Who Is Muhammad? From Non-Muslim Point of View
Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah (PBUH), was an Arab social, political, and religious leader. He was a Prophet and the founder of the religion Islam.
He was the last Prophet of God, who preached and confirmed the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Moses, Jesus, and all the other prophets.
He was born approximately 570 CE, in the Quraysh tribal leader's family, in Mecca. He united the savage Arabs into a single Muslim polity, with his teachings and Quran. He was the most influential person ever in history.
"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential person 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."
Micheal H. Hart The 100: A ranking of the most influential persons in history.
Muhammad According to Non-Muslims
"He was the most faithful protector of those he protected, the sweetest and most agreeable in conversation. Those who saw him were suddenly filled with reverence; those who came near him loved him; they who described him would say "I have never seen his like either before or after." He was a man of great taciturnity, but when he spoke, it was with emphasis and deliberation, and no one could forget what he said." -Lane Poole
"He must be called the Savior of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of this modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it much-needed peace and happiness." -Sir George Bernard Shaw
"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They found, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumble away before their eyes. This man not only moved armies, legislations, empires, peoples, and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then-inhabited world; and more than that; he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs, and the souls." -Alphonse de LaMartaine
"I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind. I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. 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, 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. When I closed the second volume of the Prophet’s biography, I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life." -Mahatma Gandhi
"Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the great influence upon the human race. To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God." -Dr. William Draper
“He was Caesar and Pope in one, but he was Pope without the Pope’s pretensions, and 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 a right Divine, it was Muhammad; for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports." -Reverend Bosworth Smith
"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 alike a hero." -Prof. Ramakrishna Rao
"It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knew 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 you, I shall say many things which may familiar to many, yet I myself feel, whenever I reread them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher." -Annie Besant
"His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the high moral character of the man who believed in him and looked up to him as a leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement- all argue his fundamental integrity. Suppose Muhammad an imposter raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad. Thus, not merely must we credit Muhammad with essential honesty and integrity of purpose, if we are to understand him at all; if we are to correct the errors we have inherited from the past, we must not forget the conclusive proof is a much stricter requirement than a show of plausibility, and in a matter such as this only to be attained with difficulty." -W. Montgomery Watt
“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion that 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 for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity." -Sir George Bernard Shaw
