What Notable Non-Muslims have said about Islam and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Michael H. Hart of USA, compiled a ranking list of the 100 most influential persons in the entire history of humankind and authored the book “The 100 most influential persons", published in 1978 by Hart Publishing Company Inc. He ranked Muhammad peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as the number one, at the top of his list.
The following are brief excerpts from the chapter on Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
“My choice of Muhammad to lead the best 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.
Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world’s great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.
The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backwards area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art and learning. Orphaned at the age of six, he was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate.”
“When Muhammad died, in 632, he was the effective ruler of all of Southern Arabia”.
About the rapid spread of Islam which continued after the demise of Muhammad, Michael Hart writes that the lands that accepted Islaam included ”The Northeast of Arabia the larger Neo-Persian Empire of Sassamids; to the northwest bay Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople . . . all of Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine.”
“By 711, North Africa, to the Atlantic Ocean, then the Visigoth Kingdom of Spain . . . stretching from the boarders of India to the Atlantic Ocean, the largest empire that the world had yet seen”.
George Bernard Shaw:
“I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving the problems in a way that would bring the much needed peace and happiness. Europe is beginning to be enamored of the creed of Muhammad. In the next century it may go further in recognizing the utility of that creed in solving its problems.”
(A Collection of writing of some of the eminent scholars, 1935).
Lamartine’s tribute to the Prophet:
“If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could claim to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad?”
(Histoire de la Turquie, 1855).
Gandhi:
"I become more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers and his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle”.
(Young India, 1922).
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