Blair, the Muslim?

Ajmal Masroor wrote on Guardian Tony Blair's conversion to Catholicism does not come as a surprise to anyone but I would have liked him to turn to Islam instead.

He converted to Catholicism because his wife is Catholic. He is not stupid.

Blair has claimed on many occasions that he has read the Quran and has said he found its teachings "progressive".

He did not read it very well.

He is right that the Quran is progressive and as a revealed book of God, it is the latest testament. Why would Blair turn to the older versions of God's testament when there is the Quran? His conversion sounds rather regressive to me.

Different denominational churches within Christianity are part of the same house. If the Church of England was not providing our former prime minister with spiritual fulfilment changing to another denomination within the same house surely will not make substantial difference. If he is looking for reform and spirituality, he should come to Islam. Blair has said the Quran strikes him as a reforming book "trying to return Judaism and Christianity to their origins, much as reformers attempted to do with the Christian church centuries later".

Actually Muhammad tried to pretend it was a part of Judaism and Christianity, but when the Jews and Christians saw through him, he just invented verses that said he was to kill everyone.

If he so admires the Quran for its reformist outlook, why turn to Christianity

Because he felt he could reach Christ more easily in the Catholic Church.

and particularly Catholic Church, which has been plagued with centuries of baggage?

In an article published by Foreign Affairs early this year, Blair spoke of the Quran as being inclusive. His new Church has been the most exclusive and in the name of its own version of Christianity has murdered and destroyed the lives and properties of many fellow Christians over the years.

While Islam has killed more Jews, Christians, AND Muslims.

In his role as a Middle East envoy he would have won the hearts and minds of the Muslim world if he had come to Islam. He might have found redemption for his crimes against Iraq and its innocent people. His conversion to Catholicism would no doubt remind the Muslim world, especially the Arab world of the history of the Crusades. The blood of millions of people still stain the cobblestones of the Holy Land from the cold-blooded murders committed in the name of Christianity and was blessed by the then Papacy in Rome.

According to Blair, Islam "extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition".

Blair is an idiot if he said that.

I agree, but why has he embraced Catholicism with its history of hostility towards science and is embedded with superstition?

Islam is just as anti-science, if not more so.

If Jesus (may peace be on him) was to descend today and walk into a church he would not recognise anything that Christians are practicing in his name. So why then convert to Catholicism?

Blair was very clear in his words when he said Islam "is practical and far ahead of its time in attitudes toward marriage, women, and governance". If Islam is a religion that values family and respects women

They respect a woman as needing to be completely covered when they leave the house, and who cannot go out unless accompanied by a father, brother, ho husband, whose word in court is worth half of a man's word, whose inheritance is worth half of her brothers, and who cannot choose who she wants to marry.

why has he converted to a church that prohibits its priests from getting married, whose holy man are dogged by accusations of homosexuality and pedophilia?

Muhammad married a six year old girl, and had sex with her at age 8 or 9. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.” The Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.”

Blair certainly admires Islam. He said "under its guidance, the spread of Islam and its dominance over previously Christian or pagan lands were breathtaking. Over centuries, Islam founded an empire and led the world in discovery, art, and culture." If I admired a faith so much I would convert to it.

And if you found it was misrepresented, you could not leave it.

So I am baffled to know why he has converted to Catholicism and not embraced Islam.

Islam certainly stands for tolerance and demonstrates this by giving a special status to the Christians and Jews calling them people of the Book - Ahl al-Kitab.

Where they live as second class citizens, submissive to the Muslims.

Christianity does not do the same.

It treats all men as equals.

Blair reminded us that "the standard-bearers of tolerance in the early Middle Ages were far more likely to be found in Muslim lands than in Christian ones".

But this is not the Middle Ages, even though some Muslims might want to go back to those days.

Yes, but why has Mr Blair converted to Catholicism? Surely he stands for tolerance, progress and good governance.

And finally I have one last question for Blair. Did you not say "the faith of Islam is very peaceful and a very beautiful faith"? Why have you not tried Islam? I do not want to dismiss your journey to spirituality, but it is not too late to try Islam - you may like it.

But if you don't, don't try to change back, because the will kill you.