What Non-Muslims Say About Hazrat Ali (a.s)

Dr. Henry Stubbe

(1632-1676)  Classicist, polemicist, physician, and philosopher.

q       “He had a contempt of the world, its glory and pomp, he feared God much, gave many alms, was just in all his actions, humble and affable; of an exceeding quick wit and of an ingenuity that was not common, he was exceedingly learned, not in those sciences that terminate in speculations but those which extend to practice.”

[An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism, 1705, p. 83]

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Gerald de Gaury

(1897 - 1984) A distinguished soldier and diplomat.

q       “He had been wise in counsel and brave in battle, true to his friends and magnanimous to his foes.  He was to be for ever the paragon of Muslim nobility and chivalry.”

[Rulers of Mecca, London, 1951, p. 49]

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Wilferd Madelung

Professor of Arabic at Oxford University

q       "In face of the fake Umayyad claim to legitimate sovereignty in Islam as God's Vicegerents on earth, and in view of Umayyad treachery, arbitrary and divisive government, and vindictive retribution, they came to appreciate his honesty, his unbending devotion to the reign of Islam, his deep personal loyalties, his equal treatment of all his supporters, and his generosity in forgiving his defeated enemies."

[The succession to Muhammad: a study of the early caliphate, Cambridge, 1997, pp. 309-310]

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Charles Mills

(1788 - 1826)  Leading historical writer of his time.

q       “As the chief of the family of Hashem and as the cousin and son-in-law of him whom the Arabians respected …, it is apparently wonderful that Ali was not raised to the Caliphate immediately on the death of Mohammad.  To the advantages of his birth and marriage was added the friendship of the Prophet.  The son of Abu Talib was one of the first converts to Islamism and Mohammad’s favourite appellation of his was the Aaron of a second Moses.  His talents as an orator, and his intrepidity as a warrior, were grateful to a nation in whose judgement courage was virtue and eloquence was wisdom.”

[An history of Muhammedanism, London, 1818, p. 89]