In a review of "The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad", Keally McBride praises "his uncanny sense of human nature, and his encyclopedic knowledge of world history". Kabir Babar wrote that "to study him is to be exposed to the rare phenomenon of academic rigour coupled to a will to act." Shahid Alam of "Monthly Review" wrote that "Ahmad provided the most articulate, analytical, and passionate voice from the third world since Frantz Fanon. Almost certainly, he is also the most astute political thinker the Islamic world produced in the twentieth century."