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.
While Winston Churchill has often been cited for his criticism of Islam and slamming the religion for “paralysing the social development of its followers”, especially during the Second world war, a recently discovered letter written by Churchill’s sister-in-law allegedly indicates the former UK Prime Minister’s propensity and soft corner towards the Islam.
The letter, written by Lady Gwendoline, read, “Please don’t become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise [fascination with the Orient and Islam], 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.”
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.
The letter was written to Churchill only days before Lady Gwendoline was scheduled to marry the British politician’s brother in 1907. As is conspicuous from the content of the letter, she had observed certain traits in his character implying a strong inclination towards Islam and an aspiration to eventually convert to the same.
Strenghtening the evidence is another letter written by Churchill himself to Lady Lytton, where he expressed a desire to be a ‘pasha’, often referring himself as one too, in the letter. The Independent, in one of the reports, has pointed out that Churchill took to dressing himself in Arab attire privately, an occupation that he shared with his friend Wilfrid S. Blunt, a renowned Arabic poet.
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 or love for Islam.
Warren Dockter, a scholar who discovered lady Gwendoline’s letter during his research at Cambridge for his book Winston Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East, has dismissed the speculations of Churchill’s intentions to convert to Islam and has argued that it was only a mere fascination and that Churchill “never seriously considered converting.” He asserted that Churchill’s folks worried in vain.
Churchill developed an obsession for Islam and the culture of the Orient, so much so that his family felt obliged to write to him to dissuade him.
That fascination took an unexpected turn in 1940, when Churchill, although deeply involved in Britain’s war with Germany, gave his support to build what became the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park in the hope of winning the support of Muslim countries for the war.
He later informed members of parliament that “many of our friends in Muslim countries” had expressed appreciated for this “gift.”