Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy.

The people view political Islam as a solution to these problems.

The July 2005 Pew survey also showed that 59% of American adults view Islam as "very different from their religion," down one percentage point from 2003.

Aflaq, though himself a Christian, viewed Islam as a testament to the "Arab genius", and once said "Muhammed was the epitome of all the Arabs.

John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer or Yahya the Baptizer) is viewed as a prophet by at least three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism.

Given his background in the 1960s and 1970s religious counter-culture, he views Islam (along with other religions) as essentially good, but distorted by certain of its political appropriators (and critics).

A third prong of the attack is to sway public opinion both within the institutions of education and in the public square to view Islam as just "one of the boys."

He viewed Islam as in complete harmony with the reasoning, science and logic.

Dante describes Muhammad as a schismatic, apparently viewing Islam as an off-shoot from Christianity, and similarly Dante seems to condemn Ali for schism between Sunni and Shiite .

He viewed Islam as an intrinsic part of Indonesian culture and was disappointed by the Sukarno and Suharto governments' handling of the religion.