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What would Tony Blair do?

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts on Sep 22, 2008

Irshad with Cherie Booth Blair, human rights lawyer and wife of former British PM Tony Blair

Almost nine months have passed and a baby is now born in Britain. His name is Sharia.

Back in February, Rowan Williams — the esteemed Archbishop of Canterbury — suggested that elements of Sharia are desirable in Britain for the sake of social cohesion. His words planted a seed that legitimized the quiet dream to bring British Sharia to life.

Well, the seed has born fruit. According to Abul Taher of The Times of London, “The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.”

You’re already asking me what I think of this development. Read my blog entry of almost nine months ago, when I posed three questions to Williams — questions focusing on the rights of Muslim women, even under a voluntary Sharia. He never responded, although the UK’s Independent newspaper cited my views as part of the debate.

The debate goes on. Click here to read what others are saying.

The one opinion I’d love to hear is that of former British prime minister Tony Blair. In the twilight of office, Blair found his voice as a defender of ideals such as freedom of conscience, individual liberty and universal human rights.

He took a tough line with Muslim radicals who blamed the West for all of Islam’s ills and with Muslim moderates in the West who refused to use their freedoms of thought and expression.

Since leaving office, he’s launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. On its website, you’ll see an endorsement from none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury. Surf the site further and you land on a page where Blair promotes a lecture delivered by the Archbishop. The topic: faith and human rights.

Merely by having the Right Reverend Rowan Williams grace his website, I don’t assume that Blair toes the clerical line. The two men may very well differ on this matter.

I pray that this is so. Blair has become an eloquent champion of the West’s better angels — the very values that highlight our shared humanity. He ought to ally with the champions of Islam’s better angels: reform-minded Muslims. We understand that once it acquires the force of law, Sharia turns faith into dogma.

It was faithful, reform-minded Muslim women who defeated the proposal to introduce Sharia law in Canada. This time, the colonials have something to teach the British empire.

We call on the Hon. Tony Blair to help us.