William Montgomery Watt (1909 – 2006) was a Scottish historian, Orientalist, Anglican priest, and academic. He was Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Montgomery Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West and Watt’s comprehensive biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, “Muhammad at Mecca” and “Muhammad at Medina” are very famous.
“To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad….
Thus, not merely must we credit Muhammad with essential honesty and integrity of purpose, if we are to understand him at all.
If we are to correct the errors we have inherited from the past, we must not forget that the conclusive proof is a much stricter requirement than a show of plausibility, and in a matter such as this, it is only to be attained with difficulty.”1
1. Montgomery Watt ‘Muhammad at Mecca’ Oxford, 1953