Misplaced Pages

Tariq Ramadan

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Irishpunktom (talk | contribs) at 11:57, 11 November 2006 (→Criticism: -unknown souces per WP:BLP). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 11:57, 11 November 2006 by Irishpunktom (talk | contribs) (→Criticism: -unknown souces per WP:BLP)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (February 2005) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Tariq hmmmm Said Ramadan (born 26 August 1962 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a Swiss Muslim academic and scholar.

Biography

His maternal grandfather Hassan al Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. His father, Said Ramadan, was a prominent figure in the Muslim Brotherhood as well, and was expelled from Egypt by Gamal Abdul Nasser for his activities in that organization. He later settled in Switzerland where Tariq was born. Tariq Ramadan studied philosophy and French literature, obtaining two doctorates, in Philosophy and Islamic studies. He also studied Arabic and Islam at Al Azhar Islamic university in Cairo, Egypt. He later held a lectureship in Religion and Philosophy at the University of Fribourg and the College de Saussure, Geneva, Switzerland.

In October 2005 he began teaching at St Antony's College at the University of Oxford on a Visiting Fellowship. Since 2005 he has been a senior research fellow at the Lokahi Foundation.

Ramadan is married and has 4 children, including Moussa Ramadan, a student at a Islamic school owned by Yusuf Islam. His wife is French and converted to Islam after their marriage. His brother, Hani Ramadan is also a Muslim activist and resides in Geneva, where he is a French teacher and the director of the Islamic Centre of Geneva.

Ramadan established the Movement of Swiss Muslims in Switzerland. He has taken part in interfaith seminars and has sat on a commision of “Islam and Secularism.” He is an advisor to the EU on religious issues. He is widely interviewed and has produced about 100 tapes which sell tens of thousands of copies each year.

His books are widely read by the mainly francophone young Muslims in Europe. His lectures are also distributed widely on cassette tapes.

In September 2005 he was invited to join a task force by the Blair Government in the UK.

Controversy over U.S. visa revocation

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (October 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In February 2004, he accepted the tenured position of Luce professor of religion at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, USA. However, in late July 2004, his visa was revoked by the State Department, and he was forced to resign the position. . Though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to provide a specific reason for denying the visa, they explained that the Patriot Act allows the government to ban foreigners who “espouse terrorist activity.” But it never asserted that Ramadan did so, and has denied making any judgement on Ramadan whatsoever, specifically distancing itself from its earlier statements in a court deposition.

In March 2006, the ACLU requested an injunction in federal court that would bar DHS from denying Ramadan entry into the U.S., where he hoped to speak at several U.S. academic and literary conferences. In June 2006, a federal judge ruled that the government could not continue to deny Ramadan entry to the U.S. unless it provided a "legitimate and bona fide reason" for such denial. The judge gave the government ninety days to either grant a visa, or explain its denial.

In September 2006, a State Department statement said: "A U.S. consular officer has denied Dr. Tariq Ramadan's visa application. The consular officer concluded that Dr. Ramadan was inadmissible based solely on his actions, which constituted providing material support to a terrorist organization." Ramadan has given a donation of $940 to two charity organizations, the Comité de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP) and the Association de Secours Palestinien (ASP) who were fundraising organisations for Hamas. The U.S. Embassy informed Ramadan that he "reasonably should have known" that the charities provided money to Hamas. His donations were made between December 1998 and July 2002, and the United States did not blacklist the charities until 2003. Ramadan disputed this conclusion stating; "How should I reasonably have known of their activities before the U.S. government itself knew?."

Views

Tariq Ramadan advocates that Muslims living in the West should not view themselves as foreigners or temporary residents of their countries, but rather as full citizens with full rights and responsibilities. In some respects, he argues for integration and not alienation from the surrounding society. Indeed, the main theme of his book, To Be a European Muslim attempts to bridge the gap between being a Muslim and being European. In this sense he advocates that immigrant parents not confuse culture with religion. So, Muslims born in Western countries should adopt the tastes and cultural norms of their country, and not those of their parents' homeland.

Ramadan argues that there need be no conflict between being a Muslim and being a full citizen in Western countries, active in the community and caring about it. He criticizes what he sees as an 'us vs. them' mentality in Muslim discourse on the West. Ramadan also advocates having Muslim scholars in the West who are versed in Western mores, and not relying on religious studies that come only from the Muslim world.

Although his detractors have criticised him for advocating only a 'moratorium' for further study on hudud laws which prescribe beheading, amputation, and stoning rather than a complete ban; Ramadan has criticised such punishments as being carried out in third world countries against "mainly women and the poor". In his view, this betrays the greater message of Islam; one of justice and compassion.

Ramadan took this stance claiming that westerners telling Muslims what to do will alienate them further, and actually bolster the position of those who support the penalty. Ramadan himself has voiced his opposition to all forms of Capital punishment but believes the Muslim world itself should remove the laws that allow the practice, rather than have the Western World impose its will on it. He has said "Muslim populations are convincing themselves of the Islamic character of these practices through a rejection of the west, on the basis of a simplistic reasoning that stipulates that 'the less western, the more Islamic'."

Ramadan has been said to believe in "Islamizing modernity rather than modernizing Islam.

According to a MEMRI trasnlation of an Egyptian television programme, Ramadan has written that, "the destruction of the State of Israel is currently impossible in practical terms" and that he, "supports the idea of 'one state' for both Jews and Arabs... as a step along the way to a solution."


Criticism

Tariq Ramadan is criticised for his sometimes contradictory opinions, and for his refusal to accept the priority of civil law over religious law. Many French intellectuals also accuse Ramadan of being "The Master of Doubletalk," of saying one thing to the non-Muslim public and the opposite to his Muslim audience. Perhaps most seriously, author Jean-Charles Brisard of the Terror Finance Blog has listed a number of alleged links between Ramadan and terrorism.

Caroline Fourest analysed Tariq Ramadan's 15 books, 1,500 pages of interviews, and approximately 100 recordings, and concludes "Ramadan is a war leader," and the "political heir of his grandfather," Hassan al-Banna, stating that his discourse is, "often just a repetition of the discourse that Banna had at the beginning of the 20th century in Egypt," and that he, "presents as a model to be followed."

Writing in an Opinion piece in The Weekly Standard, Olivier Guitta claims that the former head of the French antiracisim organization SOS Racisme, "Malek Boutih (an Arab Muslim), told Ramadan after talking with him at length: ‘Mr. Ramadan, you are a fascist.’" SOS Racisme is opposed to affirmative action and supported publiction of the Muhammad Cartoons.

In 2004, during a television debate (100 Minutes pour convaincre) with the then French minister of interior affairs, Nicolas Sarkozy, he refused to condemn the application of hudud laws - which are controversial due to its punishments, and the persecution of those with dissident views on Islam (see Prof. Nasr Abu Zayd), instead proposing a 'moratorium'. In doing so, he distanced himself from some other Alims, like Mufti Soheib Bencheikh, Prof. Zaki Badawi, prof Azizah Al-Hibri who supported Sarkozys line.

Ramadan's stance is that Western dictates regarding the hudud will only futher alienate Muslims, and instead bolster the position of those who support such punishments. Ramadan has voiced his opposition to all forms of capital punishment but believes the Muslim world itself should remove the laws that allow the practice, rather than have the Western world impose its will on it. He has said "Muslim populations are convincing themselves of the Islamic character of these practices through a rejection of the west, on the basis of a simplistic reasoning that stipulates that 'the less western, the more Islamic'."

The charge of anti-Semitism and some of the double talk accusations are vehemently denied by Ramadan who attributes the charges to misinterpretation and an unfamiliarity with his writings.

From 2000 to 2002, Tariq Ramadan was frequently lauded in Western media as a Muslim reformer, and even dubbed the Muslim "Martin Luther" by Paul Donnelly at Salon.com.

Books

Written by Tariq Ramadan

  • Western Muslims and the future of Islam ISBN 0-19-517111-X
  • To Be a European Muslim ISBN 0-86037-300-2
  • Islam, the West, and the Challenge of Modernity ISBN 0-86037-311-8

About Tariq Ramadan

  • Faut-il faire taire Tariq Ramadan ?, Aziz Zemouri; ISBN 2-84187-647-0
  • Frère Tariq : Discours, stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan, Caroline Fourest; ISBN 2-246-66791-7
  • Le sabre et le coran, Tariq Ramadan et les frères musulmans à la conquéte de l'Europe, Paul Landau, 2005, ISBN 2-268-05317-2
  • Lionel Favrot : Tariq Ramadan dévoilé - hors série de Lyon Mag'.
  • Jack-Alain Léger, Tartuffe fait Ramadan, Denoël, 2003,
  • À contre CORAN, livre de Jack-Alain Léger, mars 2004, collection « Hors de moi », éditions HC

References

  1. Islamic scholar gets Oxford job - BBC - Saturday, 27 August 2005
  2. The State Dept. Was Right to deny Tariq Ramadan a visa, Olivier Guitta, Weekly Standard, 10/16/2006, Volume 012, Issue 05
  3. Lacking Visa, Islamic Scholar Resigns Post at Notre Dame - Washington Post - Wednesday, December 15, 2004
  4. Judge Orders U.S. to Decide if Muslim Scholar Can Enter - NY Times, 24 June 2006
  5. Oxford Professor Denied Visa Due to Alleged Hamas Links - NY Sun, 26 September 2006
  6. Why I’m Banned in the USA, Tariq Ramadan, Washington Post, October 1 2006; Page B01
  7. We must not accept this repression The Muslim conscience demands a halt to stonings and executions - The Guardian - Tariq Ramadan - Wednesday March 30, 2005
  8. The State Dept. Was Right to deny Tariq Ramadan a visa, Olivier Guitta, Weekly Standard, 10/16/2006, Volume 012, Issue 05
  9. Tariq Ramadan – Reformist or Islamist?, A. Dankowitz, MEMRI, Inquiry and Analysis Series - No. 266, February 17 2006
  10. Tariq Ramadan new links to terror, Jean-Charles Brisard, Terror Finance Blog, September 13, 2006
  11. Extracts of the book here  France - In French
  12. The State Dept. Was Right to deny Tariq Ramadan a visa, Olivier Guitta, Weekly Standard, 10/16/2006, Volume 012, Issue 05
  13. The State Dept. Was Right to deny Tariq Ramadan a visa, Olivier Guitta, Weekly Standard, 10/16/2006, Volume 012, Issue 05
  14. We must not accept this repression The Muslim conscience demands a halt to stonings and executions - The Guardian - Tariq Ramadan - Wednesday March 30, 2005
  15. What you fear is not who I am, Tariq Ramadan, Globe and Mail, August 30 2004
  16. Tariq Ramadan: The Muslim Martin Luther?, Paul Donnelly, Salon.com, February 15 2002

External links

Categories: