George Sale (1697–1736) was a British Orientalist and one of courageous voices who produced first English translation of the holy Quran. He prefaced his work with a commentary including a short biography of the Prophet Muḥammad. He was also author of The General Dictionary, in ten volumes.
George Sale accepts that Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) gave best religion and best law to the Arab pagans. He says:
“Mohammed gave his Arabs the best religion he could, as well as the best laws, preferable at least, to those of the ancient pagan lawgivers, I confess I cannot see why he deserves not equal respect, though not with Moses or Jesus Christ, whose laws came really from heaven”.
Here it must be mentioned that George Sale considers Islam as a false religion imposed by Prophet Muhammad but even then he has no choice but to admit the extraordinary and unmatched qualities of Prophet Muhammad. He said:
“I have no need either to make an apology for publishing the translation of Koran which is commonly known as “The Al Koran of Mohammad” or to prove it a work of use as well as curiosity. They must have a mean opinion of the Christian religion, or be but ill grounded therein, who can detain any danger from so manifest a forgery:
and if the religious and civil institutions of foreign nations are worth our knowledge, those of Mohammad, the lawgiver of Arabians, and founder of an empire which in less than a century spread itself over a greater part of the world than the Romans, were ever masters of, must needs be so; whether we consider their extensive obtaining, or our frequent intercourse with those who are governed thereby.
I shall not here inquire into the reasons why the law of Mohammad has met with so unexampled a reception in the world (for they are greatly deceived who imagine it to have been propagated by the sword alone), or by what means it came to be embraced by nations which never felt the force of the Mohammedan arms, and even by those which stripped the Arabians of their conquests, and put an end to the sovereignty and very being of their Khalifas: yet it seems as if there was something more than what is vulgarly imagined in a religion which has made so surprising a progress”.
On the religious grounds George Sale criticizes the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) but he has to appreciate his personal qualities. At another place George Sale says:
“For how criminal so ever Mohammad may have been in imposing a false religion on mankind, the praise due to his real virtues ought not to be denied him; nor can I do otherwise than appreciate the sincerity of the pious and learned Spanhemius, who, though he owned him to have been a wicked impostor, yet acknowledged him to have been richly furnished with natural endowments, beautiful in his person, of a subtle wit, agreeable behavior, showing liberality to the poor, courtesy to everyone, fortitude against his enemies, and above all a high reverence for the name of God;
severe against the perjured, adulterers, murderers, slanderers, prodigals, covetous, false witnesses, etc., a great preacher of patience, charity, mercy, beneficence, gratitude, honoring of parents and superiors, and frequent celebrator of the divine praises”.1
1. El Affendi, Abdelwahab, About Muhammad: the Other Western Perspective on the Prophet of Islam, UK, 2010