«Muslims must learn to adopt a critical intellectual distanciation»

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Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan gives his critical analysis to  « Le Temps».


An interview conducted by Stéphane Bussard
Monday 6th February 2006

Geneva-based Tariq Ramadan, now in Morocco, expresses his views on the controversy now shaking the West as well as the Arab/Muslim world.

Le Temps: What is revealed by this controversy, which is now resonating world-wide ?

Tariq Ramadan: First and foremost one must know two things: Islam forbids the representation of God and of the prophets out of respect but also to avoid the temptation of an idolatrous image cult. It is a basic tenet of the faith. Besides, laughter or mockery about religious matters is alien to Muslims’ universe, whatever be the religion laughed at or derided.

­ -Muslim reactions nevertheless seem disproportionate.

­- These cartoons have been perceived as a transgression added to an insult and a provocation. The reaction of muslims is nevertheless excessive and disproportionate. The drawings are already three-month old and some Muslim States, in want of islamic legitimacy, have tried to present themselves as champions of the islamic cause et they activated the fire.  Muslims, practising or not, aggravated by the image of Islam projected in the Western media, have been taken up by emotion. This is not wise and this will only accentuate the misunderstandings.

­ – In the West, and specially in Europe, these reactions meet a total incomprehension. How do you explain that ?



-­ It is true and we need to avoid simplistic explanations: This is not a conflict between freedom of expression and religious dogma. What some muslims request is not more censorship but a wiser use of freedom of speech. On their side, they must understand that, from Voltaire to Hugo and up to Western contemporary literatures, there is a tradition of making fun of religious facts. They must learn to adopt a critical intellectual distanciation and ignore it calmly, while also explaining their point of view.



– Those muslims who reacted to the cartoons mention a lack of respect towards their faith. What about their own respect for freedom of expression or other religions in the Arab/Muslim world ?




-­ We must, each and everyone, learn self-criticism. It is true that there exist unjust and discrimatory treatments in societies where muslims are the majority and it is true that muslims are not vocal enough to condemn these attitudes. They must express themselves. This said, other people respect is not a question of reciprocity mais a question of principle: it is not because dictatorial states fail to respect minorities that democracies, as if they were mirrors, should be allowed to do the same. The entitlements of the Rule of Law allows muslims to express their feelings in the West ; they must acknowledge that and, from that point, wherever they live, they have an ethical obligation to denounce all the discriminatory malpractices committed in their name in the muslim world.




-­ The right to freedom of expression, as practised in the West, would be relative…




-­ The right to freedom of expression has never been absolute. There are laws which interdict racist pronouncement for example. Adding up to that, every society has it own rules vis-à-vis respect due to the religious sphere and cultural rights. Within this legal framework, it is expected from everyone to make a reasonable use of his freedom of expression while keeping in mind the sensitivities that exist in his society. European societies have changed, it now includes muslim sensitivity: the point is not to impose laws but simply to wisely open oneself to this new sensitivity. Transforming this controversy into a tug-of-war between the votaries of the right of saying anything and « the religious » is stupid and dangerous.




­ – What remedies do you suggest to combat this type of “cultural” crisis?



-­ That people on both sides of the line of divide take some distance from their initial position. That we understand that we have more things in common than unreconcilable differences. A large majority among us cherishes freedom of expression, diversity and dialogue: let us establish these principles while keeping in mind that we should, in all circumstances, remain reasonable in the affirmation of what we are and what we believe in.




-­ But the wall of misunderstanding now standing between Westerners and muslims seem to confirm Huntington’s thesis that we are in the midst of a civilisational shock…




­- Saying and repeating that will lead us to give credence (literally : to incarnate, give body – “donner corps”) to this prophecy of doom. No, we are not there. This is not the split between two worlds but two splits within the two worlds, between, on the one hand, those who try to get out of their own centre, pay attention to the other one’s point of view and engage into a critical and constructive dialogue and, on the other hand, those who define themselves in opposition to the other one and entertain a binary vision of the world.




­- Will the cartoons controversy have far-reaching consequences on the relations between muslims and westerners?



-­ Yes, of course, and everyone feels it. The situation is getting out of hand and one may have the impression that we are being swayed by a blind madness which, ultimately, will play in the extremists hands. On the right, with the pronouncements about the muslims being “unintegrable” and foster various fears. On the other hand, with the radical muslims who shall not fail to try prove that the West has an axe to grind with Islam when it supports the right of presenting their prophet with a bomb-shaped turban. So we neither have the right to remain silent in front of these excesses nor the right to add up in terms of provocations that are as stupid as they are naughty (“méchantes”).




-­ European states seem at a loss as regards the way to liaise with Islam. Should they have more concertation for that matter ?



-­ It is very difficult for them to reach a common attitude. Mentalities and approaches are different in Switzerland, England, Denmark or France. One can feel a malaise everywhere but this shall not be resolved if we continue to insist on the existence of two monolithic entities. Many Westerners are ill at ease and feel that we are, to no purpose, going too far. The same feeling is experiences by muslims : these minds must meet.




-­ The problem is not only a European one. You are considered a “translator” (“un passeur”, could also be a “bridge-builder”) between moderate and fundamentalist veins of islam, also between Islam and the West. Is there not a need for an internal debate within islam ? The catholics, the protestants have this debate. Why not islam ?




-­ I try to establish a reasonable and rational communication between two universes which are becoming more and more deaf to one another’s voices. On the other hand, yes, the muslim world needs to question itself on its principles and the required reforms, but this must be done from within, in a free and autonomous way, not under pressures from the West, as if the latter were to mould a more fitting Islam. We need a reform that goes along freedom and autonomy.




-­ To conclude, would you be shocked by a satirical cartoon presenting Jesus?



-­ Shocked? No, I got used to it but this does not please me. I’ll express my dissatisfaction and I’ll get along my way. I like to laugh and smile but not of anything whatsoever.

ARTICLES CONNEXESPLUS DE L'AUTEUR

4 Commentaires

  1. Un vrai cinquième colonne
    Le ministre danois d’intégration Rikke Hvilshøj a décidé de laisser tomber le dialogue avec les Imams musulmans au Danemark en raison de leur rôle néfaste et leur incitation dans l’affaire de carricatures.

    Des mensonges Arabes..que des mensonges

    Un Imam Palestinien accordé refuge au Danemark a commencé les troubles
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/07/wcart07.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/07/ixnewstop.html

    Mr Abu Laban, un imam 60-year-old d’origine palestinienne, a également crédité les stations de télévision de “Salafist” de ligne dure basées en Arabie Saoudite et les Emirats Arabes Unis, tels qu’Al-Majd et Iqra, avec une “grande influence” en fomentant le boycott de commerce.”Ils ont appelés pour des sanctions du boycott rapides et décisives. Les musulmans ont répondu, et ils ont trouvée une bonne chance de montrer leur amour du prophète. Et la quantité si grande du commerce danois [dans la région] l’écho ait été rapidement entendue au Danemark.
    “C’était une chose de bases, bien que personne ne nie le rôle des mosquées. Ils ont des haut-parleurs, et le peuple écoute.”

    M. Abu Laban a également essayé de mener une délégation au Qatar, à rencontrer Yusuf Al-Qaradawi influent ecclésiastique musulman, dont les fatwas, ou les actes religieux, sont considérés par beaucoup comme responsable pour les acte extrémistes. Abu Laban affirme que la réunion a été convoquée mais ils a nié que M. Al-Qaradawi était la main cachée derrière les protestations, en dépit de l’appel de Qardawi pour “un jour global de colère” comme proteste contre les dessins. “L’idée d’un esprit supérieure est très ennuyante à moi,” M. Abu Laban se plaigné.

    La réputation de M. Abu Laban’s est au niveau le plus bas parmi beaucoup de Danois, après qu’il ait condamné le boycott du consommateur à la télévision danoise, mais ait dit le contraire au canal Al-Jazeera, qu’il était “heureux” à ce sujet. Sa conduite a mené M. Rasmussen à se plaindre au sujet des “personnes parlant avec deux langues”.

  2. It is important for people in the West to realize how the “Danish cartoon apoplexy” was started. Contrary to the impression left by most mainstream media, most of the Muslim world does not read Danish, store Danish flags in their closets, or have sea-mail subscriptions to all the Danish provincial newspapers. Everything they needed to riot was supplied, including a large volume of hateful lies.

    Riots seldom, perhaps never happen spontaneously, in the Muslim world, or in ours for that matter. You need people committed to setting the bold example — to pitching the first rock through the first window. And as we were reminded by the recent riots in France, it takes organization to keep a riot going. Witness the young men on scooters with cellphones, scouting fresh streets for the vandals to attack.

    On Monday morning, the Wall Street Journal fleshed out what Danish media and the interested blogosphere had been uncovering through last week: the true history of how the international riots were organized and seeded.

    The cartoons were nearly ignored when they first appeared: there was one death threat from a Muslim immigrant, but police determined the man was mentally ill. Trouble began stirring when imams called attention to the cartoons, with incendiary sermons in Danish mosques. An imam in Aarhus publicly reminded the editor of Jyllands-Posten of what had happened to the Dutch filmmaker, Theo Van Gogh. But even that could have blown over.

    From several sources, we now know that word of the cartoons was then carried systematically through the Muslim world — to principal mosques, madrasahs, and government offices starting in Egypt. This was done by delegations sent by Ahmed Abu-Laban, the Saudi-supported Imam of Copenhagen. And in addition to the dozen cartoons that had actually appeared in that obscure provincial newspaper — most fairly innocent, and one actually satirizing opposition to Islam — the delegations’ “media kits” included as many as 30 graphics that had never appeared, and by their nature would never appear, in a Western mainstream newspaper. For instance, a photo of a man dressed as a pig, over the caption, “This is the real Mohammad.”

    The fake pictures not only outnumbered the real ones, they were much nastier. Many were in the style of anti-Semitic cartoons that appear frequently in Arab papers, but turned around to target Muslims instead of Jews. And the covering letter, which I have read in translation, was full of outrageous lies about events in Denmark, and misrepresentations of what had been said by Danish journalists and politicians.

    It is this document, and not any copy of Jyllands-Posten from Sept. 30th, 2005, that is at the root of the Muslim riots, the Saudi-sponsored pan-Arab boycott of Danish goods, and various fatwas and other acts that put Danes and other Europeans, who had never previously heard of Jyllands-Posten, in peril for their lives.

    That the first violent acts were performed in Gaza and Damascus, under the oversight of Hamas and the Syrian Baath party, respectively, speaks volumes. That the Danish embassy in Beirut was torched just after the one in Damascus, says more. Lebanese police arrested nearly 200 provocateurs, most of them Palestinians and Syrian nationals. These people also tried to start a rampage through the whole upscale Maronite (Levantine Catholic) neighbourhood that is also Beirut’s embassy quarter, by pitching rocks into random windows, and leading anti-Christian chants.

    The barometer is still falling. Local Islamists have now seized upon the issue to launch more riots in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia. Across Europe, attempts are being made to rekindle the sort of thing we saw in France. And apologies are being demanded, that would be very foolish to give.

    For the whole point of this exercise is to enhance the power and prestige of radical Islam, over the great number of Muslims who have not been looking for trouble. Simply by recognizing the least reasonable Muslim voices as the legitimate representatives of Islam, terrible damage is done to moderate interests.

    It is utterly wrong to appease an Abu-Laban. Here is a man who gave an interview on Danish television, pretending great distress, and condemning the excesses of the international campaign against Danish persons, property, and products. But he also gave an interview to Al-Jazeera, in Arabic, cheerfully congratulating the world’s Muslims on putting a scare into the Danes, and gloating over the success of the boycott. Alas for him, the Danish television network, DR, has now shown excerpts from the Al-Jazeera interview, translated into Danish.

    This has to be spelled out very plainly to people in the West who don’t get it, including ignorant scribes in the U.S. State Department, the British Foreign Office, and the Vatican, who have added their official voices in condemnation of those irrelevant Danish cartoons.

    Every time we refuse a radical Muslim demand, by sticking to our sound Western principles, we strengthen reasonable Muslims against the fanatics. Every time we relent, we strengthen the fanatics.

  3. A direct link to the video of this debate on youtube : [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0utxeRJpIg->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0utxeRJpIg]

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