Subscribe now and receive weekly newsletters with educational materials, new courses, interesting posts, popular books, and much more!
Articles

A student asked us for some leads in researching Churchill’s views on Islam. We referred him to Churchill’s first two books (1898, 1899). These are often regurgitated today because some of them, when carefully culled, ring shockingly true:
Indeed it is evident that Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men’s passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness. In a moment the fruits of patient toil, the prospects of material prosperity, the fear of death itself, are flung aside. The more emotional Pathans are powerless to resist. All rational considerations are forgotten. Seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis—as dangerous and as sensible as mad dogs: fit only to be treated as such. While the more generous spirits among the tribesmen become convulsed in an ecstasy of religious bloodthirstiness, poorer and more material souls derive additional impulses from the influence of others, the hopes of plunder and the joy of fighting. Thus whole nations are roused to arms. Thus the Turks repel their enemies, the Arabs of the Soudan break the British squares, and the rising on the Indian frontier spreads far and wide. In each case civilisation is confronted with militant Mahommedanism. The forces of progress clash with those of reaction. The religion of blood and war is face to face with that of peace. Luckily the religion of peace is usually the better armed.
—The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898)
The phrase, “poorer and more material souls derive additional impulses from the influence of others” puts us in mind of certain “lone gunmen” at the moment.
Churchill added: “What the horn is to the rhinoceros, what the sting is to the wasp, the Mohammedan faith was to the Arabs of the Soudan—a faculty of offence or defence. It was all this and no more. It was not the reason of the revolt. It strengthened, it characterised, but it did not cause.” —The River War (1899)
Some of these lines here that seem eerily relevant nearly twelve decades later. But it is important to remember that Churchill’s views were nuanced, and quite different from run-of-the-mill Englishmen of his time. Indeed, he caused many of his contemporaries, imbued as they were with Victorian Britain’s sense of Manifest Destiny, to regard him as a dangerous radical. Compare for example these two passages from The River War:
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, 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 wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The 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.
But then he adds: “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die….” And here is his account of what he found on the field of Omdurman, riding out after the battle and the triumph of British arms:
Two hundred yards further the full force of the fire, artillery, Maxims and rifles, had burst on them. In places desperate rushes to get on at all costs, had been made by devoted, fearless men. In such places the bodies lay so thickly as to hide the ground. Occasionally there were double layers of this hideous covering. Once I saw them lying three deep. In a space not exceeding a hundred yards square more than four hundred corpses lay festering. Can you imagine the postures in which man, once created in the image of his Maker, had been twisted? Do not try, for were you to succeed you would ask yourself, with me: ‘Can I ever forget.’
I have tried to gild war, and to solace myself for the loss of dear and gallant friends, with the thought that a soldier’s death for a cause that he believes in will count for much, whatever may be beyond this world. When the soldier of a civilised power is killed in action his limbs are composed and his body is borne by friendly arms reverently to the grave. The wail of the fifes, the roll of the drums, the triumphant words of the Funeral Service, all divest the act of its squalor, and the spectator sympathises with, perhaps almost envies, the comrade who has found this honourable exit. But there was nothing dulce et decorum about the Dervish dead. Nothing of the dignity of unconquerable manhood. All was filthy corruption. Yet these were as brave men as ever walked the earth. The conviction was borne in on me that their claim beyond the grave in respect of a valiant death was not less good than that which any of our countrymen could make.
Dr. Arnn noted at the recent Denver seminar that Churchill, writing for his imperial audience, need not have been to be so fair and balanced. The River War and the Malakand Field Force might conveniently have been rah-rah tributes to British arms and the Empire. There was that element, of course; but moreover, Churchill’s early books were thoughtful considerations of both sides, and indeed often censorious about British actions, such as the destruction the tomb of the Mahdi—Sudan’s Muslim leader, already dead at the time of the campaign. Withal, The River War was one of the few books at the time to give the Mahdi his due.
But perhaps Churchill’s most succinct and relevant comment was in 1921, not about Islam but about the region that spawned it:
In the Middle East you have arid countries. In East Africa you have dripping countries. There is the greatest difficulty to get anything to grow in the one place, and the greatest difficulty to prevent things smothering and choking you by their hurried growth in the other. In the African Colonies you have a docile, tractable population, who only require to be well and wisely treated to develop great economic capacity and utility; whereas the regions of the Middle East are unduly stocked with peppery, pugnacious, proud politicians and theologians, who happen to be at the same time extremely well armed and extremely hard up. —House of Commons, 14 July 1921
In the end, we must read Churchill “in the round,” with all this in mind, and not simply to ferret out his pointed criticisms. It is inappropriate to quote him out of context. He was, remember, confronting Muslim warriors at the reaches of the British Empire a century or more ago. And there was more to their culture than Islam: tribalism, for example, played an important role. His broad reflections are nevertheless worth considering, especially by those responsible for Western policy in the Middle East.
Further Reading:
Omdurman: The Fallen Foe
Churchill quotations are by kind courtesy of the Churchill Literary Estate and Curtis Brown Ltd., London.
Excellent research article. Now, it’s abundantly clear to me why Bro-bama couldn’t have the likeness of Churchill in his presence.
Thank you for the post and research. I am a Churchill fan.
Thank you, Hillsdale. This was most useful. Churchill has always been a hero of mine, and the free world needs his wisdom now more then ever. One of President Obama’s first acts was to remove Churchill’s bust from the Oval Office. I’ve always thought that single act could explain his entire presidency.
I wonder what Mr. Churchill’s thoughts would be about the ongoing invasion of Western countries by hordes of Mohammedans?
I’ve been looking for that “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog” quote in the two volume edition I just bought. I’ve read the revised paperback.
Where exactly in these books are these quotes. It would be a real help.
I’ve read both his books The River War and The Malakand Field Force and his Thoughts and Adventures and many of his essays. He’s now one of my heroes and I throw his name and books around like a religious tract, including suggestions to subscribe to Imprimis and Hillsdale College and watch the lectures on Churchill. I also plug Larry P. Arnn’s brilliant book Churchill’s Trial.
Thanks for the kind words. The quote comes from the first edition of Churchill’s The River War (1899), Vol 2, pp 248-50. This edition was abridged in 1902 and that passage was taken out. All editions since have carried the shortened text, so that may be why you missed it. A new edition of the original work is forthcoming–keep an eye on Amazon.
We should keep in mind that those words were written almost 120 years ago, and circumstances were different, although some of it certainly seems familiar. With his usual magnanimity, Churchill also praised the Muslim warriors he fought against–as brave, he said, as any who had walked the earth. For a discussion of his remarks see http://bit.ly/2TnXxzn
Richard Langworth
Senior Fellow, HCCP
For reference, here is the complete passage:
“How dreadful are the curses which
Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides
the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a
man as hydrophobia in a dog, 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
wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or
live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life
of its grace and refinement; the next of its
dignity and sanctity. The 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. Individual Moslems may show splendid
qualities. Thousands become the brave and
loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to
die: but the influence of the religion paralyses
the social developement [sic] of those who
follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in
the world. Far from being moribund,
Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising
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
science against which it had vainly struggled—
the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as
fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”
It is reasonable to assume, because his empire was at war with Muslims, that churchill had a bias against them and would reflect that bias in his words to justify the murder of Muslims in his empire’s aggressive and imperialist wars around the world. C’mon people, use your heads as that great man would have done, basic principles, who was Winston Churchill if not a man driven by the desire for power and glory……accusing others of the same ambitions, his comments on Islam seem like projection don’t they?
While these are important resources, they are not effective without page numbers.
In open debate and scholastic writings, if a proponent cannot link the passage to a page number, it undermines the credibility of the argument and give the opposition the last word with the comment that the passage cannot be demonstrated to exist without a supporting page number.
Can we get the page numbers?
I know that The River War quote, “How dreadful are the curses. . .” can be found on pages 248-49. As for the quote, “Two hundred yards further. . .,” this can be found on pages 220-221 of The River War. Hope these help!