Blood Quran

Saddam's act was denounced in 2000 by the religious authorities of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and, after his fall from power in 2003, the Quran was removed from public display. Controversy persists over how much blood Saddam contributed to the project, or whether any of it is even his at all.

Production and display

The book was produced by Abbas Shakir Joudi (Judy), an Islamic calligrapher who lived in Virginia in the United States before his death. According to his version of events, 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 Quran. 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 Quran from his blood as "a sort of vow from Saddam's side". The work was handed over to Saddam in a ceremony in September 2000.

Other reports have questioned the official Saddam Hussein government version of how much blood was donated in the making of the Quran (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 Quran." 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 Quran. "In fact, a skilled artist copied the 605 pages of the holy book using Saddam Hussein's blood. The former Iraqi president 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 Quran has become a contentious issue in the politics of 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 [number] is correct,' Bianco said. 'That certainly would have made him anemic.' "

The Blood Quran was displayed in a hexagonal marble building set on an artificial lake within the Mother of all Battles Mosque complex. Only invited visitors could view it, as the building was normally locked and off-limits. According to Australian journalist Paul McGeough, who saw a page from the Blood Quran, "the blood lettering is about two centimetres [¾"] tall and the broad decorative borders are dazzling – blues, light and dark; spots of red and pink; and swirling highlights in black." The Guardian's 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."