"I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of Quran which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness." - Napoleon Bonaparte as Quoted in Christian Cherfils, 'Bonaparte et Islam,' Pedone Ed., Paris, France, 1914, pp. 105, 125
In the book, ‘Satanic Voices - Ancient and Modern’ by David M. Pidcock, (1992 ISBN: 1-81012-03-1), it states on page 61, that the then official French Newspaper, Le Moniteur, carried the accounts of his conversion to Islam, in 1798 C.E.
It mentions his new Muslim name, which was ‘Aly (Ali) Napoleon Bonaparte’. He commends the conversion of his General Jacques Menou, who became known as General ‘Abdullah-Jacques Menou’, who later married an Egyptian, Sitti Zoubeida - who was descended from the line of the Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace).
Napoleon did recognise the superiority of the Islamic (Shari'ah) Law - and did attempt to implement this in his Empire.
Further detailed accounts of this can be found in the book 'Napoleon And Islam' by C. Cherfils. ISBN: 967-61-0898-7
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), the famous French Emperor, was a man of great vanity and ambition, and he succeeded to conquer many countries, but in the end was defeated and finished his life in exile on the Island of St. Helena. While in exile, he had opportunity to reflect upon Life, and his thoughts were published in a book entitled "The Thoughts of the Prisoner of the Island of St. Helena" shortly after his death. One of his thoughts was:
"The existence of One God is undoubtable, but all religions are creations of Man."
If by "One God" Napoleon meant the Creator of the Universe, then such belief in existence of One God would make Napoleon a sincere Muslim. He did not place much faith in man-made religions. But what religions was he familiar with? Christianity, and some names of other religions. He knew that the religion of the Arabs was Islam, but he had little knowledge about it. But Islam is nothing else but belief in One God, the Creator of the Universe - everything else follows from that. Some people come to such belief naturally by themselves. Abraham did. And so did some others.
