{"id":109428,"date":"2014-12-29T13:21:27","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T11:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=109428"},"modified":"2014-12-29T13:22:58","modified_gmt":"2014-12-29T11:22:58","slug":"winston-churchills-sister-in-law-urged-him-not-to-convert-to-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2014\/12\/29\/winston-churchills-sister-in-law-urged-him-not-to-convert-to-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Winston Churchill\u2019s sister-in-law urged him not to convert to Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"British<\/a>
British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill (AFP Photo\/Cpt Tanner, No 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sir Winston Churchill\u2019s family begged him to \u201cfight against\u201d the desire to convert to Islam, according to a newly-discovered letter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise, Pasha-like tendencies, I really have,<\/strong>\u201d<\/em> the letter from Churchill\u2019s future sister-in-law, dated August 1907, says, the Independent reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you come into contact with Islam your conversion might be effected with greater ease than you might have supposed, call of the blood, don\u2019t you know what I mean, do fight against it,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Lady Gwendoline Bertie, who was soon to marry Churchill\u2019s brother Jack, added.<\/p>\n

The letter was found by a historian at Cambridge University, Warren Dockter, while he was researching for his book \u2018Winston Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East\u2019.<\/p>\n

The former UK prime minister was greatly interested in Islam and oriental culture, but \u201cnever seriously considered converting,\u201d<\/em> Dockter told the paper.<\/p>\n

\"Churchill<\/a>
Churchill in military uniform, 1895. (Image from Wikipedia\/the Imperial War Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“He was more or less an atheist by this time anyway. He did however have a fascination with Islamic culture<\/strong>, which was common among Victorians,”<\/em> he added.<\/p>\n

Churchill became acquainted with Islamic culture during his army service in Sudan, and was greatly taken with it.<\/p>\n

The researcher noted the possible reason behind the letter, and that those close to Churchill needn\u2019t have been worried. He may have been a great admirer of the culture, but was also critical in his views on Islamic society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d<\/em> Churchill wrote in 1899 of his experience in Sudan.<\/p>\n

Russia Today (UK), 29 December 2014<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sir Winston Churchill\u2019s family begged him to \u201cfight against\u201d the desire to convert to Islam, according to a newly-discovered letter. \u201cPlease don\u2019t become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise, Pasha-like tendencies, I really have,\u201d the letter from Churchill\u2019s future sister-in-law, dated August 1907, says, the Independent reported. \u201cIf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":109429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[430,94],"tags":[9698,9697,2319,9699],"class_list":["post-109428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sudan","category-uk","tag-jack-churchill","tag-lady-gwendoline-bertie","tag-sir-winston-churchill","tag-warren-dockter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}