Source: Independent
He might have been a staunch protector of the British Empire, but the British Prime Minister had a love of the Orient and Islam
By Matilda Battersby Sunday 28 December 2014
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 …
Categories: Europe, Europe and Australia, UK
One may be enthralled with Arabic Muslim culture and wish to be a Pasha etc. but this is a far cry from converting.
The family did not want him to lose sight of grandeur Empire etc.
e was a dyed in the wo Anarchist and Church f England devote. He did not care ow many Hindus starved to death but that is another mater! 🙂
Should read –
One may be enthralled with Arabic Muslim culture and wish to be a Pasha etc. but this is a far cry from converting.
The family did not want him to lose sight of grandeur of Empire etc. Hewas a dyed in the wool Monarchist and Church of England devote. He did not care eg how many Hindus starved to death but that is another mater! 🙂
more on this topic:
https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/convert-islam/
That comment by Churchill’s to-be sister-in-law was obviously made tongue-in-cheek. And he jokingly would have liked to enjoy the life-style of the Pashas, including the fair women that went with that status. The sort of thing many men would probably have said. But that’s as far as it went. I doubt that he had any interest in the Islamic religion at all, especially as he belonged to the Church of England.
Reblogged this on AMERICAN LAW SOCIETY and commented:
An interesting discovery and read. Churchill and many of his Western contemporaries were as skeptical and at odds with what they called Mohammadenism. There being no scholarly work in the then Muslim world specially in English, Sudan’s Arabic work or dialogues at the time could hardly have impacted a revolutionary thinking among the British politicians. Of course true of Islam was being offered by the Imam of the age at the time., but communication could have hardly reached the high ranking WWII leaders of which Churchill was the main hero.
Nonetheless, visual impact of what he saw in Sudan seems to have inspired him enough to donate such a substantial amount money for a mosque in London in that dark era. Such a generous gesture can hardly be motivated by a political motive from which it is then safer to conclude Churchill did seem to have a fascination for Islam.