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<<Previous -- Table of Contents Tariq
Ramadan: "Everybody Must Get Stoned" On Sunday November 8, 2009, I had the dubious pleasure of hearing the controversial and slippery Islamic scholar and public intellectual Tariq Ramadan hold forth in front of several hundred supine academics at the American Academy of Religion Conference here in Montreal. Ramadan is no stranger to controversy, as he was recently denied the right to occupy a prestigious chair in Religious Studies at Notre Dame University. The American government cited as its reason the fact that Ramadan had made a donation to what he calls the "charitable arm" of Hamas. Ramadan's Keynote speech was announced with great fanfare to the assembled professors and seekers~after-truth. The chair smugly advised the undercover FBI, Mossad and Interpol agents in the audience to tum off their recording equipment before the speaker began. What Ramadan served up did nothing to remove the label "slippery". He is very well-spoken in English, French, and doubtless Arabic. He uses the language of contemporary literary analysis and Koranic commentary to suggest that he is, at one and the same time, a True Believer, a Koranic exegete, and someone who is concerned with bringing an interpretation of the Koran into line with Modem concerns. He staunchly maintains that every word of the Koran is revealed truth, while at the same time arguing that he wishes to "refonn" not the text, but rather ''the Muslim mind." He is also an advocate of what he refers to as the "transformation" of the Islamic world--especially its Western Diaspora- instead of its "adaptation", which to him smacks of cultural adulteration .... However, in relation to other topics, he clearly revealed his double agenda: One question from the floor concerned how Islamic principles are applied to gay, bi-sexual and lesbian issues. Without missing a beat, Ramadan reminded his questioner that as a good Muslim one should abhor the actions (of these people) but not the people themselves. In other words, "Hate the Sin, but not the Sinner." Note that he does in fact stand in solidarity with those conservative and fundamentalist Muslim clerics who condemn homosexuality as a sin, while trying to give the impression that he is a forward-thinking humanist. But here's the kicker-when Ramadan made his double-sided statement about Islam and homosexuality, the audience of academics sat in approving silence. Yet would those same folks have sat idly by if any Baptist preacher had made the same comment about hating the sin but not the sinner? I think there would have been an almighty uproar and there would have been talk of homophobia and "exclusion". But once again, academia turns a blind eye when matters concern an "oppressed" religious group such as our Muslim cousins. Robin Wright (a speaker on a previous panel) emphasized the hopeful signs that Islamic violence is perhaps in decline as a function of a number of factors: globalization, the impact of journalistic media on home audiences, and of secular fonns of entertainment (hip hop, etc.). Ramadan took exception to this and chided Ms. Wright for focusing on what he refers to as a "miniscule" element (the violentjihadis) in Islam, while ignoring the far more important dialogue between Western Muslims like himself, and Muslims in their home countries. This was a particularly deft stroke as it suggested that we in the West are being duped by our media's exaggerated emphasis on Muslim-on-Muslim violence. This violence is negligible, according to Ramadan, and to focus on it, is to give way to fear-mongering. Finally, when a member of the audience did confront Ramadan with his slippery reputation, he became irate and, in typical fashion, accused his interlocutor of "double hearing"-for, as it is written, the best defense is a good offence. Although this issue did not come
up on Sunday, Ramadan is best known for his staggering equivocation
on the topic of "stoning". This is a colorful folk activity
that most religions in the West have put behind them. However, lapidation,
as it is more hygienically known, is still very much alive and well
in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia. When he appeared in
a debate with French leader Nicolas Sarkozy and the topic of lapidation
was raised, Ramadan refused categorically to condemn it, insisting instead
that he was in favor Later, Ramadan admitted that, as a private person, he is firmly opposed to the practice, but in order to maintain dialogue with the majority of the Muslim world "from the inside", he has to treat this fun activity with kid gloves. In other words, the great mass of the Muslim world is not prepared to give up stoning, and they will not listen to anyone who advocates an end to the practice. This at least gives us a clear picture of the mores of most of Ramadan's co-religionists. (David Pariser, a faculty member at Concordia University, is a CUR Academic Fellow.) |
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