He has been called provocative and controversial but there is no denying that Tariq Ramadan is an influential Islamic scholar and a touchstone for debate.
A New York Times article noted some of the labels that have been given to him over the years, have gone from “slippery” and “double-faced” to “bridge-builder” and a “Muslim Martin Luther.” Time magazine listed him as one of the top 100 innovators of the 21st century.
“I have multiple identities,” he once told Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “I am Swiss by nationality, Muslim by religion, Egyptian by memory. This is the way I think it can work.”
Ramadan, 46, speaks tonight at the University of Victoria. His 7:30 p.m. appearance is presented by UVic’s Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. He will be first speaker in what the centre hopes will be an annual lecture series on Islam.
The series is supported by an endowment.
Having Ramadan at UVic is “a huge coup,” said Paul Bramadat, the centre’s director. The university was involved in organizing a Canadian trip in which Ramadan worked with CBC in Vancouver yesterday, then heads to Ontario after his Victoria stop.
He will be in the Toronto area and will also speak at Kingston Penitentiary.
Ramadan elicits a variety of reactions from people, Bramadat said.
“He’s kind of like a blank screen, lots of people project things on him.”
One item Ramadan will talk about at UVic is his most recent book, A Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation. The book advocates the transforming of Muslim traditions, from the spiritual to the legal, to respond to the challenges of today’s world.
“In a sense, the book deals in theological terms with some of these broader social challenges,” Bramadat said.
Among his current posts, Ramadan is a professor of Islamic studies at Oxford University and president of the European Muslim Network, a think tank based in Brussels. His controversial nature was seen in 2004 when he earned an appointment to the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies -- only to have his visa turned down by the United States government.
According to Time, one of Ramadan’s goals is to develop “an independent European Islam.
“We need to separate Islamic principles from the their cultures of origin and anchor them in the cultural reality of western Europe,” he told the magazine in 2000.
The Guardian described Ramadan’s aura at a Labour Party conference in 2005, saying he commanded rapt attention.
“He has a global following, particularly among young European Muslims,” the Guardian said. “CDs of his lectures sell like pop music.”
But it doesn’t all come easily. Writing about his latest book, Ramadan acknowledged that the process of putting the volume together had many rough patches.
“The road has not always been smooth, and the research and study have been long and sometimes very difficult.”
• Tariq Ramadan
Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
Enigneering/Computer Science Building, Room 123
Free and open to the public. Seating is limited.
More information: 250-721-6325.
jwbell@tc.canwest.com
