What they said about islam

“Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically. The definition of rationalism as a system that bases religion beliefs on principles furnished by the reason applies to it exactly. It cannot be denied that many doctrines and systems of theology and also many superstitions, from the worships of saints to the use of rosaries and amulets, have become grafted on the main trunk on Muslim creed. But in spite of the rich development, in every sense of the term, of the teachings of the Prophet, the Quran has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with the grandeur, a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam. This fidelity to the fundamental dogma of the religion, the elemental simplicity of the formula in which it is enunciated, the power that is gains from the fervid conviction of the missionaries who propagate it, are so many causes to explain the success of Muhammad’s missionary efforts. A creed so precise; so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess, and does indeed possess, a marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men.”

Edward Montet [La Propagande Chretienne Et Ses Adversaries Musulmans, Paris 1890, Quoted by T. W. Arnold in The Preaching of Islam, London

I am not a Muslim in the usual sense, though I hope I am a “Muslim” as one surrendered to God, but I believe that embedded in the Quran and other expressions of the Islamic vision are vast stores of divine truth from which I  and other Occidentals have still much to learn; and Islam is certainly a strong contender for supplying of the basic framework of the one religion of the future”.

W. Montgomery Watt [Islam and Christianity Today, London 1983, p. IX]

Overall i think it dosent matter what people belive as long as they belive in something, it is what keeps us all going, for some people its God, for others its Allah for others its money or power. The latter two are dangerous to belive in, but there are some that still do.

You are right….but why can't we find the same words or even opinions about Christianity,Catholism,,,,and so on

“The rise of Islam is perhaps the most amazing event in human history. Springing from a land and a people alike previously negligible, Islam spread within a century over half the earth, shattering great empires, overthrowing long established religions, remolding the souls of races, and building up a whole new world – the world of Islam.”

“The closer we examine this development the more extraordinary does it appear. The other great religions won their way slowly, by painful struggle, and finally triumphed with the aid of powerful monarchs converted to the new faith. Christianity had its Constantine, Buddhism its Asoka, and Zoroastrianism its Cyrus, each lending to his chosen cult the mighty force of secular authority. Not so Islam. Arising in a desert land sparsely inhabited by a nomad race previously undistinguished in human annals, Islam sallied forth on its great adventure with the slenderest human backing and against the heaviest material odds. Yet Islam triumphed with seemingly miraculous ease, and a couple of generations saw the Fiery Crescent borne victorious from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas and from the deserts of Central Asia to the deserts of Central Africa… Muhammad, an Arab of the Arabs, was the very incarnation of the soul of his race. Preaching a simple, austere monotheism, free from priest-craft or elaborate doctrinal trappings, he tapped the wellsprings of religious zeal always present in the Semitic heart. Forgetting the chronic rivalries and blood feuds which had consumed their energies in internecine strife, and welded into a glowing unity by the fire of their new-found faith, the Arabs poured forth from their deserts to conquer the earth for Allaah, the One True God…”

 “They (Arabs) were no bloodthirsty savages, bent solely on loot and destruction. On the contrary, they were an innately gifted race, eager to learn and appreciative of the cultural gifts which older civilisations had to bestow. Intermarrying freely and professing a common belief, conquerors and conquered rapidly fused, and from this fusion arose a new civilisation, the Saracenic civilisation, in which the ancient cultures of Greece, Rome and Persia were revitalised by the Arab genius and the Islamic spirit. For the first three centuries of its existence (650-1000 CE) the realm of Islam was the most civilized and progressive portion of the world. Studded with splendid cities, gracious mosques, and quiet universities where the wisdom of the ancient world was preserved and appreciated, the Muslim world offered a striking contrast to the Christian West, then sunk in the night of the Dark Ages.”

                   (A.M Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D., The New World of Islam, London)