Tariq Ramadan is a leading Muslim spokesman and he is on a speaking tour of New Zealand and Australia.
Things went smoothly over here, but in Australia, a former Howard government advisor said he should be kept under close surveillance.
30,000 Muslims live and pray in New Zealand. Tariq Ramadan says they are right to maintain their religious ways, but must adapt to the kiwi way of life.
That means accepting same sex marriage, divorce, and others customs that may not fit in with their own beliefs.
“You have to accept the laws of the country so there is no problem here, that the people can marry and now as a religious man or woman you can say ‘I’m not promoting it but I respect the people and this is the starting point of our mutual respect’,” Mr Ramadan said. “You may not like what the people are doing, but you respect who they are. People don’t like that I am praying five times a day, but what I am asking is for them not to like it, but to respect me.”
But respect has been noticeably absent in recent times. The July 7 attacks in London were followed up with revenge attacks on mosques in New Zealand.
Tariq Ramadan has been on a crusade ever since September 11 to bring Islam and the west closer.
“Let us live together, to come together, to know each other,” Mr Ramadan said. “Don’t wait for the next catastrophe to do something.”
The heavyweight Islamic thinker has just been in New Zealand advocating his "middle way"
A devout Muslim, who dresses in impressive suits, he has the face of a modern Islam.
“We may be unhappy, I’m unhappy with the American policy, the us policy in the middle east, but we have to challenge this through democratic processes not to kill people,” Mr Ramadan said. “It’s not to kill here or the citizens in the US streets or the UK streets and to say this is the way we are liberating Muslims, so we have to be very clear on that. Anything could happen at anytime. So we have to come together and be able to say we are citizens. There is trust, between us, we are building a future together in New Zealand, as in the states.”
Source : TV3
Salaam Brother
Thanks for the article .Words of wisdom are words of love and as Allah put us in this earth and no where else itis logical that we have to live
v together.Allah said as well to the Prophet (pbuh) that form the message that he is send to guide people he is not their guardian nor that he has to force anyone but just to pass on the message to mankind so for those who wants to follow him.Allah know best .Thanks again.But primary like you said we have to know how to live together despite our diferences but to love in my believe it is important and if we start to get closer to Allah and no one else so to get His help of understanding and droping the evil,bad thoughts and instead fullfil our heart intellec with good words then our life will be more easier and love will blossom .In what i understood by asking Allah to help me to understand the Coran and the world that we are living in is that Allah love us but we don’t know how to love Him and appreciate the Lord which will be fatal in the day o jugment But Allah knows Best .May Allah helps us,Guide us more and more ,may He forgive us.
Salaam
Thanks Professor Ramadan for visiting our beautiful peace loving country- New Zealand and inspiring us with your words of generosity. You always continue to show the true wisdom of Islam! And have always been a role model for devoted Muslims like us who are inclined to share a peaceful life with our fellow citizens and the world at large. Your courage and wisdom surely creates path to a better world where people can live together while respecting our differences. You are truly a much needed voice for today’s globalised world! May God bless you and uplift your spirit and wisdom for generations to come!
I think what Mr. Ramadan is trying to do is to create common understanding and bring peace among Muslims and non Muslims. However, since day one from the time of our beloved prophet Mohammed Peace and blessing up on him we have the same problem what we are seeing today. We Muslims are not forcing any one to follow Islam we said just leave us alone let’s us practice our religion I know Islam is the challenge for West and East because we do not support adultery, alcohol, gambling, interest the list goes on therefore we are the challenge to the west not we are forcing them to accept Islam if we go back and read history we Muslims are the must contributor for the civilization and peace loving, caring and so on. I don’t see that we tried to change any western law they are the one try to change our Qurnic law. Finally, let’s come to the comment term and work with what we agree and mined our on religion and business.