An interview with Lauren Booth

Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is a broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist. She has written for The New Statesman, The Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Times and The Daily Mail. Booth is a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, a supporter of the Stop The War Coalition and a member of Media Workers Against the War.

In August 2008 Booth travelled to Gaza by ship, along with 46 other activists, to highlight Israel’s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. After electing to remain behind in Gaza, she was subsequently refused entry into both Israel and Egypt.

Booth converted to Islam after visiting the shrine of the Lady Fatimah Al-Masumah in the Holy city of Qum.

Here’s what she had to say to Islam Times about her conversion, Islam and activism.

Islam Times: What was the defining moment for you which led to your decision to convert/revert? That light bulb moment where you thought “I want to be a Muslim”?

In the Mesumeh Shrine in Qom, when a sister came over to me, put her hands on my shoulders and said 'I love you.' I felt something in me alter in the way I viewed 'love'. The love I felt then was not about tribal bonds, nor genetic bonds, it was wider and deeper and all encompassing. I felt that I was inside the Ummah. And I wanted to stay there.

Islam Times: Before visiting the shrine of Lady Fatimah Al-Masumah, the place where you had your moment of realisation, what did you know of the Lady? Or is it something you have looked into since?

I was not intending to visit the shrine, so I knew nothing of the Lady beforehand. Now I know that she was well educated, a scholar and an inspiration to others in their faith.

Islam Times: Other then having to pray five times a day, what does Islam mean to you, how does it fit into your life and how has changed it?

I make time to study each night before I go to sleep. The Koran and other learned works are feeding my passion to learn about Islam, replacing films or facebook time! I am not going to large gatherings where alcohol is served as I don't wish to be around that energy. Before I do anything, be it work related or making a personal choice I say to myself 'Bismillahir' and I feel no more anxiety about choices or what to say, as I try to follow Allah in everything I do.

Islam Times: Has your conversion affected any specific plans that you had made for yourself or priorities in life? Is there anything which has become less important for you or even more important since converting?

Since converting I have been led towards a new project to do with Palestinian identity and will now (inshallah) seek to dedicate my working life to. I feel I am being guided and that I am professional and personal doors are open to me when I am on the right path. The ones that stay closed? Well it's Allah's will.

Islam Times: During your interview with Press TV you said becoming a Muslim had made you a better mother, can you expand on that further?

So much of Western life is about 'fun' or 'entertainment'. By this I mean filling our time with frivolities, vanity projects, flirtations or other behaviour that supposedly boosts 'self esteem'. As a single mother I was keen to 'escape' my duties to my children once they had gone to bed. I would want to rush out to meet friends or have people around to 'entertain' me. Now I embrace the chores I do in the evening because they improve my daughters life. I love the quiet and calm times as moments for reading and reflection. I am at home every evening which my daughters love and therefore able to get up before dawn to make the day ready for them and pray which impacts on my mood. I am in short - a happier mother.

Islam Times: As someone who is now very much in the public eye, how do you plan to utilise your role as a now Muslim woman?

Someone said to me 'don't be defensive as a Muslim woman and a wearer of the scarf.' It was my nine year old daughter Alexandra. I accept as many offers to speak on my new life as possible in the hope that good coverage or what really inspires Muslim women will result and this awful image of Islam as violent, will be decreased.

Islam Times: As most people are aware you are a pro-Palestinian activist, was there a particular incident which led to your decision to fight for the rights of the Palestinian people?

To commit to the Palestinian struggle took precisely one checkpoint alongside my taxi driver Jamal who is from Jerusalem. We arrived at Kalandia, the entrance to the West Bank via Ramallah. Jamal who I had just met, sadly said I had to cross by myself and I couldn't understand why. 'Because I am Palestinian and Israel has only given me a pass for Jerusalem not the West Bank - I cannot go there.' Every Palestinian is imprisoned somehow I realised then. By exile, by papers that limit travel, by Apartheid policies and walls. Helas!

Islam Times: There are those who say that there are many oppressed people around the world who are being denied their rights, why only campaign for Palestine? what caused you to choose to campaign for the Palestinians rather then lets say the Kashmiri's (for example)?

You have in this life only a limited amount of energy and time. I am moved by each and every struggle for freedom and rights. But I am just one person - a working, single, mother. To spend time constantly learning about new struggles, is to be of no use to any of them. Also, I feel Allah has a hand in the direction I have taken, as it was never my intention to get this involved in Palestine and whenever I feel I should perhaps focus elsewhere I am led to a new project...

Islam Times: Obviously not all of us can travel to Gaza to help the people directly, what is the most effective form of action we can take to help the Palestinians?

Firstly don't ever say 'they are as bad as each-other' about Israeli's and Palestinians. Or 'It's too complicated to know what to do'. This is Zionist propaganda you are repeating when you do. The Zionists have and continue to steal Palestinian land and to torture the people there -simple and not at all complicated. Secondly don't buy Israeli products such as dates and avocados. For a full list of what to boycott please go to http://www.bigcampaign.org

Islam Times: In your opinion how important is it boycott Israeli goods and companies and does it actually have any effect on Israel?

This tactic worked against Apartheid South Africa and is effective in telling the Israeli government and their business supporters worldwide that 'enough is enough you have to change.'

Islam Times: What are your views on Iran's nuclear programme and the subsequent sanctions?

Israel has two hundred plus nuclear weapons and is the real threat to world stability.

Islam Times: If David Cameron and Barack Obama gave you the option to change one current foreign policy, what would you change and why?

Military 'aid' to Israel amounting to billions of dollars each year. Why? Because the chemical weapons it pays for are being tested in Palestinian children in Gaza that's why.

Islam Times: We live in times where Islamophobia is increasing by the day, what message do you have for Muslims living in England and the US during these difficult times?

Your dignity, courage and gentle refusal to bow down to injustice are an example to the world of true Islam. More and more Westerners are seeing the truth about Islam by your behaviour, the way you live can change the world. Keep it up!