As Muslims, there are many great writers, inventors, poets, and philosophers we can claim. Warrior romantic Antarah, resistance writer Fadwa Tuqan, algebra inventor al-Khwarizmi, noble astronomer Ya’qūb ibn Tāriq, and many, many more.
But what of the great European thinkers? Those whose attributions are not uttered in whispers, whose names do not require hours of scrolling, and a shift to our Arabic keyboards to find? What did they think of Islam and our beloved Prophet ﷺ?
One such man — who found beauty and wisdom in Islam and its teachings — I can almost promise you have heard of. His novel War and Peace is globally acknowledged to be one of the most ingenious and well-written novels of all time.
A book famously coined as the “Iliad of the modern age”, War and Peace confronts the complexities of faith, love, despair, resistance, and the combined glorifications and brutalities of war.
A masterpiece of Russian literature
In Pierre, whose character reflects the torments of Leo Tolstoy’s own existence, we see a kind aristocrat, agonised by his yearning to find a meaning to his life, and a noble purpose for his fortune.
In Andrei, we see a proud, disillusioned nobleman whose unhappiness drives him to seek glory in battle, before realising the clarity he seeks can only be found in human connection, and in faith.
In Natasha Rostova, we witness the emotional and instinctive side of human nature. She radiates life — full of joy, impulsiveness, and an unshakable love for the world around her. Her embodiment of innocence, youth, and joy is inevitably met with harsh consequences of naivety in a brutal world.
Torment of conflicting beliefs
Tolstoy, despite having lived in deeply orthodox pre-Soviet Russia, believed that true faith was not to be found in grand institutions or in theatrical rituals, but in a deeply individual understanding of life’s purpose.
For this belief, he experienced alienation from the officials of the Orthodox Church; in his isolation, he found solace in an unlikely friendship with Imam Muhammad Abduh, the Grand Mufti of Egypt. The pair exchanged letters of deeply philosophical conversations, with Tolstoy often revealing an inner struggle.
He battled with his identity as a Christian, while also embracing the Oneness of God and the beauty in the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
His letters and journals reveal a soul torn between faiths, touched by a deep respect for the monotheistic truth which contradicted his own faith.
He once wrote:
Muhammad has always been standing higher than the Christianity. He does not consider God as a human being and never makes himself equal to God.
Muslims worship nothing except God and Muhammad is his Messenger. There is no any mystery and secret in it.” [1]
In his quest for knowledge, Tolstoy became acquainted with Arabic literature at a young age. He immersed himself in the exotic stories of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, One Thousand and One Nights, and was familiar with tales such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Qamar al-Zaman, and King Shahraman. He listed these stories as some of the most influential literatures of his youth.
Perhaps it was this early exposure which led him to study both Arabic and Turkish at the Kazan University’s Oriental Studies Department in 1844 — a decision which would shape his personal and academic fascination with the Arab, Ottoman, and Muslim world.
And while Muslims were considered the enemies of Tsarist Russia — whose expansion came at their expense — Tolstoy held a deep respect for their heritage, culture, and characteristics.
He wrote:
It is true that the wide spread of Islam at the hands of those [Muslims] did not appeal to the Buddhists and Christians.
However, the indisputably well-established fact is that the Muslims, in the early days of Islam, were recognised for their abstinence in the false world, pure conduct, uprightness, and honesty, so much that they amazed their surrounding neighbours with their noble manners, mercy, and kindness.” [2]
Rejection of the Church and its teachings
From a young age, Tolstoy rejected concepts such as miracles, the Holy Trinity, and the immortality of the soul, considering them “distractions from the true Christian message”.
He once admitted:
Any sensible person will not hesitate about his choice, and anyone will prefer Islam with its acceptance of one tenet, single God, and His Prophet, instead such complex and incomprehensible things in theology as the Trinity, redemption, sacraments, the saints and their images, and complicated services.” [3]
He even wrote his own “corrected” version of the Gospels.
He perceived Jesus, or “the man Jesus” as he called him, not as the Son of God, but as a wise man who reached the true narrative of life.
This belief, which set him apart from the Orthodox Church, led him to explore Jesus’ standing within Islam, as a prophet and a man, not a God.
I stopped praying at the age of sixteen and turned away from attending church services and observing the church fasts of my own free will and conviction.
I cast off the faith I had learned in my youth… I did not deny Christ, nor reject His teachings, but the truth on which these teachings are based, I knew nothing of it.” [2]
In his search for religious truth, Tolstoy discovered the beauty of the teachings of our beloved Messenger — Muhammad ﷺ — and developed a deep respect for his personal, cultural, and religious teachings.
Tolstoy particularly admired the Islamic conditions of warfare, for which the Christians held a brutal reputation.
And as a man of progress and modern thinking, Tolstoy deeply admired Prophet Muhammad’s commitment to cultural reform — which saw an end to barbaric practices such as female infanticide and introduced women’s rights to inherit, to initiate divorce, and to choose their husband, as well as encouragement to free slaves, and to treat them with kindness.
It suffices Muhammad for pride that he was able to rescue a humiliated and bloody people from the devil of blameworthy habits and opened to them the way of development and progress. I am one of those who admire the Prophet Muhammad.” [2]
The Prophet’s contribution to social justice
Tolstoy found relatability in the persecution of the prophets of Islam due to their faith and teachings.
He himself had experienced some of this persecution from the officials of his own church, and cruelty from the people who surrounded him. And having lived during the tyrannical Tsarist period, in which Russia held one of the largest wealth disparities in the world, Tolstoy valued the social equality encouraged by the Prophet ﷺ.
In a society where leaders made orders from the comforts of their palaces, sending hundreds of thousands of their people to die in battle (on their behalf), our beloved Prophet ﷺ was leading from the front.
And while millions were left to starve in a brutal Russian climate, being stampeded in their hundreds while protesting on the steps of the winter palace, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ foresaw several steps to create a financially equal society. [4]
Such examples include:
- Prohibition of usury.
- Promotion of trade and honest labour.
- Enforcement of obligatory Zakat (almsgiving) on his people, encouraging social welfare and reducing poverty.
- Inheritance reforms (women and children received their fair share of inheritance).
- Support for the poor and orphans (numerous ahadīth encourage direct support for orphans, widows, and the destitute).
- End to class-based privilege (the Prophet ﷺ emphasised that superiority is based on piety and good conduct, not wealth or lineage).
Tolstoy once wrote:
Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not claim to be the sole prophet of God; he also believed in the prophethood of Moses and Christ.
During the early years of his mission, Muhammad endured severe persecution from the followers of the old faith, just as every prophet before him had suffered when calling his people to the truth.
Yet, these hardships did not weaken his resolve — he persevered in his mission. The believers who followed him stood out among the Arabs due to their humility, asceticism, love for work, and contentment. They exerted great efforts to support their fellow believers in times of distress.” [2]
Tolstoy himself made significant efforts to give away his wealth, especially later in life, as part of his moral and spiritual transformation. He came to see wealth and his aristocratic privileges as immoral and contrary to the teachings of Prophet Jesus (ʿalayhi al-Salām).
Instead, he based his faith on humility and compassion for the poor. He even tried to renounce any future earnings from his writing, asking that they go to the public or be used for charitable purposes.
A final eulogy
His friend, Muhammad Abduh, once wrote in admiration of him:
You looked upon religion with a vision that tore through the veils of tradition and reached the essence of monotheism.
You raised your voice, calling people to what God has guided you to, and led by example to inspire souls to follow.
Just as you were a guide for minds, you were, through your actions, a motivator of ambition and determination.” [5]
Whether or not an official conversion to Islam took place, we regard Tolstoy as a true believer. A man with a soul riddled with conflict, a mind filled with wisdom, and a heart full of compassion. A bearer of true monotheistic faith.
Let us remember him in his truest form, which we see poured onto the pages of a letter:
I would be very glad if you were of the same faith with me. Just try to understand what my life is. Any success in life — wealth, honour, glory — I don’t have these. My friends, even my family, are turning away from me.
Some — liberals and aesthetes — consider me to be mad or weak-minded like Gogol; others — revolutionaries and radicals — consider me to be a mystic and a man who talks too much; the officials consider me to be a malicious revolutionary; the Orthodox consider me to be a devil.
I confess that it is hard for me. And therefore, please, regard me as a kind Mohammedan, and all will be fine.” [3]
I close this article with the same heartfelt words as was written by Tolstoy’s closest companion:
May God guide you to understanding the secret of the innate nature upon which mankind was created, and lead you to the ultimate purpose to which humanity is directed, so that you realise that man has come into this existence to grow through knowledge and bear fruit through action…
And you have looked upon religion with a gaze that tore through the veils of tradition, reaching the truth of monotheism.” [5]
Source: Islam21c
Notes
[1] A Confession (Part I) by Leo Tolstoy
[2] The Sayings of Prophet Muhammad by Leo Tolstoy
[3] Tolstoy, Leo. Letter from Yasnaya Polyana, April 1884. Quoted in Tulip & Rose: A Journal of Muslim Thought, Issue 3, 2012.
]4[ Bloody Sunday, 22nd January 1905, Petersburg.
]5[ Muhammad Abduh – Memoirs, Vol. 2
