Looks like the Court has decided Tariq Ramadan deserves some American justice- ie, not guilty until proven guilty!If you don't know Tariq Ramadan is an eminent Muslim scholar, probably the FIRST EVER hailing from the West- Switzerland- and who writes predominantly about Muslims in the West.
He is seen as a intellectual force to contend with, and has consistently spoken against the ideologies that are now claiming to "represent Muslims" worldwide- the fanatical, extremist, stark raving mad al-Qaeda types, and also the ignorant, we-wanna-try-to-make-a-difference-but-are-to-stupid-to-think-for-ourselves Taliban types.
He's provided Muslims in the West the ability to intellectually challenge, but also engage with some realities of living in the west- dealing with post-colonization, Islam and post-modernity, this idea of "reformation in Islam".
When Ramadan got a visa to the US, it was with the idea he would take on a position at the University of Nortre Dame. American academia and American Muslims were very excited, and I believe Ramadan himself knew the critical nature of his position in the US where the intellectual challenge was taking shape, and where an American (Western) society was shaping an Islam that was stripping away the baggage of colonization, race, gender, sects and even nationalism- to create a Islam that was spiritual, individually motivated toward intellectual engagement as well as engaged with the challenges faced by Muslims and by humanity.
The Bush administration, in the face of "We are at war with terrorists, not Islam" outright rejected his visa. The irony of the situation still amazes me- Ramadan was the complete incarnation of the perfect ally against extremism, and mainstreaming the "moderate voices" the right and even the left in America were clamouring to hear from.
The current ruling, isn't anything too exciting. All it says is that America has this principle of being innocent until proven guilty and the Tariq Ramadan gets a chance to prove why he believes he was innocent of the claim the government made that he was donating to a "terrorist organization". Tariq Ramadan has consistently claimed that he had no knowledge of the terrorist links and that he was donating at a time well before the US ever moved to place the organization on the list. The argument being, until it got on the list, the US had no issues with it, and when it was on the list, Tariq Ramadan had long before that stopped donating to it (?).
There is no retroactive punishment for individuals who commit a crime before that thing is declared a crime, at least none to my knowledge.
You can read further here at the NY Times.
Right wingers- conservatofacist- label him a "soft-jihadi" who furthers "Stealth Jihad" and "sharia supremacism" with all sorts of other grand master plan- Elder of Zion sorta stuff- have created around him this idea that he is the GUY. But what I find difficult to comprehend is how is this sort of conspiratizing any different then the "Zionist rule the world" dribble.
In my mind, both of these mentalities are two sides of the same coin, and both need to be challenged and discredited.
Related Reads:
Tariq Ramadan: Why I'm Banned in the US
Tariq Ramadan: Muslims and Palestine
Visit Top Muslim Blogs!
Posts
1 comments:
"The Bush administration, in the face of "We are at war with terrorists, not Islam" outright rejected his visa. The irony of the situation still amazes me- Ramadan was the complete incarnation of the perfect ally against extremism, and mainstreaming the "moderate voices" the right and even the left in America were clamouring to hear from."
How do you know a CAIR member is lying? Easy he's posted something or his lips are moving. Ramadan's a fan of Al-Turabi, so if you think he's an 'ally against extremism' you're deluded. But then you're not against extremism, if you were you wouldn't belong to a group with Hamas ties and that's bigoted garbage nonstop.
Post a Comment