Cherie Blair: It's Wrong to See Muslim Women Who Cover Their Hair as a Threat Oh Yeh?
Counsel for the defence: Cherie Blair (left) said it was wrong to stereotype Muslim women. Her sister Lauren Booth (right) has recently converted to Islam. Photos: The Daily Mail
THE DAILY MAIL: Cherie Blair today launched a strident defence of Muslim women saying it was wrong to see those who cover their hair or their body as a threat.

Speaking just two weeks after her sister Lauren Booth converted to Islam, the former Prime Minister's wife stressed that it was essential to respect people's right to dress how they choose.

'We use the appearance of women as a metaphor of our fear of a supposed Islamic threat,' she told Spain's El Pais newspaper.

'There are thousands of Muslims in Europe who participate in our way of life and intend continuing to do so and if they want to dress in a certain way because of their beliefs, we shouldn't feel threatened.'

Asked about her sister's recent conversion to Islam, she said simply: 'It’s her choice.'

Mrs Blair's comments were made in an interview ahead of the European Muslim Women of Influence Conference in Madrid.

She stressed it was important to fight against stereotypes that 'above all affect Muslim women'.

'We tend to believe they're oppressed, insecure and incapable of thinking for themselves and that is not true,' she said.

'One of the things I try to do is help to explain that Islam is an open religion in which women have influence, whether they hide their hair or not. >>> Gerard Couzens | Thursday, November 04, 2010

Tony Blair's Sister-in-law Lauren Booth Converts to Islam After a 'Holy Experience' in Iran
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: Tony Blair’s sister-in-law has converted to Islam after having a ‘holy experience’ in Iran.

Broadcaster and journalist Lauren Booth, 43 – Cherie Blair’s half-sister – said she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.

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 on Sunday.

When she returned to Britain, she decided to convert immediately.

‘Now I don’t eat pork and I read the Koran every day. I’m on page 60.

‘I also haven’t had a drink in 45 days, the longest period in 25 years. 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.’

Refusing to discount the possibility that she might wear a burka, she said: ‘Who knows where my spiritual journey will take me?’ Read on and comment >>> Mail On Sunday Reporter | Sunday, October 24, 2010

This was the comment that the MOS didn't have the courage to print. And this lack of courage is proof, if proof indeed were needed, why this spineless country is going to be subsumed by this death cult, otherwise known as Islam!

Another bleeding heart falls for the 'religion of peace'. But is there any wonder if she's been working for Press TV?

For Christ's sake, find your gonads! – © Mark (This comment should have appeared in the comments section, but the MOS doesn't have the courage to place it up on the comments section.)

THE ISLAM TIMES: Blair condemned over new book >>> | Monday, September 06, 2010

Anger as Cherie Blair Spares Devout Man from Jail
TIMES ONLINE: Cherie Blair has been reported to the office overseeing judges' behaviour for apparently sentencing a man convicted of assault more leniently because he was religious.

The National Secular Society wrote to the Judicial Complaints Office on Friday complaining that Mrs Blair — a prominent Roman Catholic — suspended the six-month prison sentence passed on Shamso Miah, a Muslim who broke a stranger's jaw in row over a bank queue, on the ground that he was devout.

"We think this is discriminatory and unjust and we wish to make a formal complaint about it," wrote Terry Sanderson, the president of the NSS.

Today Mr Sanderson told The Times that the complaints office had acknowledged his letter and confirmed that it was going to investigate the case.

"We feel it's wrong that someone so high profile as Mrs Blair — and she is very high profile as a Catholic — should make such remarks in court," he explained.

"The man was incredibly violent and broke someone's jaw for no apparent reason. She said that he would have got a six-month sentence but was suspending it because he was a religious man and would know he was doing wrong, which we feel implies that a non-religious person wouldn't know it was wrong. >>> Jenny Booth | Thursday, January 04, 2010

I count my blessings everyday, and I thank God for them. Yes I do. You see, with money, I can buy all the houses Tone and I need! I know there is a god, because I only have to ask Him for a new house, and the money to buy one just appears – as if by magic! It seems like the more you 'blie', the more houses you can buy!
The Blairs Didn’t Have Enough Houses..
MAIL ONLINE: They have already amassed a collection of homes to rival even the most brazen of Russian oligarchs.

Now Tony Blair and his wife Cherie have bought yet another - bringing their total property portfolio to six homes worth a total of £11.94million.

The Daily Mail can reveal the most recent addition is a £1.13million town house in a quiet mews in an upmarket area of London.

As well having four bedrooms, the three-storey home boasts three bathrooms, a sun terrace, a state-of-the-art kitchen, an open plan living room and a garage.

It is situated in a quiet cul-de-sac in an up-and-coming area of central London near numerous bars, restaurants and pubs. Another Blair house: Cherie pays £1m cash for mews home that'll be property number six >>> Dan Newling | Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Tony's Cavorting on a Yacht with a Personal Butler to Rub in His Suncream. Isn't Life after No 10 Grand?
MAIL ONLINE: The impressive sight of the super-yacht Rising Sun hoving into view around the glamour spots of Europe is always enough to provoke envious glances - even among holidaying oligarchs and international playboys.

Built over five decks, the £150million vessel - the world's second largest privately owned yacht - boasts 82 rooms and an indoor swimming pool, basketball court, dance floor, spa, wine cellar and, of course, helipad.

Little wonder then, that Tony Blair chose to begin his current month-long vacation in one of its lavishly appointed staterooms.

Mr Blair expects only the best. In the past, he has complained - perhaps somewhat churlishly - that those giving him free bed and board have not provided him with accommodation of the absolute highest standard.

Indeed, his friends were flabbergasted when he moaned about a gratis holiday he and his family took three years ago at the Miami mansion of Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb. There was, Blair grumbled, simply not enough to do.

Happily, the accommodation on the Rising Sun is more than up to scratch. And Mr Blair's host, the billionaire software magnate Larry Ellison, has gone to immense trouble to ensure his stay is a comfortable one.

The former Prime Minister, who stayed aboard the yacht without wife Cherie or any of his four children, was assigned a personal butler to attend to his every whim. This extended, Mr Blair has confided, to applying his factor 30 sun cream.

After Mr Blair joined the vessel in Sardinia, Mr Ellison, the 64-year-old CEO of computer firm Oracle Corporation and the world's fourth richest man with a fortune of £13.6billion, threw a glitzy cocktail party on the deck in his honour.

Such opulence is a step up even from the luxury of Sir Cliff Richard's Barbados home, where the Blairs - when they were in Downing Street - used to spend their summer holidays.

Nowadays, Mr Blair likes to move in even more rarefied circles. Principal among his new super-rich friends is David Geffen, the self-made Tinseltown mogul and business partner of Steven Spielberg. The gay billionaire has become a close confidant.

In fact, so close are they that Mr Blair has introduced 66-year-old Geffen to his friend Peter Mandelson, who was a dinner guest on the Rising Sun himself last week.

The camp, shaven-headed Geffen has, in return, introduced the ex-Prime Minister to Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Steve Martin, with whom the Blairs holidayed aboard a yacht in Greece last summer.

A story told by a source very close to Mr Blair illustrates the orbit of wealth and excess in which he has been moving of late. >>> Paul Scott | Friday, August 14, 2009

Anti-Dhimmitude! Fears of Muslim Anger over Religious Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES: 'Does God Hate Women' by Jeremy Stangroom and Ophelia Benson cites attitudes to women and criticises Mohammed's marriage

Muslimatoon at prayer. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
An academic book about religious attitudes to women is to be published this week despite concerns it could cause a backlash among Muslims because it criticises the prophet Muhammad for taking a nine-year-old girl as his third wife.

The book, entitled Does God Hate Women?, suggests that Muhammad's marriage to a child called Aisha is "not entirely compatible with the idea that he had the best interests of women at heart".

It also says that Cherie Blair, wife of the former prime minister, was "incorrect" when she defended Islam in a lecture by claiming "it is not laid down in the Koran that women can be beaten by their husbands and their evidence should be devalued as it is in some Islamic courts".

This weekend, the publisher, Continuum, said it had received "outside opinion" on the book's cultural and religious content following suggestions that it might cause offence. "We sought some advice and paused for thought before deciding to go ahead with publication," said Oliver Gadsby, the firm's chief executive. The book will be released on Thursday.

A recent novel that also dealt with Muhammad's relationship with Aisha provoked an outcry. The Jewel of Medina caused such anger that a Muslim extremist was convicted earlier this month of trying to firebomb the office of its publisher.

Continuum's book may cause a backlash because it sets out to be a factual examination of religious attitudes to women. British writer Jeremy Stangroom and his American co-author Ophelia Benson, whose previous books on philosophy and science have received favourable reviews, cite ancient Islamic scholars to support their case. They roundly attack previous attempts to "soft-soap" the controversial episode in Muhammad's life. In the aftermath of 9/11, the authors argue, a wave of political correctness aimed at building bridges with the Muslim world has meant accusations of "Islamophobia" have been used to silence debate about the morality of social conduct, past and present.

Through a gruesome catalogue of abuses carried out against women in the name of Islam as well as other major religions, including Hinduism and Catholicism, Stangroom and Benson conclude that most of the world's great faiths are essentially misogynistic.

Among the many tragedies they cite are the deaths of 14 young girls in a fire at a school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in March 2002. The girls died after being herded back into a blazing classroom by the country's religious police because they had neglected to don black head-to-toe robes in their rush to flee to safety.

However, the most contentious section of their book is likely to be their conclusions concerning the age at which Muhammad first slept with Aisha. >>> Christine Toomey | Sunday, May 31, 2009

You Shouldn't Be Seen to Have Power: Cherie Blair's Astonishing Memo to Michelle Obama
MAIL Online: Cherie Blair has warned Michelle Obama that she faces having her views silenced as First Lady - and cannot be seen to wield power.

In an article entitled 'Memo to Michelle' the wife of Tony Blair tells Harvard-educated Mrs Obama that her primary role is to support her husband.

Mrs Blair says: 'A First Lady can have influence, but she cannot be seen to have power.' >>> By Paul Thompson | Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Catholic Backlash at Cherie Blair's Speech to Students over Views on Birth Control
MAIL Online: An invitation to Cherie Blair to speak at a university set up by the Vatican has been met by a storm of protest because of her views on contraception.

The Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome is surprised by the backlash against the decision to invite the Catholic wife of the former Prime Minister to speak on human rights.

The university has received more than 200 complaints over the talk by Mrs Blair, who admitted in her autobiography Speaking For Myself that she used birth control.

In a TV interview earlier this year, Mrs Blair – whose husband Tony converted to Catholicism last December – declared: ‘I can still be a good Catholic girl and use contraceptives.’ >>> By Nick Pisa and Daniel Boffey | December 7, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

"Holy Smoke"
THE TELEGRAPH: Did you notice this passage in Cherie Blair’s speech about women and religious discrimination? "It is not laid down in the Koran," she announced, "that women can be beaten by their husbands or that their evidence should be devalued, as it is in some Islamic courts."

I’m sorry, but that is exactly the sort slippery misinterpretation of the Koran produced by Western liberals who are embarrassed by what the Islamic scriptures actually say.

The Koran 4:34 tells men to chastise their wives after first warning them and sending them to sleep in separate beds. And "chastise" is one of the milder translations of the verse. Many editions use the words "scourge" or "beat". The historian Robert Spencer provides a useful list:

Pickthall: "and scourge them"
Yusuf Ali: "(And last) beat them (lightly)"
Al-Hilali/Khan: "(and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful)"
Shakir: "and beat them"
Sher Ali: "and chastise them"
Khalifa: "then you may (as a last alternative) beat them"
Arberry: "and beat them"
Rodwell: "and scourge them"
Sale: "and chastise them"
Daryabadi: "and beat them"
Asad: "then beat them"

It’s only recently that PC translations have appeared that render the word as "go away from them" or some other innocuous formula that Muslim apologists can wheel out on the Today programme. And they are just wishful thinking.

As for Mrs Blair’s claim that the Koran does not devalue the evidence of women, I’d like to see her try to stand up that claim in court. Koran 2:282 says quite unambiguously that if two men are not available to give testimony on financial matters, then the court should hear from one man and TWO women, "in case one of them errs". The Koran according to Cherie Blair (more) By Damian Thomson

THE VATICAN:
Muslim Migrants

Hat Tip: Tertullian

Cherie Not So Cheerful about the Niqab
THE TELEGRAPH: Cherie Blair has questioned whether the full-face veil restricted Muslim women from being "people in their own right".

The wife of the former Prime Minister said full veils, such as the niqab or burqa, could prevent a woman from expressing her personality.

Mrs Blair told Radio Four's Today programme: "I think we can get very hung up about women's clothes. The question is whether we honour people's religious beliefs or not. I am happy to honour people's religious beliefs, provided they are freely undertaken.

"Women covering their heads, women dressing modestly, I have no problem with at all. I think, however, that if you get to a stage where a woman is not able to express her personality because you can't see her face, then you do start to have to ask whether this is something that is actually acknowledging the woman's right to be a person in her own right." Cherie Blair: my doubts about the Muslim veil (more) By Laura Clout