Churchill On Islam

People forget now but Winston Churchill as a young British military officer got up close and personal with the nastier aspects of Islam. He first served in the North West Frontier Province of what was then British India (now Pakistan). Churchill was in the expeditionary force that relieved the siege of Malakind. This siege was instituted by Pashtun tribesmen, fierce Islamists both then and now.

He also fought in the Dervish War in the Sudan. (This is where we get that phrase whirling Dervishes.) As a young 24-year-old lieutenant Winston fought in the climactic battle of the war which took place at Omdurman on September 2, 1898. The Dervishes were an ultra fanatical Islamic sect that believed the reign of the Mahdi was close at hand. (Does this sound strangely familiar ? See modern-day Iran.) The cruelty of what young Winston witnessed regarding Islam haunted him all the days of his life.

In 1899 he wrote a well received history of this struggle called The River War. Let me share with you a few quotes from Churchill’s book. Concerning Islam he wrote:

“Besides the fanatical frenzy, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist where ever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. The fact that in Mahommedan law every woman must belong to a sole 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. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.”

Finally, Churchill says of Islam,

“No greater retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism (Islam) is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step, and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”

Winston Churchill went on to become the greatest statesman of the Twentieth Century. We ignore his wisdom at great peril to our own civilization in the Twenty-First Century.