Ramadan not a moderate

Submitted by Jeff (United States), Apr 26, 2005 at 16:00

While Tariq Ramadan can certainly not be held responsible for his father's activities, he has long been engaged in pursuing an "entrism strategy" in Europe on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood, which only a naif would characterize as a "moderate" organization.

Like many of the more intelligent, Westernized, and sophisticated Islamist spokesmen, he poses as a tolerant moderate when addressing Western intellectuals but regularly expresses far more extremist views when speaking to Muslim audiences. (Should anyone doubt this, I suggest that they have a look at the new French-language book by Caroline Fourest, Frere Tariq).

In short, Ramadan exploits the many well-meaning but gullible Westerners who, in an effort to foster cross-cultural dialogue, often end up being hoodwinked by manipulative activists with hidden agendas.

Having said that, I wish that he would have been granted a visa and allowed to teach at Notre Dame. It would have been fascinating for those familiar with his background and activities to observe his duplicitious rhetorical strategems firsthand.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".