William Muir

“ Tradition collapses and the little that remains is curt and meagre. Of the chief "Companions," indeed, from their connection with the Prophet, we have sufficient notice, and special prominence is given to the lives of the first four Caliphs. But tradition, instead of being, as before, a congeries of separate statements, now assumes the form of connected narrative, and eventually the style of ordinary annals ”

“ The closer study of The Caliphate as well as of the Life leaves one with a strong impression of the Author's extreme accuracy in reproducing the statements of his authorities, as well as of the soundness of his judgment in weighing the evidence in support of two or more divergent accounts.
The Caliphate is based, as far as the Eastern side of the history goes, upon the Annals of Ibn al-Athir, who lived and wrote at Mosul in the early part of the thirteenth century A.D. Sir William Muir read the work through and added a summary translation on the margin of his copy. ”

“ The Umeiyads are not, upon the whole, painted in much blacker colours than the 'Abbasids, nor are the defects of the latter suppressed. The worst feature of all, from our point of view, their inhuman cruelty and disregard of life, is common to both. ”