Islam in interregnum and restoration england

On 19 March 1649, a few months after the execution of King Charles I, the House of Commons ordered a ‘search for the press where the Turkish Alcoran is being printed, and to seize the same, and the papers, also to apprehend the printer and take him before the Council of State’. The text causing this concern in London was the translation of the Koran from Arabic by Alexander Ross, The Alcoran of Mahomet, Translated out of Arabique into French By the Sieur Du Ryer, Lord of Malezair, and Resident for the King of France, at Alexandria (1649). Significantly, whereas in France Andre Du Ryder had had the support of the king for his work, in England there was the threat of state prosecution. Indeed, the books were seized and on 31 March ‘Thos. Ross’ was summoned to ‘give an account for the printing of the Alcoran’.1 But in the following months, nothing else was reported about the matter, indicating that the case had been closed. For the first time in English history, the complete Koran became available to the common reader in his native tongue. © 1991 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.