Islam in their eyes -4

Assalaamu alaikum [peace be to you],

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Islam came like a flood of light – it illumined the entire environment. Its charm captivated so many that they moved into its fold – but those who, for a variety of reasons, did not enter its fold, were also spellbound. They could not help admiring its beauty, splendor and grandeur. They confessed its greatness and paid tributes to it. Their evidence is important in one respect – it comes from those who are not within it, from many who have, on the whole, been rather antagonistic; but they too had to admit its unique features, its serenity that casts its spell on all and sundry. It is a selection of such evidence that we now present.

Sir William Muir, Mohamed and Islam, London, 1895 p.246
“There can be no question but that, with its pure monotheism, and a code founded in the main on justice and humanity, Islam succeeds in raising to a higher level races sunk in idolatry and fetishism, like those of Central Africa, and that in some respects, notably in that of temperance, it materially improves the morality of such peoples.”


Major Arthur Glyn Leonard, Islam – Her Moral and Spiritual Value, London, 1927
“Two features in the Creed of Islam have always specially attracted me. One is the God conception, the other is its unquestionable sincerity – a tremendous asset in human affairs, the religious aspect of them especially. After all, sincerity is almost divine and like love covers a multitude of sins.”


John L. Esposito, ISLAM, The Straight Path, Oxford University Press, New York, 1988, pp. 3-4:
"Islam stands in a long line of Semitic, prophetic religious traditions that share an uncompromising monotheism, and belief in God's revelation, His prophets, ethical responsibility and accountability, and the Day of Judgement. Indeed, Muslims, like Christians and Jews, are the Children of Abraham, since all trace their communities back to him. Islam's historic religious and political relationship to Christendom and Judaism has remained strong throughout history. This interaction has been the source of mutual benefit and borrowing as well as misunderstanding and conflict."

Edmund Burke, in his Impeachment of Warren Hastings
“The Muhammadan Law* which is binding on all -- from the crowned head to the meanest subject is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”

Lancelot Lawton, The Sphere, London, May 12, 1928
“As a religion the Mohammedan religion, it must be confessed, is more suited to Africa than is the Christian religion; indeed, I would even say that it is more suited to the world as whole….

“It is undeniable that polygamy, or to speak more accurately, the principle underlying it, is not confined to Moslem peoples. To put the matter plainly, who can honestly say that the sexual morality of the West is superior to that of the East? A fair comparison would, I believe, very much favor the latter. Then it is undeniable also that faith in the power of the sword is by no means restricted to the Islamic world. Who can bear more telling witness to the truth of this assertion than Moslems themselves who have suffered greatly from the sharp swords of the Western nations? Putting aside these two points of resemblance, the achievement of the Moslem faith enjoys, I maintain, a definite superiority, in proof of which may be cited Moslem abstinence, sense of fraternity, condemnation of usury, and recognition of prophets other than its own. Its quality may be summed up saying that it takes a man as he is, and while it does not pretend to make a god out of him, it seeks to regulate his conduct so that at least he shall become a good neighbor.”

to be continued in part 5, in sha'Allah [God willing]...


<sup>*he means 'the Islamic law'. Many Western scholars of past centuries used the wrong word Mohammedan to refer to Muslims.

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If I am right, it's from the God. if I am wrong, it's from myself.