and empire. It was in the sublimity of Muhammad’s deism, the simplicity, the sobriety and purity it inculcated the fidelity of its founder to his own tenets that acted on their moral and intellectual fiber with all the magnetism of true inspiration. [Arthur Glyn Leonard]
He was sober and abstemious in his diet and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected but a result of real disregard for distinction from so trivial a source. In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he received them, and listened to their complaints. [Washington Irving]
The sayings of Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom not only for Muslims but for all mankind. [Mahatma Gandhi]
The principles of universal brotherhood and doctrine of the equality of mankind which he proclaimed represents one very great contribution of Mohammad to the social uplift of humanity. All great religions have preached the same doctrine but the prophet of Islam had put this theory into actual practice and its value will be fully recognized, perhaps centuries hence, when international consciousness being awakened, racial prejudices may disappear and greater brotherhood of humanity come into existence. [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
The number of verses in Qur’an inviting close observation of nature are several times more than those that relate to prayer, fasting, pilgrimage etc. all put together. The Muslim under its influence began to observe nature closely and this gives birth to the scientific spirit of the observation and experiment which was unknown to the Greeks. [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
The Qur’an says that God has created man to worship him but the word worship has a connotation of its own. God’s worship is not confined to prayer alone, but every act that is done with the purpose of winning approval of God and is for the benefit of the humanity comes under its purview. [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
How often the words came in Qur’an — Those who believe and do good works, they alone shall enter paradise. Again and again, not less than fifty times these words are repeated as if too much stress can not be laid on them. Contemplation is encouraged but mere contemplation is not the goal. Those who believe and do nothing can not exist in Islam. [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
My problem to write this monograph is easier because we are not generally fed now on that (distorted) kind of history and much time need not be spent on pointing out our misrepresentations of Islam. The theory of Islam and sword, for instance, is not heard now in any quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam, there is no compulsion in religion, is well known. [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
The sword of Islam is not the sword of steel. I know this by experience, because the sword of Islam struck deep into my own heart. It didn’t bring death, but it brought a new life; it brought an awareness and it brought an awakening as to who am I and what am I and for what am I here? [Ahmed Holt, a convert]
In Islam I found suitable replies to nagging queries arising in my mind with regard to the theory of creation, status of woman, creation of universe, etc. The life history of the holy Prophet attracted me very much and made easy for me to compare with other world leaders and their philosophies. [Vengatachalam Adiyar, now Abdullah Adiyar]
I have lived under different systems of life and have had the opportunity of studying various ideologies, but have come to the conclusion that none is as perfect as Islam. None of the systems has got a complete code of a noble life, only Islam has it’ and that is why good men embrace it. Islam is not theoretical; it is practical. It means complete submission to the will of God. [Herbert Hobohm, now Aman Hobohm]
It will be wrong to judge Islam in the light of the behavior of some bad Muslims who are always shown on the media. It is like judging a car as a bad one if the driver in the car is drunk and he bangs it into the wall. Islam guides all human beings in daily life – in its spiritual, mental and physical dimensions. But we must find the sources of these instructions, the Qur’an and the example of the Prophet. Then we can see the ideal of Islam. [Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam]
Islam appears to me like a perfect work of Architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other. Nothing is superfluous and nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid composure. [Leopold Weiss, a Jew; now Mohammed Asad]
The message of Islam envisaged and brought life to a civilization in which there was no room for nationalism, no ‘vested interests’, no class divisions, no Church, no priesthood, no hereditary nobility; in fact, no hereditary functions at all. [Mohammed Asad]
For some time now, striving for more and more precision and brevity, I have tried to put on paper in a systematic way, all philosophical truths, which in my view, can be ascertained beyond reasonable doubt. In the course of this effort it dawned on me that the typical attitude of an agnostic is not an intelligent one; that man simply cannot escape a decision to believe; that the createdness of what exists around us is obvious; that Islam undoubtedly finds itself in the greatest harmony with overall reality. Thus I realize, not without shock, that step by step, in spite of myself and almost unconsciously, n feeling and thinking I have grown into a Muslim. Only one last step remained to be taken: to formalize my conversion. As of today I am a Muslim. I have arrived. [M. Hoffman, PhD in law, Harvard; now Murad Hoffman]
Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe; it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills, trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500’s did the net direction of flow begin to reverse. [Jared Diamond a world renowned UCLA sociologist and physiologist won the Pulitzer Prize for his book: “Guns, Germs, and Steel.”]
It seems to me that Muhammad was a very ordinary man. He could not read or write. In fact, he was illiterate. We are talking about 1400 years ago. You have someone who was illiterate making profound pronouncement and statements and are amazingly accurate about scientific nature. I personally cannot see how this could be mere chance. There are too many accuracy’s and, like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind in concerning that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which led him to these statements. [Professor T.V.N. Persaud, Head of the Department of Anatomy, University of Manitoba]
Thinking about many of these questions and thinking where Muhammad came from, he was after all a Bedouin. I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case. [Professor Alfred Kroner, a famous geologist]
It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Qur’an about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from Allah, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God or Allah. [Professor Keith Moore, one of the world’s prominent scientists of anatomy and embryology. University of Toronto]
It follows, I think, that not only is there no conflict between genetics and religion, but in fact religion can guide science by adding revelation to some traditional scientific approaches. That there exist statements in the Qur’an shown by science to be valid, which supports knowledge in the Qur’an having been derived from Allah. [Professor Joe Leigh Simpson, Obstetrics and Gynecology at the North Western University in Chicago]
I am impressed that how remarkably some of the ancient writings seem to correspond to modern and recent Astronomy. There may well have to be something beyond what we understand as ordinary human experience to account for the writings that we have seen. [Professor Armstrong, Scientist works at NASA]
It is difficult to imagine that this type of knowledge was existing at that time, around 1400 years back. May be some of the things they have simple idea about, but do describe those things in great detail is very difficult. So, this is definitely not a simple human knowledge. [Professor Durga Rao]
No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and Endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. [H.A.R. Gibb]
Sense of justice is one of the most wonderful ideals of Islam, because as I read in the Qur’an I find those dynamic principles of life, not mystic but practical ethics for the daily conduct of life suited to the whole world. [Sarojini Naidu]
The doctrine of brotherhood of Islam extends to all human beings, no matter what color, race or creed. Islam is the only religion which has been able to realize this doctrine in practice. Muslims wherever on the world they are well recognize each other as brothers. [R. L. Mellema, Holland, Anthropologist, Writer and Scholar]
The essential and definite element of my conversion to Islam was the Qur’an. I began to study it before my conversion with the critical spirit of a Western intellectual. There are certain verses of this book, the Qur’an, revealed more than thirteen centuries ago, which teach exactly the same notions as the most modern scientific researches do. This definitely converted me. [Ali Selman Benoist, France, Doctor of Medicine]
I have read the Sacred Scriptures of every religion; nowhere have I found what I encountered in Islam: perfection. The Holy Qur’an, compared to any other scripture I have read, is like the Sun compared to that of a match. I firmly believe that anybody who reads the Word of Allah with a mind that is not completely closed to Truth, will become a Muslim. [Saifuddin Dirk Walter Mosig]
