The first Englishman to perform Haj and record his experiences is believed to be Joseph Pitts of Exeter (1663-1739), and the first British woman was Lady Evelyn Cobbold (1867-1963).

Though Pitts was probably not really the first British Muslim to perform Haj, he was the first to write an account in English, of the pilgrimage.

Born in Exeter, Joseph Pitts had a basic education before going to sea as a boy. However, on his very first voyage in 1678, his small fishing boat was captured off the coast of Spain by an Algerian corsair vessel. Its Muslim captain turned out to be a Dutchman and its first mate an Englishman. Sold twice as a slave in Algiers, Pitts converted to Islam. Sold once more, he accompanied his third master on a pilgrimage to Makkah, in 1685 or 1686. The pair arrived in Jeddah by dhow from Suez, and then spent about four months in the Holy City before going on to Madinah.

After completing the Haj, Pitts was granted his freedom. He then spent several years serving as a soldier in Algiers, before making his escape while serving at sea. Crossing much of Italy and Germany on foot, he returned to England some 17 years after he had first left. On his first night on native soil he was press-ganged into the navy. Following appeal, he was released, and Joseph Pitts went on to write of his experiences in his book, “A Faithful Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mahometans”, published first in 1704 and then again, in a fuller version, in 1731. This has now been republished, together with an extensive commentary by the acclaimed Arabic scholar, Paul Auchterlonie, under the title ‘Encountering Islam; Joseph Pitts: An English Slave in 17th-century Algiers and Makkah.’

He covers almost every element of the “religion and manners” including the first-ever description (in English) of the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah, but also taking in everything from Muslim daily ritual and practice, which he describes exhaustively, to Turkish cuisine and Algerian childcare, women, and wrestling. Through all of this, one of Pitts’s recurring themes is his admiration of Muslim devoutness and punctilious adherence to their rules and rituals, which he holds exemplary. He writes movingly of the pilgrims’ deep emotions as they performed the Haj.

Lady Evelyn Cobbold, Mayfair socialite, owner of an estate in the Scottish Highlands, was also the first British-born female Muslim convert to record her pilgrimage to Makkah.

Fluent in Arabic, Lady Evelyn performed Haj in 1933, as a wealthy 65-year-old. She published her account, ‘Pilgrimage to Makkah’, the following year. In it she promotes Islam for its simplicity and tolerance, describing it as ‘the religion of common sense’. Interestingly, she also provides the first description by an English writer of the life of the women’s quarters of the households in which she stayed. She lived another 30 years after her pilgrimage, and was buried as a Muslim on a remote hillside on her Glencarron estate.