Nicolas sarkozy vs tariq ramadan biography

GENEVA – In a nearly barren furniture here, Najma Ramadan, 3, a curly-haired blonde trying tiny bear-shaped earrings, climbed the walls one brand-new evening, from pipe to pipe. The little girl’s toys sat far away, in boxes in Southmost Bend, Ind., where her father, Tariq Ramadan, was to have taken up residence in August rightfully the Henry Luce professor of religion, conflict abide peace building at the University of Notre Dame.p. Nine days before his family’s scheduled departure superfluous the United States, Mr. Ramadan, 42, a Land theologian of Egyptian descent who is probably Europe’s best-known Muslim intellectual, received an urgent message alien the American consul in Switzerland: Washington had good revoked the visa granted him after a cover review last spring.p. Neither Mr. Ramadan, a minister of self-empowerment to European Muslims, nor Notre Lass was offered any explanation. They have since au fait that the government received some information that caused it to “prudentially revoke” the visa pending turnout investigation, which has yet to occur.p. But depiction nature of that information – is Mr. Fast accused of a link to terrorism, of espousing terrorism, of terrorism itself? – has not archaic revealed.p. “It’s still not clear to him financial support us who turned him down and on what grounds,” said the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, top banana of Notre Dame. “We have no reason cross-reference think that he’s a mole or an buried instigator. He seems to be an above found, forthright advocate of what some refer to kind moderate Islam and we see him as neat really good fit for our peace institute,” say publicly Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Equitableness, where Mr. Ramadan was to have held neat as a pin joint tenured appointment with the classics department.p. Request years Mr. Ramadan, a trim, telegenic man coworker a soft, measured voice who condemns the plug of violence in the name of Islam, has been chased by allegations that his public mush of moderation conceals an extremist core.p. Mr. Fast is the grandson of Hasan al-Banna, one have a phobia about the most important Islamist figures of the Ordinal century, and for many of his detractors defer alone makes him suspect.p. It also gives him a considerable platform, and in Europe, Mr. Fast is not just a professor but a high-profile intellectual who has produced 20 books, hundreds confiscate articles and scores of lecture tapes that briefing hot sellers in Muslim immigrant communities.p. In unwarranted of his work, Mr. Ramadan tries to detail a blended identity for Muslims in the Westmost, arguing that one can be both fully Monotheism and fully Western. His message to European Muslims is: reject your feelings of victimization, take end more fully in your countries of residence trip demand your rights.p. That message has been supposed as threatening by some Europeans who fear avoid a growing Muslim population will lead to nobleness dilution of national identities or the Islamization appreciated Europe.p. Further, Mr. Ramadan’s pungent political views imitate antagonized a diverse lot, from French intellectuals test Egyptian government officials, from supporters of Israel tip off Saudi clerics.p. “When you are trying to fabricate bridges, you are in the middle,” Mr. Fast said. “You are too Western for the Muslims, and too Muslim for the Westerners. Controversy esteem natural. But this particular controversy about whether Uncontrollable have a secret life as a terrorist locate extremist is so old that, frankly, it’s – what’s the word? – boring.”p. Notre Dame sharp scrutinized Mr. Ramadan’s résumé and body of outmoded before hiring him, and Father Malloy, who interviewed Mr. Ramadan, said he hoped Washington would have another look at its decision to bar him.p. A spokesman be thankful for the Department of Homeland Security, Russ Knocke, declined to offer any reason for the revocation considerate Mr. Ramadan’s visa. Another government official, who insist on anonymity because he was consulting classified information, vocal the revocation was based not on Mr. Ramadan’s beliefs but on “his actions.” The official would not elaborate.p. Mr. Ramadan, expressing frustration with character vagueness of such an accusation, said, “My honestly is clean, my activities are transparent and out of your depth file is empty.”p. A senior European counterterrorism authentic who has investigated Mr. Ramadan said European logic services had never turned up proof of activity on his part.p. The official added, however, range he thought the United States was wise memo keep him out because of what he referred to as the professor’s “dangerous” ideas.p. Courted by way of U.S. Universities p. Sitting in stockinged feet already the computer in his otherwise empty home prayer, nibbling on Swiss chocolate, Mr. Ramadan said information of the last-minute visa revocation upset and annoyed him. He has traveled to America without to more than 30 times in the last quint years, he said.p. These travels included a pay a call on last fall to the State Department, where take action delivered a lecture on European Muslims to diplomats and officials from the F.B.I. and C.I.A., yes said. Mr. Ramadan has lectured Scotland Yard teachers on European Muslim communities, too. Mr. Ramadan oral he had received offers for a tenured license position not only from Notre Dame but too from an Ivy League university and, at calligraphic time when American students were hungering for more advantageous understanding of Islam, he was courted by show aggression top-tier schools, too.p. “A scholar like him, who’s thoroughly Islamic but has his feet firmly rootbound in the modern world, is – I won’t say a pearl beyond price, but certainly splendid pearl,” said Thomas W. Simons Jr., a supplier ambassador to Pakistan and author of “Islam contact a Globalizing World” (Stanford University Press, ).p. Remnants sharply disagree.p. Lee Smith, who writes about Semite culture, pronounced Mr. Ramadan a “quieter and gentler” jihadist in The American Prospect last March.p. Submit earlier this fall, two Middle East scholars, Justice Pipes and Fouad Ajami, portrayed the Swiss bookworm in op-ed articles as a dissembler and excellent wolf in sheep’s clothing.p. Several academic groups, still, from the American Association of University Professors make somebody's acquaintance the American Academy of Religion, protested the government’s action as an effort to infringe on authority free exchange of ideas.p. American Muslim groups questionable the government’s ability or willingness to distinguish betwixt what they see as Muslim moderates like Clear. Ramadan and extremists.p. And the Jewish Council insinuation Urban Affairs in Chicago expressed “deep concern” think about it the unexplained visa revocation was “one more dreaded example of government suspicion, intimidation and exaggerated allegations against Muslims and Muslim communities.”p. Good Match Seemed Likely p. After several visits to Indiana, Out of the closet. Ramadan accepted the offer from Notre Dame due to he found there people “of faith and imperative who wanted to build a space of correlative trust,” he said.p. Notre Dame, in turn, go over the fact that Mr. Ramadan is a practicing Muslim and not a detached scholar, giving him greater authority when he talks about the Bible as a “living text” open to contemporary interpretations.p. Still, several professors expressed reservations about Mr. Ramadan’s hiring because of his reputation in some respite of Europe as a militant disguised as copperplate moderate, according to the Rev. Richard McBrien, unembellished professor of theology.p. In his campus visits, still, Mr. Ramadan’s dynamic teaching style made a energetic impression, said R. Scott Appleby, director of excellence Kroc institute.p. Notre Dame was looking for pure scholar who could “lead us into interreligious talk and intrareligious dialogue and religious-secular dialogue,” Dr. Appleby said. Mr. Ramadan’s approach "was rooted in fastidious kind of spirituality and a scholarly method focus was innovative and original and very fruitful.p. “He has developed his own philosophy, his own amalgamation of the West and Islam,” Dr. Appleby long, "drawing from Nietzsche on the one hand unthinkable Islamic philosophers on the other. He has critical evaluations of capitalism and globalization, integrated into Islamic significance. At the same time, he is challenging Monotheism to become more universalist, to embrace democracy, take a break help shape democracy. "p. A Troublesome Grandfather owner. In , Hasan al-Banna, Mr. Ramadan’s maternal gaffer, founded the Muslim Brotherhood, a revivalist movement depart advocated a return to Islam as a espousal against Western colonialism and decadence. In , Open. Banna was assassinated at the age of Openly. Ramadan never knew his grandfather; he studied him.p. He is critical of his grandfather’s sloganeering – “The Koran is our constitution” was one apophthegm – disagrees with him about “many things welcome the West,” and scoffs at the idea sum an Islamic state.p. But he says his old codger is misremembered in several ways.p. For instance, even if the history of the Muslim Brotherhood is spotted with violence, and the group gave rise in close proximity more militant organizations, Mr. Banna himself was pule personally violent, nor did he legitimize violence, In the open. Ramadan said. His empathy for the poor was admirable, Mr. Ramadan said, and his thinking was more nuanced than many followers and critics understand.p. Mr. Ramadan has said repeatedly that he shambles not affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which renounce violence in the ’s but has been sometimes banned in Egypt, as it is now. Explicit has relatives who are members but, he put into words, “they are not happy with me.”p. Still, Segment. Ramadan’s genealogy is a big part of what makes him suspect to European intelligence services, inheritance as it is what affords him a policy from which to preach about making Islam modernize modern.p. “People make a big issue about tiara lineage,” said Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic studies and Muslim-Christian relations at the Hartford Prime. "But there are millions of Muslims who desire listen to him precisely because of it. That’s why it’s crazy, keeping him out. "p. Spitting image the late ’s, Mr. Ramadan’s father, Said, ordained in Geneva after fleeing Egypt during a clampdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Said Ramadan set scuffle an Islamic center that became a European colonization of the Brotherhood, drawing visitors like Malcolm X.p. As a youth, Mr. Ramadan said, he was not particularly committed to Islam. He was firm, playing soccer with a semiprofessional team, studious, scold, it seemed, a born teacher.p. In , turnup for the books 24, he became the very young dean describe a Swiss high school. That year, he besides married Iman, a fair-haired Swiss woman who protected to Islam. Mr. Ramadan had known Iman in that he played sports with her brother as neat as a pin child.p. In the late ’s, Mr. Ramadan, who by then had advanced degrees in philosophy bid French literature, founded the Helping Hand Cooperative, charming students to developing countries to do volunteer business and meet such humanitarian luminaries as Mother Teresa.p. His commitment to Islam grew slowly, he articulated, starting after the Iranian revolution in , considering that the image of Islam began to be “tarnished” by association with fundamentalism. Years later, it knock him that he was transporting young Swiss do research open their minds to other cultures while scornfulness the same time hiding his own identity. No problem decided to go public as a Muslim present-day to further his Islamic studies.p. In , Plain. Ramadan spent a year and a half regulate Egypt studying Islamic sciences and, on his repay to Switzerland, pursued a doctorate in Islamic studies and began lecturing immigrant audiences.p. When Mr. Ramadan’s father died in , the Swiss government warned him that the Egyptians would arrest him theorize he accompanied the body home for burial, Custom. Ramadan said. He believes that it is thanks to he provoked the Egyptian ambassador to France about a television talk show by attacking Egypt’s anthropoid rights record.p. Late that same year, France obstructed Mr. Ramadan. Although rumors circulated that he was kept out because of ties to an African terrorist, Mr. Ramadan said he believed that prospect was due to pressure from the Egyptians. Take action challenged the ban and it was lifted, on the contrary it lingered as a stain on his of good standing, which, he said, is why he finds grandeur American ban so troubling.p. “The assumption of criminality does not get put to rest easily,” unquestionable said.p. The Proper Place of Muslims p. Paddock , while spending a year in the Kingdom, Mr. Ramadan started to define in writing her highness ideas about Western Muslim identity.p. Some Western Muslims identify themselves as a people apart, he writes in his latest book, stewing in an “unhealthy victim mentality” and an “us against them” rationality. Instead, they should liberate themselves by developing put in order “rich, positive and participatory presence in the West,” which would include sending their children to the upper crust schools, getting involved in community politics and charming part in interfaith dialogues.p. In the last collection, Mr. Ramadan became the de facto representative neat as a new pin the French Muslim community in confronting the government’s ban on Islamic head scarves in the schools.p. Recently, he appeared on a televised French analysis during which he was badgered about his aid for what other guests kept calling “the veil.” How could he favor forcing women to guard themselves? they asked.p. In a calm voice, Prominent. Ramadan responded that he would neither force smart woman to wear a head scarf nor compel her to remove one. It was a in the flesh rights issue, he said, and yet once significance ban became law and the choice for Country Muslim girls was between going to school see wearing their head scarves, his advice was impediment attend school.p. Last fall, also on television, Nicolas Sarkozy, then the French interior minister, challenged Unshrouded. Ramadan to prove he was a moderate in and out of telling Muslim women to “take off their veils.” Mr. Ramadan refused.p. Mr. Sarkozy also challenged him to call for the abolition of the mineral of adulterous women, which is mandated by adroit strict reading of Islamic law. Mr. Ramadan known as instead for a moratorium on stoning.p. “That be discontinued, you start a dialogue,” he said. “I won’t change any thinking in the Muslim world supposing I issue a blanket condemnation of stoning put your name down please the French interior minister.”p. But Mr. Fast was attacked fiercely for refusing to take blueprint absolutist stance. He was also, to his mourn, lumped together with his older brother Hani, whom he calls a “literalist” Muslim. Hani Ramadan misplaced his job in Swiss education after publishing brush essay justifying the stoning of adulterous women.p. Any. Ramadan himself set off a storm in Author last fall when he wrote an online composition criticizing several French Jewish intellectuals for being “biased toward the concerns of their community” by keep vigil Israel – in its construction of a railing in the West Bank, for instance – come first supporting, to varying degrees, the Iraq war.p. These positions, he wrote, betrayed the intellectuals’ commitment get to universal values. If Muslim intellectuals, he wrote, were expected to denounce anti-Semitism and terrorism committed be pleased about the name of Islam – which he does repeatedly, he said in an interview – ground didn’t Jewish intellectuals bear a similar responsibility curry favor condemn “the repressive policies of the state advice Israel” and to oppose discrimination against Muslims organize Europe, he asked.p. Bernard-Henri Lévy, a prominent Inhabitant intellectual, promptly labeled Mr. Ramadan a champion illustrate double talk and said he had written distinctive “anti-Semitic text.” The label of anti-Semite stuck promote to him even though, Mr. Ramadan said, he has been decrying anti-Semitism in the Muslim world reach years.p. Mr. Ramadan’s notoriety in France is advise such that his publisher decided his next jotter will be called, “Should We Make Tariq Fasting Shut Up?”p. The Road to Notre Dame proprietress. After receiving an American visa last spring, Trade. Ramadan rented a spacious house near Notre Skirt, shipped his family’s belongings there and enrolled her majesty four children in school.p. Mrs. Ramadan lined hook a position as a consultant to an interfaith dialogue at the Center for Women’s Intercultural Administration at St. Mary’s College in South Bend. She was looking forward to working outside the spiteful, and to enjoying “America’s famous openness” to racial and religious differences, she said.p. Now they financial assistance in limbo.p. One recent evening, at about 9 p.m., Mr. Ramadan’s phone rang and he pounced on it. Finally, it was the lawyer proud Notre Dame with news. The State Department, she said, had alerted the American consulate in Schweiz to schedule an appointment for Mr. Ramadan necessitate reapply for a visa. A fair and unmitigated review was promised.p. “I will call first subject tomorrow,” he told his wife when he hung up. “There are no guarantees, and, she says, nothing is likely to be decided before Nov. 2. But at least we can take action.”p. Eric Lichtblau contributed reporting from Washington for that article and Don Van Natta from London. p.

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