Tony Blair has converted to Islam after having what she called a “holy experience” in Qom.
Lauren Booth, 43, has worked for several years as a broadcaster with PressTV, the English language television outlet owned by the Islamic Republic. Booth is the half-sister of Blair’s wife, Cherie. Both women are viewed by much of the British public as out of the mainstreaml.
Lauren Booth told London’s Mail on Sunday that she now wears a head covering whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque “when I can.”
She said she decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.
“It was a Tuesday evening and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy,” she told the Mail.
When she returned to Britain, she decided to convert immediately. “Now I don’t eat pork and I read the Qoran every day. I’m on page 60. I also haven’t had a drink in 45 days, the longest period in 25 years,” she said.
“The strange thing is that since I decided to convert I haven’t wanted to touch alcohol, and I was someone who craved a glass of wine or two at the end of a day.”
The Mail asked her about the possibility that she might adopt a burqa. Booth responded, “Who knows where my spiritual journey will take me?”
Booth’s conversion was the second in a week by a prominent Briton linked to Iran. A few days earlier, David Roe, a professional British billiards or snooker player, converted in Tehran and underwent circumcision. Roe has been working for a month as the coach of Iran’s billiards team.
Roe, 45, told The Guardian, “I used to be a coach in Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain for several years and I was au fait [knowledgeable] with Islam. But I was impressed by Iranian culture when I visited he country.” He said he decided to convert after visiting the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad.
Booth gave a similar explanation. She said she had long been “sympathetic” to Islam and spent considerable time working in Palestine. “I was always impressed with the strength and comfort it gave,” she said, but the urge to convert didn’t come until she went to Qom.
Booth has been a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq and a frequent critic of Tony Blair. During her visit to Iran last month, Booth wrote a bitter public letter to Blair asking him to mark Al-Qods Day, Iran’s annual protest against Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
“Here in Iran they feel proud to suffer in order to express solidarity with the people of Palestine,” she wrote. “It’s kind of like the way you express solidarity with America only without illegal chemical weapons and a million civilian deaths.”
Booth moved to France with her family—husband Craig Darby and two daughters Alexandra and Holly—in 2004. Her husband was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in April 2009 when he was drunk and not wearing a helmet, the Mail said.
He suffered a severe brain injury, a fractured neck, damage to his spine and several broken ribs and was in a deep coma for two weeks. The 42-year-old had to learn how to walk and talk again. He lost much of his memory, has sight problems and cannot work.
The couple decided to move back to Britain to help his recovery and reduce the amount of time Booth has to work away from home.
Blair himself converted to Catholicism on leaving office. His wife is Catholic. Blair said it was his wife who spurred his decision. He said last year that it was like “coming home” and is now “where my heart is, where I know I belong.”