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The "Blood Qur'an" is a copy of the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an, claimed to have been written in the blood of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein over the course of two years in the late 1990s. Saddam commissioned the book in 1997 on his 60th birthday, reportedly to give thanks to God for helping him through many "conspiracies and dangers". He explained his reasons for commissioning the book in a letter published by the Iraqi state media in September 2000: "My life has been full of dangers in which I should have lost a lot of blood ... but since I have bled only a little, I asked somebody to write God's words with my blood in gratitude."〔"(Iraqi leader's Koran 'written in blood' ). BBC News, 25 September 2000〕 After his fall from power in 2003, the Qur'an was removed from public display. ==Production and display== The book was produced by Abbas Shakir Joudi, an Islamic calligrapher who now lives in Virginia in the United States. Over the course of two years, Saddam donated 24–27 litres (50 to 57 pints) of his blood, which was used by Joudi to copy the 6,000 verses and some 336,000 words of the Qur'an.〔Chulov, Martin. "(Qur'an etched in Saddam Hussein's blood poses dilemma for Iraq leaders )". ''The Guardian'', 19 December 2010〕 According to Joudi, Saddam Hussein summoned him to Ibn Sīnā hospital in Baghdad, where his son Uday was recovering from an assassination attempt, and asked him to write out the Qur'an from his blood as "a sort of vow from Saddam's side".〔(Saddam orders to write the Koran from his blood )". ''Arabic News'', 5 February 2004.〕 The work was handed over to Saddam in a ceremony in September 2000.〔 It was subsequently put on display in the Umm al-Ma'arik (Mother Of All Battles) mosque in Baghdad, erected by Saddam to commemorate the 1990–91 Gulf War and designed with minarets in the shape of Scud missiles and Kalashnikov rifle barrels. Other reports have questioned the official Saddam Hussein government version of how much blood was donated in the making of the Qur'an (or if it was even Saddam's blood in the first place). Reporter Philip Smucker reported in Baghdad on July 29, 2001; "Most striking is the dubious and totally unverifiable claim that Saddam donated nearly 50 pints of his own blood for the writing of a Koran." Smucker also wrote: "Western diplomats based in Baghdad are unimpressed with the Iraqi leader's religious devotion, dismissing the mosque and its holy book written in blood as a crude publicity stunt. 'How can we be sure this is Saddam's blood and not that of some of his victims?' one asked."〔 A subsequent news report also from UK's Telegraph newspaper, saw reporter David Blair in Baghdad state on December 14, 2002 regarding Saddam's infamous Blood Qur'an. "In fact, a skilled artist copied the 605 pages of the holy book using Saddam Hussein's blood. The Iraqi dictator donated three pints over two years and this, mixed with chemicals, was used for every verse." In December 2010 several news agencies published news articles regarding how Saddam's infamous Blood Qur'an has become a contentious issue in the delicate politics of today's Iraq. In one article Celso Bianco, the executive vice president for America's Blood Centers, noted the difficulty in believing the claim that Saddam donated 27 liters of blood in only a 2-year period; "The amount of donation allowed for a blood donor in the United States is five or six pints over the course of a year, or less than a gallon, Bianco said. At that safe rate, it should have taken Hussein nine years to donate all that blood, not two. 'It's an incredible amount, if that () is correct,' Bianco said. 'That certainly would have made him anemic.' " Given vastly different (contradicting) claims of the amount of blood Saddam Hussein allegedly donated towards the making of the infamous Blood Qur'an, and the dubious and unverifiable nature of the high end donation estimates just how much (if any) of Saddam Hussein's blood (allegedly mixed with chemicals and ink) is used in the infamous Blood Qur'an remains an open, debatable, and difficult to answer question. The Blood Qur'an was displayed in a hexagonal marble building set on an artificial lake within the mosque complex. Only invited visitors could view it, as the building was normally locked and off-limits.〔Blair, David. "(Saddam has Koran written in his blood )". ''The Daily Telegraph'', 14 December 2002〕〔McGeough, Paul. "(Storm over tyrant's unholy blood )". ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 18 December 2003〕 According to Australian journalist Paul McGeough, who saw a page from the Blood Qur'an, "the blood lettering is about two centimetres tall and the broad decorative borders are dazzling – blues, light and dark; spots of red and pink; and swirling highlights in black." ''The Guardians Martin Chulov describes it as "an exquisitely crafted book that would take its place in any art exhibition – if it wasn't for the fact that it was written in blood."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blood Quran」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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