Tariq Ramadan: Barred from the US, weighing his options

I think, therefore I am not

He was called one of the top 100 living scientists and thinkers by Time magazine last April. He has taken Muslims to task for their post-September 11th head-in-the-sand denial. His denunciation of French anti-semitism even had (and has) sympathy in the Israeli and Jewish press. So why would the US Department of Homeland Security revoke the visa of Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan 9 days before he was to take up his new post as a lecturer at the University of Notre Dame? The official reason given was a vague PATRIOT Act reference barring foreigners with a “position of prominence within any country to endorse or espouse terrorist activity” (this discovered nearly 5 months after his visa’s approval when his furniture had already arrived in Indiana). Many academics, newspapers, and even Notre Dame’s Jewish students have been fervent in their defense, as is Ramadan himself. “Where is the evidence of my “double talk?” Have you read the articles in which I call upon fellow Muslims to condemn unequivocally radical views and acts of extremism?” (the allegations in case you were wondering). The bulk of criticism falls on two issues: accusing some French intellectuals last year of favoring Israel simply because they are Jewish (anti-Semitic, you see) and being the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna (because a bloodline is a bloodline). As of now, other options are being considered for Ramadan, including the possibility of delivering his lectures via videoconferencing. But Ramadan says he can’t reapply for his visa until he knows exactly what he did wrong in the first place. Said Ramadan, “If I really had something to hide, would really I be trying to go the States?”

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