Source: The Independent
Sir Winston Churchill’s family begged him not to convert to Islam, letter reveals
He might have been a staunch protector of the British Empire, but the British Prime Minister had a love of the Orient and Islam
Sunday 28 December 2014
By Matilda Battersby, who is Online Arts Editor forwww.independent.co.uk. She writes arts breaking news, features, music and theatre reviews and lifestyle pieces.The family of Sir Winston Churchill urged him to “fight against” the desire to convert to Islam, a newly discovered letter has revealed.
The Prime Minister who led Britain to victory in World War Two was apparently so taken with Islam and the culture of the Orient that his family wrote to try and persuade him not to become a Muslim.
In a letter dated August 1907 Churchill’s soon to be sister-in-law wrote to him: “Please don’t become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise, Pasha-like tendencies, I really have.
“If you come into contact with Islam your conversion might be effected with greater ease than you might have supposed, call of the blood, don’t you know what I mean, do fight against it.”
FDR and Churchill
The letter, discovered by a history research fellow at Cambridge University, Warren Dockter, was written by Lady Gwendoline Bertie who married Churchill’s brother Jack.
“Churchill never seriously considered converting,” Dr Dockter told The Independent. “He was more or less an atheist by this time anyway. He did however have a fascination with Islamic culture which was common among Victorians.”
Churchill had opportunity to observe Islamic society when he served as an officer of the British Army in Sudan. In a letter written to Lady Lytton in 1907 Churchill wrote that he “wished he were” a Pasha, which was a rank of distinction in the Ottoman Empire.
He even took to dressing in Arab clothes in private – an enthusiasm he shared with his good friend the poet Wilfrid S. Blunt. But Dr Dockter thinks Churchill’s family need never have worried about his interest in Islam.
“[Lady Gwendoline Bertie] would have been worried because Churchill was leaving for an African tour and she would have known Churchill had been seeing his friend Wilfrid S. Blunt. Who was a renowned Arabist, anti-imperialist and poet. Though he and Churchill were friends and dressed in Arabian dress at times for Blunt’s eccentric parties, they rarely agreed.
In 1940, when Churchill was leading Britain’s fight against Nazi Germany, he gave his support to plans to build what became the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park – putting aside £100,000 for the purpose – in the hope of winning the support of Muslim countries in the war.
He later told the House of Commons that “many of our friends in Muslim countries” had expressed appreciated for this “gift”.
But while he was vocal in his admiration for Islam, Churchill was not uncritical. “The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men,” he wrote in his 1899 account of Sudan, The River War.
“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralizes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.”
Dr Dockter, who assisted the London Mayor Boris Johnson on his book about Churchill, discovered the letter while researching his forthcoming book Winston Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East.
Categories: Europe, Highlight, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, UK
Islam should be grateful to have been safeguarded from a conversion by one of the largest bigots of his time, and who belonged to that group of Britishers around Milner, King Edward VII et alia who instigated the two World Wars, lateron wrongfully claimed unto Germany.
If you want to know why and how Churchill came into power, I suggest to cast a glimpse into the following book: Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War, chapters 13 and 14:
http://www.thehistoryherald.com/History-Book-Reviews/hidden-history-the-secret-origins-of-the-first-world-war-gerry-docherty-and-jim-macgregor
How Islam has Influenced Christian understanding of God
I see nothing wrong, nor unusual, with Churchill’s family not wanting him to convert to Islam. That is a natural human reaction for all faiths. Why should their reaction be ‘Big News’, or made into something perhaps negative? I do believe that Muslims have a dim view of apostates. Indeed, it is illegal in many Muslim nations and can cost one their life within and/or outside the legal system. That fact cannot be denied.
What is the Amadiyyah Muslim community’s stance on someone chosing to leave and become a convert to another faith? Would that person be pressured by their families not to? Of course! I would expect no less. As I said, it’s a natural human reaction.
Basically, this article is much ado about nothing.
Ideally, the emphasis should be on the free choice of faith as a basic human right without any objection, coercion or punishment by anyone.
Does the Koran Endorse Apostasy Laws?
Is There Freedom of Thought or Coercion in the Holy Quran?
Right, there is nothing wrong with Churchill’s family not encouraging him to convert to Islam. The interesting point in this article however is that they felt the need to write that letter at all.
In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious Ever Merciful
Islam being the Ultimate Truth has a Universal appeal. Probably there is none Nation, but holding a representation of Islam in them. No wounder that a genius person like Winston Churchill was influenced by the Natural Beauty of Islam. Thanks to God he did not convert to Islam otherwise he would be known as a Muslim having countless blood shed to his credit and such another blot on the beautiful face of Islam. Sir Gangga Ram was also so inspired by Islam that he was about to accept Islam, but through the conspiracy of the Hindu Nation and because of contradiction in faith and action of the Muslim Qadhi, he was debarred from accepting Islam. President Jefferson was also influenced by Islam, Hence a copy of the Holy Quran was discovered in his personal Library, so was, I learnt that President Madison influenced by Islam.
I also learnt that a meeting with President Mao- Taus- Tung was asked probably by Professor D.r Abdus-Salam about the secrecy of the progress of China, the answer was you read the Quran and ask me?
1/7th or even more part of the holy Quran contains the Scientific discoveries that has been proved and still going on proving.
Zarif Ahmad
I think someone took a joke too seriously. The man didn’t have even one religious bone in him.
In any case the “wish” about becoming a Pasha in Turkish Empire, at a time when he was involved in serious business, indicates that it was just a joke.