Winston Churchill’s family begged him not to convert to Islam, letter reveals

In a letter dated August 1907 Churchill’s soon to be sister-in-law wrote: "Please don’t become converted to Islam"

LONDON: A newly discovered letter reveals that the family of Winston Churchill urged him to “fight against” the desire to convert to Islam, according to The Independent.

The former prime minister of the United Kingdom who led Britain to victory in World War II was apparently so taken with the Islamic culture that his family wrote to him and told 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.”

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 the chance to observe Islamic society when he served as British Army officer 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.

"[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 appreciation for this “gift”.

“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.