Visa denials: Fear of a Muslim opinion

Not worth the paper it’s printed on?

For all the yearning for moderation in Islam and frank dialogue within the Muslim community about its problems, there has been a curious pattern recently in the targetting of Western Islamic scholars who attempt to visit the United States. Back in September, American authorities upheld their ban of noted Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan, who had a previous visa revoked in 2004 before he could begin a tenured position at the University of Notre Dame (he was promptly snatched by Oxford University in England). The final reason given was a small contribution made to a Palestinian charity allegedly linked to Hamas (before the charities were blacklisted by the US and the EU). Ramadan, whose efforts at modernisation have earned him the enmity of more conservative Muslims, attributed the continued rejection to a fear of ideas. “I am increasingly convinced that the Bush administration has barred me for a much simpler reason,” says Ramadan. “It doesn’t care for my political views.” In the few weeks since Ramadan’s barring, the spate of scholarly refusals has continued. British Muslim leader Kamal Helbawy was denied entry in New York on October 18, despite not being on any no-fly list and serving as an advisor to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Two South African scholars – Adam Habib and Fazlur Rahman Azmi – were denied entry after reaching the US, visas in hand, prompting intervention by the South African government, to no avail. “Despite their claims of innocence, all of these people are problematic in some ways, and some of them are actual terrorists,” said one anonymous State Department official. The office of Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, which overlooks US relations with Muslims worldwide, acknowledged the damage done to America’s image. “There�s no question that some of these incidents have created serious problems for us,” said Dan Smith, Hughes�s chief of staff. “She wants to find a way to fix this consistent with national security.” Leaked documents show that the Department of Homeland Security is denying entry to those with “irresponsible expressions of opinion” (Yusuf Islam’s decision to play guitar for Dolly Parton, perhaps?). Investigative reports have shown that this “Type III” list of people, who would not be barred under any other circumstances, can be denied entry to the US at the discretion of anyone who sees the list. “When we heard the name list or no-fly list � the eyes rolled back in my head, because we knew what was going to happen,” says former FBI agent Jack Cloonan. “They basically did a massive data dump and said, ‘Okay, anybody that’s got a nexus to terrorism, let’s make sure they get on the list,'” That list includes, in addition to scholars, students, businessmen, and (cough) bloggers. The irony in all this? At the same time Ramadan’s visa and others were refused, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami had his visa to the US personally approved by President George Bush, who stated that he was “interested in what he had to say.” For Muslim scholars and others based in the West, that interest appears to be waning.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.