User talk:Kevin Hinde

John Nelson (convert)
Kevin, I'm not sure what we are disagreeing about. I have made my points on afd as well as on User talk:Anetode and have even given reasons for changing my vote. I do not dispute that Matar is a leading scholar in his field. His bibliography is very impressive.

Matar's sole discussion of John Nelson was that he was "the first English convert to Islam whose name survives in an English source, The voyage made to Tripolis" (1583). Matar then quotes from the original source with a footnote.

I do not dispute this. John Nelson was cited in The voyage made to Tripolis. As a literary reference he undeniably exists. It is also well known that British sailors captured in North Africa were forced to convert.

As a person, though, John Nelson may or may not have existed. Matar has not done any archival research (i.e. finding ship records that show a John Nelson, British seaman, in the 16th century that could have been taken prisoner in North Africa; diplomatic records concerning Nelson as part of a possible prisoner exchange; or even genealogical sources) that would prove or disprove the original account. Please point me in the right direction if I have missed something in Matar's bibliography.

This is not at all surprising as Nelson only gets a passing mention in Matar's book. However, to my knowledge, no one has sought to prove the existence of Nelson. It is an excellent subject for historical research. However, as I discuss on User talk:Anetode, travel literature should not be accepted on face value as historical fact. --JJay 22:53, 19 October 2005 (UTC)