Thomas Carlyle on Muhammad

“How one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades? The lies which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man are disgraceful to ourselves only. A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be in earnest. He was to kindle the world; the Worlds Maker had ordered so.”

“It is a great shame for any one to listen to the accusation that Islaam is a lie and that Muhammad was a fabricator and a deceiver. We saw that he remained steadfast upon his principles, with firm determination; kind and generous, compassionate, pious, virtuous, with real manhood, hardworking and sincere. Besides all these qualities, he was lenient with others, tolerant, kind, cheerful and praiseworthy and perhaps he would joke and tease his companions. He was just, truthful, smart, pure, magnanimous and present-minded; his face was radiant as if he had lights within him to illuminate the darkest of nights; he was a great man by nature who was not educated in a school nor nurtured by a teacher as he was not in need of any of this.”