(1)   SIR T.W. ARNOLD SAYS…

But above all-and herein is its supreme importance in the missionary history of Islam it ordains a yearly gathering of believers, of all nations and languages, brought together from all parts of the world, to pray in that scared place towards which their faces are set in every hour of private worship in their distant homes. No fetch of religious genius could have conceived a better expedient for impressing on the minds of the faithful a sense of their common life and of their brotherhood in the bonds of faith. Here in a supreme act of common worship, the Negro of the west coast of Africa meets the Chinaman from the distant East; the courtly and polished Ottoman recognizes his brother Muslim in the wild islander from the farthest end of the Malayan Sea. At the same time throughout the whole Muhammadan world the hearts of believers are lifted up in sympathy with their more fortunate brethren gathered together in the scared city, as in their own homes they celebrate the festival of `Id Al-Adha or as if is called in Turkey and Egypt the feast of Bayram.

“Besides the institution of the pilgrimage, the payment of the legal alms is another duty that continually reminds the Muslim that ‘the faithful are brothers'(49-10)- a religious theory that is very strikingly realized in Muhammadan society and seldom fails to express itself in acts of kindness towards the new convert. Whatever be his race, color or antecedents he is received into the brotherhood of believers and takes his place as an equal among equals.”

(T.W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, Lahore, 1956 edition, pp.  415-416)

(2) EDMUND BURKE WRITES…

“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.”

(The English statesman and orator, Edmund Burke. In his “Impeachment of Warren Hastings”)

(3)   DR. A. BERTHERAND WRITES….

“To seek knowledge is a duty for every Muslim man and woman. Seek knowledge even though it be in China. The savants are the heirs of the prophets. These profound words of the great reformer are an indisputable contradiction to those who seek and exert themselves in putting the responsibility of the lectual degradation of Muslims upon the spirit of the Quran. Let them read and meditate upon this great Book and they will find in it, at every passage, a constant attack upon idolatry and materialism: they will read that the Prophet incessantly called the attention and the meditation of his people to the splendid marvels, to the mysterious phenomenon of creation. The incredulous, skeptical and unbelieving may convince themselves that the importance of this Book and its doctrine was not to throw back, eventually, the intellectual and moral faculties of a whole people. On the contrary, those who have followed its counsels have been, as we have described in the course of this study, the creators of a civilization which is astounding unto this day.”

(Dr. A. Bertherand. Contribution des Arabes au Progress des Science  Medicales, Paris 1883,p. 6)

(4) GIBBON SAYS…

“More pure that the system of Zoroaster, more liberal than the law of Moses, the religion of Mahomet might seem less inconsistent with reason than the creed of mystery and superstition which in the seventh century disgraced the simplicity of the gospels.”

(Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire London 1838 and 1939, Vol. V, p. 487.)

(5) GEORGE BERNARD SHAW SAYS…

“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion, which appears to possess that assimilating capability to the changing phases of existence, which can make itself appeal to every age…

“I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today. The Mediaeval ecclesiastics, either through ignorance or bigotry, painted Muhammadanism in the darkest colours. They were, infact, trained to hate both the man Muhammad and his religion. To them Muhammad was anti-Christ, I have studied him, the wonderful man, and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ he must be called the saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him 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. Europe is beginning to be enamoured of the creed of Muhammad. In the next century it may go still further in recognizing the utility of that creed in solving its problems, and it is in this sense that you must understand my prediction.”

(“A Collection of writings of some of the Eminent Scholars” published by the Working Muslim Mission, 1935 edition. P. 77)

The above are excerpts from the booklet “Opinions of Non Muslim Scholars about Prophet Muhammad (Sall Allah u Alaihi wa Sallam), Islam and Holy Quran”- compiled by Syed Masood Ahmad (Rahmatullah Alaihi).