Some of the non-Muslim scholars such as Edward Gibbon while, Sir Willi however others, such as Lammens, have held a negative view of Ali (RAA).
The bard Kahlil Gibran said of him: "In my view, was the first Arab to have contact with and converse with the universal soul. He died a martyr of his greatness; he died while prayer was between his two lips. The Arabs did not realize his value until appeared among their Persian neighbors some who knew the difference between gems and gravels."