Non-Muslims About Hazrat Ali (Wajihuddin Ali Khan)

Edward Gibbon (British Historian):
The zeal and virtue of Ali were never outstripped by any recent proselyte. He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier, and a saint; his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and religious sayings; and every antagonist, in the combats of the tongue or of the sword, was subdued by his eloquence and valour. From the first hour of his mission to the last rites of his funeral, the apostle was never forsaken by a generous friend, whom he delighted to name his brother, his vicegerent, and the faithful Aaron of a second Moses.
Reference: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, pp. 381–2

Washington Irving (American author and essayist)
He was of the noblest branch of the noble race of Koreish. He possessed the three qualities most prized by Arabs: courage, eloquence, and munificence. His intrepid spirit had gained him from the prophet the appellation of The Lion of God, specimens of his eloquence remain in some verses and sayings preserved among the Arabs; and his munificence was manifested in sharing among others, every Friday, what remained in the treasury. Of his magnanimity, we have given repeated instances; his noble scorn of everything false and mean, and the absence in his conduct of everything like selfish intrigue.
Reference: Lives of the Successors of Mahomet, London, 1850, p. 165

Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian, critic, and sociological writer)
As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble-minded creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards; full of affection, of fiery daring. Something chivalrous in him; brave as a lion; yet with a grace, a truth and affection worthy of Christian knighthood.
Reference: On Heroes, Hero-Worship, And The Heroic In History, 1841, Lecture 2: The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam., May 8, 1840

Sir William Muir (Scottish scholar and statesman)
Endowed with a clear intellect, warm in affection, and confiding in friendship, he was from the boyhood devoted heart and soul to the Prophet. Simple, quiet, and unambitious, when in after days he obtained the rule of half of the Moslem world, it was rather thrust upon him than sought.
Reference: The Life of Mahomet, London, 1877, p. 250

Dr. Henry Stubbe (Classicist, polemicist, physician, and philosopher)
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.
Reference: An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism, 1705, p. 83

Simon Ockley (British Orientalist and Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge)
One thing particularly deserving to be noticed is that his mother was delivered of him at Mecca, in the very temple itself; which never happened to any one else.
Reference: History of the Saracens, London, 1894, p. 331

*Wajihuddin Ali Khan is pursuing Masters in Public Administration at Department of Political Science, AMU.