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 Dr. Tariq Ramadan is slowly getting mad! Dr. Tariq Ramadan wird nun allmählich böse! [1] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suffering again. Together with "three national research or writers´ organizations," they have filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Manhattan concerning the United States´ government´s decision not to allow Tariq Ramadan to come to the U.S. for a speaking engagement at their invitation. The government is basing its decision upon the USA Patriot Act, which restricts travel into the country by foreigners who support terrorism. The other organizations involved are the American Academy of Religion (AAR), based in Georgia, which claims that Ramadan has never expressed support for terrorism, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), based in Washington, D.C., and the Pen American Center (PEN), based in New York. This is what Julia Preston of the New York Times has reported, and Ramadan has added the article to his website. It is noteworthy that Ramadan himself was not named as a co-plaintiff. According to my PONS "global dictionary from HarperCollins (Ernst Klett), "on behalf of the scholar" can be translated as "für" ("for") or "im Interesse von" ("in the interests of"). Only when a person himself is a plaintiff can the phrase mean "im Namen von" ("in the name of"). But this makes no sense. The lawsuit has been filed, claiming that the visa has been rejected "on ideological grounds." (1) While the ACLU, which Preston mentions at the beginning of her article as one of the plaintiffs, does not actually appear in the suit as a plaintiff, Ramadan´s place in this legal action, as one learns from the lawsuit itself, is that of a "symbolic plaintiff." Essentially, this means that he is but a figure marginal to the suit proper, but that he can claim in the Muslim world that he is fighting against Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. What a victory for Islam! Naturally, he is called in the report a "Professor," a usage that has recently become common practice in the media friendly to his cause: "Plaintiff Tariq Ramadan, a symbolic plaintiff in this action, is of Swiss nationality and is one of the Europe´s leading teachers on the Muslim world. Professor Ramadan currently resides in England. He is a Research Fellow in St Antony´s College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the Lokahi Foundation in London." (2) I have written extensively on this matter in the section "Tariq Ramadan nimmt sich neu gegründeter Stiftungen an" ("Tariq Ramadan accepts newly-founded endowments"), as part of the article "Prof. Dr. Tariq Ramadan – 12 Jahre im Dienste des europäischen Islamismus" ("Prof. Tariq Ramadan – 12 Years in the Service of European Islamism"). (3) Basically, in order to enter the professorial world, he also works as a "Senior Research Fellow," that is, as the recipient of one of a number of higher research stipends, in the Lokahi Foundation, based in London. This is a foundation started only in recent years by the Englishwoman Gwen Griffith-Dickson, who was born in Hawaii. She wants to bring cultural practices from Hawaii in to help solve the problems of religious conflict. The Foundation recruits personnel and seeks financial assistance. To this end, Tariq Ramadan, with his "Tawhid=Unity," is a perfect fit. In Hawaiian lokahi means "community for unity and harmony," and it can also bring in oil money. Although the Foundation has not yet officially opened (as of the time of this writing), it already has a mission: "a request to the British government, to observe the relationships between the FBI and the Muslim community in California, and to compare the British and American methods." Doubtless Ramadan can offer very worthwhile help in this matter. One can gain an impression as to who Griffith-Dickson is when one reads an article in the Asia Times of November 8, 2005. There the story is told of an Irish citizen born in Egypt, namely, Professor Bashir Musa Muhammad Nafi, who teaches history and Islamic studies in London. He is also an adherent of the teachings of Ibn ´Abd al-Wahhab, and he is under indictment in Florida on charges of a terrorist conspiracy from the year 2003 to kill and maim persons outside the U.S., in a matter concerning the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The indictment accuses him of being a co-founder of the PIJ and the leader of the PIJ in Great Britain. Nevertheless, Griffith-Dickson holds this person to be a "highly respected" man, and she praises him for his efforts "with energy and commitment, to encourage critical thinking about religious issues and academic balance in his students, and thus to encourage social responsibility." (4) It could be that the American government, in contrast to the governments of the EU, does not think very highly of these connections of Ramadan. For her story Preston interviews Ramadan, the preacher who is a "Visiting Professor" at Oxford University. But the fact of the matter is that, as a Research Fellow there, Ramadan has given three lectures "On the Possibility of European Islam," a topic that quite clearly concerns European converts. "European Islam" is Islam for Europeans – basta! is what Oriana Fallaci might perhaps write. The latest is that St Antony´s College has taken yet another step and is now calling Ramadan a "professor" -- "Professor Tariq Ramadan (Visiting Fellow, St Antony´s College)" – while at the same time making clear that he is but a "Visiting Fellow" in the College, that is, the recipient of a research stipend. Many honorable people, scholars, publicists, and journalists are assisting him in finally achieving this title that he has so strongly desired. (5) But perhaps Ramadan has not earned this exclusion by the U.S. government. He is a person putting forth effort to Islamize Europe and to be a dependable leader for the flock in this way, advising his followers to act in accordance with the treaties that are in force in the countries in which they live or have become naturalized, and wanting the "dar ul-harb" (the "abode of war" in the Islamic sense) to be changed into a "dar ul-islam" ("abode of Islam") – and still the American government does not want to honor this with a residence permit? How could he possibly continue with his self-sacrificial work of coordinating the Islamic communities there and helping them to continue to blossom, if he is not allowed to set foot on the territory of the most hated enemy of the Salafists and other Muslim brotherhoods? Even Mohammed Atta was not refused a visa by the United States, and he truly had no plans to spread Islam in the U.S. by peaceful means. Professor Tariq Ramadan? After the European Social Forum (ESF) meetings in Paris and St. Denis, I reported in many articles concerning the swarm of women in head-coverings and men with beards; further, as of February 2004, when he quite simply announced that he was to cross the Atlantic, I was rather happy that Europe would be free of him. Now I must continue to wait. (6) In November 2003, Ramadan took over the ESF and its criticisms of globalization, and he converted the forum into one concerning the permeation of Islam into Europe – Islamic citizens are his goal for Europe. For this reason he had traveled from Geneva, and fifty bodyguards protected him during his travels – Tariq Ramadan Superstar! Altogether, approximately 700 people listened to him raptly during a seminar organized by the radical Islamist Mouvement de l´immigration et des banlieues (MIB) and concerning "the role of the religions in the opposition movement against the world order," that is, against the U.S. specifically and "the West" in general. He has a hand in clarifying the role of Islam in this opposition movement, in that he is dictating to young women to wear head coverings, which for many years has been one of its perpetual demands. Another of these is the subjugation of all people to the will of Allah. (7) Just after the end of the ESF, on November 20, 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy, the Minister for Domestic Affairs at that time, met with Ramadan in a disputation. The preacher once again enjoyed a forum in which to spread his ideas widely, in this case by means of a popular program called "Cent minutes pour convaincre" ("100 Minutes to Convince") on the television channel France 2. Clearly, he was already making a good beginning for himself. Then, on January 17-18, 2004, at the invitation of the governments of the U.S. and the U.K., "Tariq Ramadan, Professor, University of Geneva" was one of the two opening speakers of the Arab Western Summit of Skills. In the meantime the Czechs had somehow gone missing and no longer served as sponsors, but in their place entered the Aspen Institute Berlin, headed by Jeffrey Gedmin. Daniel R. Coats, the American ambassador to Germany, also spoke at the conference where he was, in a manner of speaking, a colleague of Ramadan. This high level of protection allowed him to be rather indiscreet in February 2004 and thus publicly to announce that he was to teach and conduct research at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Where is he hurrying off to? To people of a like mind! (8) It did not occur to any of the organizers of the Arab Western Summit of Skills that Tariq Ramadan is not actually a professor in Geneva, especially not at the university there. In Geneva he is a "professeur," that is, a teacher or principal (at a sub-university school) in the Collège de Saussure. In addition, he serves as a "Scholarly Associate" (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter [something of a technical term at German universities]) at the University of Fribourg, teaching a two-hour course every two weeks on the topic "Introduction to Islam." This course had already been eliminated from the schedule by the University before Ramadan´s planned move to the United States. (9) Because the summit´s published program cannot have remained unknown to Ramadan, as it was easily accessible via the Internet, one must call him an impostor. If he is a "Professor, University of Geneva," then that is what he is for the American and British governments, for all the sponsors, patrons, and participants, and for the media. In the meantime, he has begun to believe it himself. May He Finally Be a "Professor," Please? Ramadan has in fact already received his title of "Doctor" with the help of the married couple (and radical leftists) Jean Ziegler, a U.N. Special Rapporteur and writer against Israel and against globalization, and his wife Erica Deuber-Pauli, a member of the communist party called "Suisse du Travail" (the Labor party in Switzerland), as well as professors from other departments in the University of Geneva; this, though, happened, after recognized scholars in Oriental Studies refused to supervise his dissertation. With this being true, though, one cannot at all speak of a title for him as "Professor," not in Fribourg and not in Geneva. [2] Ramadan wants legally to get this title for himself in the U.S., at the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana. Nowhere else does he have this chance, as one has seen – not even in St Antony´s College in Oxford, where he has not been able to move beyond the title of "Visiting Fellow." But his activities as an impostor go even further. At the time of this writing, he calls himself on his website "Guest Professor at the University of Oxford (St Antony´s College), Ph.D., specialist in the thought of Nietzsche, teacher of comparative studies in philosophy (Western and Islamic), and scholar of Islamic Studies," and this at a time when he cannot even gain a foothold in France anymore. Time Magazine, which in the year 2000 including Nietzsche among the 100 most notable "spiritual renewers" in the world, has already reported that Ramadan completed a dissertation on Nietzsche. But in Egypt, where his scholarly efforts are not further known in the media, he deceives with these words: "At the University of Geneva, I studied philosophy and French literature and, after completing two MA degrees, continued with a PhD on the concept of suffering in Nietzsche´s philosophy and later another PhD in Islamic Studies about contemporary Islamic reformist thinkers from Jamal El-Din El-Afghani to Hassan Al-Banna." (10) In Clermont-Ferrand, France, if one can believe it, they are forbidding him from speaking, and he suspects that Nicolas Sarkozy, the Minister for Domestic Affairs, is behind it all, the same person who offered him a forum in November 2003. Has Sarkozy asserted his authority in this manner? "In France people are continuing to use unacceptable and anti-democratic means to prevent me from expressing myself publicly." (11) Can it be that the French Minister for Domestic Affairs and the local authority figures in Clermont-Ferrand have agreed amongst themselves that this kind of a preacher should be hindered from continuing to work in his way? A man who, on November 13, 2005, at the high point of the riots of the Arab young people who were destroying everything they could get their hands on, all the while shouting slogans like "Allah hu akbar!" and "For the liberation war of the Palestinians, for Jerusalem!" openly spoke in favor of the legitimacy of the violence occurring in those suburbs? Unfortunately, the television channel France 5 has removed the video with the statements in question: "Il y a une légitimité à la violence! Il y a une légitimité à la revolte!" What is this kind of speech, if not an endorsement of terrorism? I watched and listened to it at least three times, in order to make sure that I was not mis-hearing what he said. Neither the moderator, Serge Moati, nor the participants in the discussion said anything against his statements. Alain Finkielkraut, one of the participants, was at that time already so completely bothered by the Furies gathered for the program that he, too, gave in and remained silent. (12) The ACLU, however, writes concerning Ramadan that he has always been an opponent of terrorism and those who employs its methods. (13) In the course of 2005, Ramadan received forty invitations to speak in the United States. On September 16, 2005, before the beginning of the riots in the Paris suburbs and before his own justification of violence and revolts, he put in another application for a green card, and he reported the U.S. was ready at that time to extend it to him. He appears to have accepted this, because the British government thought themselves above asking this Salafist to serve as an expert on the topic of "Islamism" after the London attacks of July 2005. In September 2005, they re-evaluated their position and requested his presence on a thirteen-member commission designed to investigate the causes of Islamist terror activities. (14) In addition, he is a "Visiting Fellow" (as the recipient of a research stipend) at St Antony´s College, Oxford University, where he gave four lectures concerning how one treats sharia law and called "Toward Reform of Classical Approaches to Usul al-Fiqh." Lest I create any misunderstandings, let me reiterate that St Antony´s College calls Ramadan a "Visiting Fellow," and nothing more. The College´s web page, on which they announced Ramadan and his four lectures, has become, as of this writing, full of information that has nothing to do with him; one of the others mentioned, Avi Shlaim, the "New Historian," nevertheless quite worthily replaces him. (15) We may also be anxious about the lecture by Professor Robert Vitalis of the University of Pennsylvania, given on February 22, 2006, and entitled "America´s Kingdom: Race, State, and the Business of Myth-Making on the Saudi Oil Frontier." (16) This is the "Third King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud Lecture." One does not have to go to the Islamic Foundation of the U.K., or to the affiliated Markfield Institute in Leicester; one can easily meet lecturers in Oxford who appear in honor of this usurper who massacres thousands in order to keep his power secure. Aryeh Gallin has said on this topic, "Islamic Fundamentalism = Wahhabi Worldwide Mass Murder and Missionary Movement." (17) On his website Ramadan continues to call himself a "Professor" and "Visiting Professor at Oxford, St Antony´s College," as well as other things. In his biography section, at the time of this writing, he describes his position thus: (18) Dr. Tariq Ramadan has taught Islamic Studies and Philosophy for many years as a Professor at the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland. In 2004 he was Professor of Islamic Studies in the Classics Department, and the Luce Professor of Religious Conflict and Peacebuilding in the Kroc Institute, at the University of Notre Dame in the United States. As a result of the U.S. Government´s revocation of his visa, he was forced to retire from this post. Now, his last work at the University of Fribourg took the form of a two-hour class that occurred every two weeks and was called "Islam III." All of this means that he was employed there for two years at the most, as an independent Research Associate; he was neither a "Professor" nor there for "many years." Indeed, in the description of available lectures for 2004, his name did not appear at all. Further, he has presented his appointment at the University of Notre Dame in such a way as to make it seem as if he has already taught as a professor, rather than that his visa was taken away before he was able to take up the post. His family is currently sitting atop a load of moving crates; naturally, the preacher ascribes this situation, awkward as it is for his dependents, to others and not to himself. After all that we have seen from Ramadan in terms of documented lies, the term "impostor" seems to fit him well. Nonetheless, this has not stopped groups of people from churches, politics, and the media who want to cooperate with Ramadan from making common cause with him by inviting him to visit them, by quoting him, and by granting him academic honors for which he does not qualify. For example, the editor-in-chief of the Islamic newspaper of the Shiite sects of the Murabitun and Sufis was able to rejoice over a successful symposium held on January 21-22, 2006; at this symposium, held at the facilities of the German Lutheran Church in Bonn, at the church´s own invitation, Sunnis and Shiites conversed with non-Muslim participants about "Islamic Thought in Times of Change and the European Enlightenment" ("Islamisches Denken im Wandel und die europäische Aufklärung"). The media companies WDR and Deutsche Welle, the bank Sparkasse Bonn, the German government´s office for Islamic affairs (Islamrat für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland), and the official Islamic community in Germany (the Islamische Gemeinschaft in Deutschland, or IGD) supported this Islamists´ event of the "Annemarie Schimmel Forum," in which Sunnis and Shiites were able to come together. Of course, this idea is not new; Fatih Shiqaqi brought it to realization as early as 1979 with the founding of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Among the participants at this symposium, among many scholars and journalists, were Ramadan (listed as "Paris/Oxford"), the convert to Islam (and retired ambassador) Dr. Wilfried Murad Hofmann, and Professor Abdolkarim Soroush from Tehran, named by Time in 2005 as one of the world´s 100 most influential people (19), an honor that Ramadan received in 2000. The convert Sulaiman Wilms rejoiced, "Happily, the symposium´s organizers also assigned the oral presentations to the entrance hall of the Lutheran Church building in Bonn, which expanded the size of the audience even more!" There were six podiums at which young Muslims and older non-Muslims participated in the debate. Ramadan tried his hand there on the topic of "Islam and Enlightenment"; in fact, it is his guiding principle, that the Qur´an is an explainable book. [3] He desires "a reform that is designed to reform the entire world," as Sulaiman Wilms describes it. The web site of the Lutheran Church in the Rhineland states: "Ramadan, the Islamic studies scholar, warned the Muslims not to conform themselves uncritically to the Western models of society and business: he said, ´Either you reform yourselves, in order to conform yourselves (to that model), or you reform yourselves, in order to change the world for the better.´" (20) This last statement means nothing other than this: "You are reforming yourselves in such a way that you can ´Islamize´ the entire world." This is the reason for the recent attacks against schools in which, after an amicable conflict-resolution process, German is to be spoken by parents, students, and teachers: that would be a reform in which individuals would be conforming. But the Salafist preacher does not want this to happen -- he who, like his great role model, Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab, wants to return to "the first Sahaba." Overall, the article is worth reading, if nothing else so that no one can say that he did not know what has been happening with these Islamists in Europe. Sulaiman Wilms summarizes it accurately: "First of all, and in the opinion of all the speakers, there are many needs on the topics we have discussed for Germany´s organized Islam. Secondly, the non-Muslim participants had to change some of their positions concerning the local Muslims and their needs." (21) The announcement has been made: still more Islamization. Still more sensitivity on the part of Europeans to sharia law. On this latter point we might think of the cartoons caricaturing Muhammad. At the time of this writing, the conversation is engulfing all of Denmark. The newspaper, Jyllands Posten, is feeling pressure from within and without. The churches are helping the Islamists by offering them forums for their propaganda. It does not seem that things can move quickly enough for them in the process of making Friday, instead of Sunday, a holiday in Europe -- jumu´ah in the ummah! And the United States continues to be resistant, to Ramadan´s chagrin. Translated by David Kneip, sent in by Ibn Warraq on February 7, 2008 David Kneip. Youth Minister. Living Stones Church Why the West Is Best. My response to Tariq Ramadan. By Ibn Warraq, City Journal Vol. 18, no. 1, Winter 2008 Ibn Warraq Books/Bücher/Essays Translator´s Notes [1] Dr. Tariq Ramadan wird nun allmählich böse! 30. Januar 2006 [2] The author here is thinking in terms of the German university system, where the highest levels of education are achieved in a two-part process. First, one completes a dissertation, which is supervised by a professor or "chair" and after which one is called "Doctor" but cannot yet teach as a "Professor." At that point one can find work as a "Research Associate" or "Scholar" in an institute or other dedicated department. To become a "Professor," one must complete a "Habilitationsschrift," which is essentially a second dissertation and is another method by which the system weeds out less-qualified candidates, as the number of "chairs" or professorships in Germany is extremely small and hardly growing, if at all. [3] Here we have related German words that translate into different English words. The German word behind "enlightenment" is Aufklärung, the specific word for the time period we call "The Enlightenment" and also a general term with that English meaning in terms of philosophy, religion, etc.. However, it is also related to the English ideas of "clarification" and "education," as we see in the word behind my choice "educational," which is aufklärerisch. Gudrun Eussner´s Notes (1) Lawsuit Filed in Support of Muslim Scholar Barred From U.S. Julia Preston, NEW YORK TIMES, January 26, 2006 Lawsuit Filed in Support of Muslim Scholar Barred From U.S. vendredi 27 janvier 2006, par Julia PRESTON (2) American Academy of Religion Sues to Prevent U.S. from Denying Foreigners Entry Solely for their Ideas, American Academy of Religion, January 25, 2006 Comlaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief ACLU Challenges Patriot Act Provision Used to Exclude Prominent Swiss Scholar from the United States (1/25/2006) Censorship at the Border. ACLU (3) Prof. Dr. Tariq Ramadan - 12 Jahre im Dienste des europäischen Islamismus, 19. November 2005 (4) CRISIS OF FAITH IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. PART 2: The Islamist response. By Spengler, Asia Times, 8 November 2005 (5) Weeks 1, 6, 7 Tuesdays, 5.00 pm (6) "Alain Finkielkraut muß weg!" 11. Dezember 2005 Prof. Dr. Tariq Ramadan - 12 Jahre im Dienste des europäischen Islamismus, 19. November 2005 Der Islamist Tariq Ramadan: "verunglimpft wie ein muslimischer Jude", 15. November 2005 Seine Hoheit Tariq Ramadan, Kalif aller sunnitischen Muslime, schreibt an den Präsidenten der USA. Ein Geblöke vom Schaf, 26. Januar 2005 Tariq Ramadan bekommt nun doch ein Visum für die USA: Wir wollen froh sein, daß wir ihn los sind! 16. Februar/8. Oktober 2004 Tariq Ramadan bei Eddie Freddie. Wir wollen froh sein, daß wir ihn los sind! 16. Februar 2004 Attac - At-Taqiya Attacke. Der Islamist Tariq Ramadan und die Globalisierungskritiker vereint im Kampf. 24. November 2003 (7) Le MIB au FSE pour quoi faire ? Mouvement de l´immigration et des banlieues (MIB), 12 novembre 2003 (8) Arab Western Summit of Skills, Berlin, January 17.18, 2004 Botschafter Coats sprach auf dem "Arab-Western Summit of Skills" in Berlin (9) Autres cours. Let-7 Ramadan Tariq Islam III: Introduction III; mercredi, 15-17 h. (tous les 15 jours) (164) (10) Tariq Ramadan, by Rania al Malky, Egypt Today, The Magazine of Egypt, October 2004 (11) Interdit de parole... Ca continue ! 8 décembre 2005 (12) Banlieues : miroir des peurs françaises ? Ripostes. Présenté par Serge Moati, France 5, 13 novembre 2005 (13) Tariq Ramadan (1/24/2006) ACLU (14) UK picks Tariq Ramadan for anti-terror panel, by Robert Spencer. Dhimmi Watch, by Robert Spencer, August 31, 2005 Muslim Scholar Whom U.S. Barred From Notre Dame Will Take Post at U. of Oxford, by Aisha Labi, London. The Chronicle of Higher Education (USA)/Campus Watch, August 31, 2005 (15) Dr Tariq Ramadan. Visiting Fellow at St Antony´s College. St Antony´s College, Oxford Interview With Middle East Scholar Avi Shlaim: America, Israel and the Middle East. By Don Atapattu. The Nation, June 16, 2004 ST ANTONY´S COLLEGE, OXFORD MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES SEMINARS/LECTURES (16) Robert Vitalis, Associate Professor, Director Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania (17) AMERICA´S ASHES: Destroying the Wahhabi al-Saud Crime Family Frankenstein Monster Uncle Sam´s Texas Tea (Oil) Companies Helped Create. By Aryeh Gallin, "Root & Branch Association, Ltd." Yerushaliyim, May 16, 2002 (18) Tariq Ramadan. Biography, August 22, 2004 (19) Abdolkarim Soroush; Iran´s Democratic Voice - Time Magazine (April 2005) Abdolkarim Soroush (20) Muslimische Theologen sehen Krise des Islam, Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland, 22. Januar 2006 (21) Bonn: Gelungenes Symposium über das islamische Denken im Wandel. Zweitägige Veranstaltung zu zeitgenössischen Fragen der intellektuellen Landschaft - Von Sulaiman Wilms, Berlin, Islamische Zeitung, 22. Januar 2006
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