Lauren Booth - Finding Peace in the Holy Land: A British Muslim Memoir

Absorbing and forthright. Whatever you think of Lauren Booths politics, Islam or her message, this book is a fascinating read. I couldnt put it down.

Nicky Campbell , broadcaster and presenter

A captivating modern pilgrimage. Booths road to Mecca offers a precious and unique insight into the modern Islamic reality.

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad , Author, Academic, Dean Cambridge Muslim College

Poignant, moving and funny... brilliantly joined up writing and joined up thinking..

Victor Lewis Smith , TV and Film producer

In this engaging memoir she bares her soul and shares with us her journey down the road of life to the land of faith. As she retraces for the reader the many steps of her excursion one cannot help laughing with her, crying with her and sharing her indignation, pain and triumph. This is a volume not easily put down. I would highly recommend it for anyone wishing to learn about one of most fascinating Muslim personalities of our time.

Imam Zaid Shakir , co-founder, Zaytuna Institute, California

As she challenges injustice and oppression, Booth finds hope, meaning, and salvation in the cauldron of the Middle East. An engaging, intelligent, and highly relevant memoir.

CJ Werleman , author of Koran Curious

Finding Peace in the Holy Land is the conversion story of a woman truly of our times with a connection to world-changing events. What makes a good book? Well, it needs to be a good read and this book is certainly that. It should make you laugh and it did that for me. It should make you cry. Got me there. At least four times! Finding Peace in the Holy Land though is more than just a good book. I think its a great book. It has made a genuine, lasting, impact on me and Im sure it will do the same to you.

Abdur Raheem Green , Chairman and co-founder Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA), UK

This book is one that everyone should read about a womans journey to her truth. You will not put it down.

Greta Berlin , Oil Company Consultant

Read this incredible spiritual journey. A master piece of human endeavour, discovery, faith and trials. A must read for all.

Yusuf Chambers , Daee and Community Activist

How did a whisky drinking, white middle-class journalist fall in love with and wholeheartedly embrace Islam? As honest as it is entertaining, Finding Peace in the Holy Land is a unique account of East meets West. It takes you on a journey from Hampstead to the Hajj in the company of Prime-ministers and Palestinians.

Rahim Jung , TV Presenter, Film Producer, Activist

Finding Peace in the Holy Land is a fascinating insight into the life and work of Lauren Booth. Though many know Lauren through her professional journalism, TV and radio appearances, and public speaking, and of course as Tony Blairs sister-in-law, this book shines a light on her many personal experiences and her passionate work as a campaigner for human rights and democracy around the world.

Laurens life is an inspiration for all Muslims, a lesson in embracing the religion of Islam, and using skills and talents to better the lives of others. I believe this memoir will both entertain and move all who read it to seek out opportunities to make the world a better place.

Sheikh Ramzy , Imam and Director of Oxford Islamic Information Centre

A remarkable spiritual and personal journey with unique insights to illuminate all kinds of reader.

Peter Gould , designer and entrepreneur

Beautifully written, a candid and engaging quest for truth. Above all, a message of hope.

Farooq Murad , Director General, The Islamic Foundation, UK

Finding Peace in the Holy Land: A British Muslim Memoir

First published in England by Kube Publishing Ltd
Markfield Conference Centre
Ratby Lane Markfield Leicestershire
LE67 9SY United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1530 249230 Fax: +44 (0) 1530 249656
Email:
Website: www.kubepublishing.com
Lauren Booth, 2018 All rights reserved

The right of Lauren Booth to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available from the British library

ISBN 978-1-84774-118-9 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-84774-117-2 Paperback
ISBN 978-1-84774-119-6 ebook

Cover Design: Inspiral Design
Cover Author Image: Anne Bloom
Typesetting: Nasir Cadir
Printed by: Mega Basim, Turkey

Dedication

For my mother and my twin lights Birdy and Lolly

Thanks Sooty!

For Bilad al-Sham and all oppressed peoples awaiting their time.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Contents

IN THE NINETIES, I was asked to write a diary about my accidental (unauthorized) public role as Blairs sister-inlaw. Publishers wanted tittle-tattle, a cartoon version of the celebrity culture in the shallows of which I gaily paddled.

No thanks, I said, sorry to disappoint you. The world really does not need another gossipy, name-dropping, treemurdering tell-all.

Then, in 2012, the idea of writing a memoir was resurrected for me during a speaking tour of the US for the Muslim Legal Fund of America. In a gym attached to a mosque, I presented some of the weird and wonderful events Id lived through, from the rainforests of Australia to the deserts of Egypt. During the Q and A session, a boy of about eight jumped up and down until the screeching microphone was handed to him.

Excuse me, he said. Did any of that really happen?

It was a valid question, and one which I took seriously. Had I really travelled across continents, tracing a gradual route from a secular life of alcohol and parties to living in the way of a people who had lived 1,400 years ago? Had I gone to sleep in a mosque in a far off land and woken up a Muslim, as I had said in that hall?

A week after the audiences laughter had faded, I opened my diary drawer back home. Sat on the floor with my daughters, we rifled through decades of scrawled upon scraps of paper tied together into broken, sand-dusted, waterdamaged, notebooks. After an hour of laughter (theirs) and some nostalgic tears (mine), we had to admit that as unlikely as it seemed that stuff, and more, had all happened.

Dibs I get the diaries when you die, Mum. Charming.

As for Islam, if youd asked me about it when I was fifteen, I would have said it was a foreign faith all about making girls into doctors, dentists and subservient, docile, house slaves.

Islam, as a practical way of life reflecting an ancient ethical example, was completely unknown to me until I was thirtyeight. As I had travelled around the West Bank, writing reports for British newspapers, my lack of knowledge of the journalistic etiquette of penning a story from the Occupied Territories turned out to be both a risk and a blessing. It allowed me to be led by the people of the region, rather than their politicians. And that experience awoke in me an empathy for which my life as an actress and then as a photo by-line columnist had dulled.

The Muslims I met, living under such oppressive conditions, tried to guide me away from anger towards calm reflection and hope. Inevitably, I picked up the Muslims book of guidance: The Holy Quran. Thats when my understanding of life, the universe and everything was flipped on its head.

In western terms, the life described here began as a soap opera. It proceeded (for a bit) as a glossy rom-com, then revealed itself to be the same as each other short trip from womb to tomb: a quest for meaning.