A Restoration play presented a Turkish coffee-shop keeper married to a henpecking English wife, and prospering in London.ĥ Just under 20 years later, in 1682, a Moroccan married a young English woman during the ambassadorial visit to London of Ahmad ibn Haddu. In 1611, Thomas Coryate wrote about the numerous “Turks” (used interchangeably at the time with Muslims) in the metropolis who could be identified by the “rowle of fine linen wrapped together upon their heads” - their turbans.ģ In 1657, two such Turks, Halil and Hamet, petitioned Oliver Cromwell for assistance to return home.Ĥ Allusions to Muslims in England appear in different sources, ranging from the literary to the documentary.

Although it is difficult to identify exactly the Muslim “Moors” and “Blackamores” in the lists of baptisms and burials, Habib’s findings demonstrate that from the Elizabethan period on, England began receiving peoples with different religions and skin colors.ġ In 1585, a “Turk” arrived in England to convert to Christianity, but in 1591, a soldier offered his services to the Queen in her fight against Spain, vowing, as he emphasized in his petition “by the fayth of a turke, to do you most true and faythfull service.Ģ Three of the four chartered companies by Queen Elizabeth, the Levant, Barbary, and East India, sent her subjects to trade, barter, and negotiate with Muslim peoples, from Marrakesh to Agra (India) - and brought Muslims back to England. The extensive research of Imtiaz Habib into the English archives has revealed tantalizing information about the first possible Muslims in England.

Islam for Beginners by Nabil Matar