UK: Did King John Offer to Convert to Islam to Avoid Signing the Magna Carta?
February 18, 2008
Graham Stewart (London Times)
Was England ever on the verge of becoming an Islamic state? In 1215 King John was forced to accept the Magna Carta, that touchstone of English liberties. But according to one medieval chronicler, only two years previously he was toying with passing the country over to Sharia…
… [Matthew] Paris [a monk and contemporary chronicler] claimed that they [John's emissaries] brought a letter from the King offering to place England at the caliph’s disposal and promising that John “would not merely relinquish the Christian faith, which he considered vain, but would adhere faithfully to the law of Muhammad”. Far from being impressed, the caliph sent John’s emissaries away, curtly assuring them that he had no intention of allying with someone so lacking in faith that he was intent on becoming an apostate for the sake of political expediency. Thus rebuffed, John ended up having to appease the Pope and the barons instead…
There’s not a lot of evidence backing this story, but if it’s true, it wouldn’t be the only time an English monarch considered changing his religion for political expediency. There’s Henry VIII, of course. And Charles the II; nominally he was Church of England, but he signed a treaty with the French king promising to convert to Catholicism in return for military aid. On his death bed, he received Catholic death rites. His mother was Catholic, so this is not particularly surprising.
What’s interesting about this story of King John is that his offer was rejected by Caliph Muhammad an-Nâsir due to John’s obvious lack of sincerity. The Caliph took his religion seriously, even if (perhaps) John Plantagenet did not.
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1.
azhar aslam | November 9, 2008 at 5:30 pm
the stupid caliph
2.
proggiemuslima | November 10, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I disagree, Azhar — the Caliph probably thought that King John was insincere and would not truly convert. If you read English history, you find that John Plantagenet was not a very trustworthy fellow and that the Caliph read him correctly.
3.
Michael | July 7, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Well, this tells me how Henry VIII’s likelihood of becoming a Muslim. No one would have accepted his conversion as being sincere.
Oh well, Islam lost a super Ally in Henry VIII.
4.
proggiemuslima | July 8, 2009 at 6:55 pm
According to everything I’ve ever read about Henry VIII, he was Christian and always considered himself to be Christian. His dispute was with the Pope, not with Christianity. In fact, the practices and beliefs of the early Church of England were nearly indistinguishable from those of the Catholic Church, except that he was now head of the Church. And he got his divorce, of course. I’m not sure why you would consider him to be a potential “super ally” of Islam.