Tony Blair's sister-in-law says she 'loves Islam'

Lauren Booth says conversion to Islam based on an appreciation of how women are treated in Muslim culture.

Sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Lauren Booth has said that her decision to convert to Islam was based on an appreciation of how women are treated in Muslim culture, and an intense spiritual experience in an Iranian Mosque.

In an exclusive report in The Daily Mail, titled ‘Why I love Islam’, Booth narrated her personal journey to Islam, beginning with her travels to the West Bank in a series of journalistic ventures.

"I was in no doubt that I had embarked on a change of political understanding, one in which Palestinians became families rather than terror suspects, and Muslim cities communities rather than ‘collateral damage’."

It was later in 2007 on a trip to Lebanon that Booth claimed to have begun to appreciate how the women she met practicing Islam were, “charming, independent and outspoken… not at all the timid, soon-to-be-forced-into-marriage girls I would have imagined from what we often read in the West.”

“In fact, the bossiness of Muslim women is something of a joke that rings true in so many homes in the community. You want to see men under the thumb? Look at many Muslim husbands more than other kinds.”

Having experienced Muslim culture and visited multiple mosques during her travels, Booth stated that the defining moment where she realized she was “no longer a tourist in Islam but a traveller inside the Ummah” was inside a mosque during a recent visit to the Iranian city of Qom.

"When I sat down, a pulse of sheer spiritual joy shot through me. Not the joy that lifts you off the ground, but the joy that gives you complete peace and contentment. I sat for a long time. Young women gathered around me talking of the ‘amazing thing happening to you’."

Having adopted Islam, Booth further stated that she is now busy completing reading the Quran, studying Islam and fully embracing the religion, although she has opted against wearing a veil at this time.