I regularly read the Qur’an myself — practically every day. Nothing wrong with that. But does Blair ever read the uncomfortable bits? The wife-beating verse (4:34)? The verse enjoining warfare against and the subjugation of Jews and Christians (9:29)? The “verse of the sword” and other verses that exhort Muslims to slay unbelievers wherever they’re found (9:5, 4:89, 4:91, 2:190-193)? The verse saying the Jews and Christians are under Allah’s curse (9:30)? The verse that says that unbelievers are the most vile of created beings (98:6)? The verse enjoining the beheading of unbelievers (47:4)? The verse exhorting Muslims to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah (8:60)?
If he does read these passages, what does he think of them? Does he gloss over them and tell himself that the Book of Deuteronomy has some tough passages also? Or does he reflect on the relative paucity of Deuteronomy-inspired terrorists worldwide, as compared to the number of Qur’an-inspired terrorists worldwide? Does he ask his Muslim friends about these verses?
No answers to these questions are likely to be forthcoming from Mr. Blair, and more’s the pity. For it shows that his attachment to the Qur’an is just pandering, just window dressing, and is agenda-driven, rather than an honest attempt to understand what motivates Islamic jihad terrorism. And so instead of shining some light on what we’re dealing with, Blair has just added to the fog.
“Blair says faith is vital to understand Middle East,” from DPA, December 23 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Berlin – Religious faith – any faith – is needed in order fully to grasp the Middle East conflict, former British prime minister Tony Blair said Tuesday in an interview with a German weekly, Die Zeit. “If religious faith were not to play any role in the 21st century, which I cannot imagine, something decisive would be missing,” he said, according to the German version of the interview.
Blair, 55, said his own Catholic beliefs helped him in his current role as envoy for Mideast peace.
“In the first place, you understand what it means to believe. What you often find is that you immediately have something in common with another person of faith, even if he belongs to a different religion.
“As well as that, one is interested in other religions. One’s motivation is greater. I regularly read the Koran, practically every day,” Blair told the interviewer. He said the Prophet Mohammed had been “an enormously civilizing force.”
But when asked if he planned to convert to Islam, he smiled and said, “No, let’s not start on that,” Die Zeit reported….