“Anti-Semitism is a key issue pushing us into the extreme,” Sarkozy

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, November 22 (IslamOnline.net) – French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Islamic intellectual Tariq Ramadan locked horns over sensitive issues such as hijab and anti-Semitism, in a live 100-minute exciting, yet fierce debate leaving seven million viewers glued to the national TV channel France 2.

Sarkozy dared Ramadan, well known and respected to Muslims, especially to the alienated youth in France's decrepit suburban housing estates, to ask Muslim women to take off their hijab for a bandana.

“If you tender a request to Muslim female students clad in hijab to take it off, I will consider you one of those encouraging moderate Islam and Muslims’ integration into our society,” Sarkozy said defiantly.

But Ramadan turned down the live request, asking instead for the French government to stick to 1905 law which guarantees freedom to wear the Islamic headwear.

A furious Sarkozy accused Ramadan of adopting double standards, citing the Swiss-born Egyptian-educated preacher had earlier given a green light for men to beat their wives and his brother also praised the practice of stoning.

Stoning to death for adultery and mutilation for theft are part of huddud, termed as deterrent punishments under the Islamic penal code.

Ramadan, a grandson of founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt Hassan al-Banna, vehemently denied the charge, but declined to be drawn to a to-the-point comment.

“My position over the issue of huddud is still of a minority-adopted opinion in the Islamic world,” said the 41-year-old Ramadan.

Known for his calls for an open Islam that respects Europe's secular society, the Islamic thinker set it clear that he is by no means standing by practicing violence against women.

‘Internal Rules’

Seeing no need for having a law banning hijab enacted, the French minister did rather prefer “internal rules” for every school to abide by in this respect.

“I hope there would be these rules, even though issuing a law is not an impossible option,” the French Minister said in response to a viewer’s request.

“Hijab-clad students hit the number of 1,250 last year. And after efforts carried by the schools, only four were expelled from some 20 hard cases,” he said.

But the French official did not stop short of voicing fears that such girls could leave for Islamic schools, “something which could whip up sectarianism in the French society”.

Muslims, whose number is estimated at around 5.8 million, hail from several African and Asian countries, have been stoked by a large national debate on whether to enact a law banning hijab or no in this rigidly-secular country.

But Sarkozy called on Muslims to further integrate in society, as are what he said capable of producing good civil servants, researchers, professors.

Sarkozy promised that a person of Muslim origin is to be appointed city governor “in the near future”. He gave no further details.

No Apology

In the meantime, Ramadan refused to apologize for an earlier article in which he accused France's Jewish intellectuals of having a "sectarian attitude" - of siding with Israel out of religious loyalty, thus stifling debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Anti-Semitism is a key issue pushing us into the extreme. I do not like you to have written such an article, which should have been written with your mind, and not with your sectarian affiliations,” Sarkozy charged, with a mixed harsh lamentable tone.

Ramadan named in the article some of the high-profile Jewish writers in the French media, such as Andre Glucksmann, Bernard-Henri Levy, Alexandre Adler and Alain Finkielkraut, all of whom are of Jewish origin and have spoken out in favor of Israel in its policy towards the Palestinians.

Ramadan’s comments have drawn fury among France’s Jewish movements and other officials, tarring him with anti-Semitism and stirring up racial hatred.

For Sarkozy, it is a mistake requiring apology.

“When you accuse Levy of having a sectarian attitude of thinking for example, you are not misunderstanding things, the appropriate word is that you are rather mistaken,” the French Minister said.

Ramadan declined, saying he is one of those few people who had been declared their opposition to anti-Semitism.

The Islamic scholar also voiced his opposition to the simultaneous attacks against Jewish synagogues in Istanbul Saturday, November 15, leaving more than 25 killed and 300 others injured.

“If there is anti-Semitism in France that should be condemned, there is also racism against Arabs, Muslims and Black that has to be addressed on equal basis,” he said.

He cited French President Jacques Chirac’s assurances that any attacks against a Jew is sweepingly an attack against all citizens of France, and called on Sarkozy to make a similar statement on any aggression against Muslims or Arabs.

The controversy has given Ramadan a huge burst of publicity, with the centre-left daily giving him prominent space to air his views.

Ramadan left French leftwingers squabbling over his attendance of the European Social Forum (ESF), one of the biggest leftwing gatherings in years,

Also To His Defense

“There is also racism against Arabs, Muslims and Blacks,” Ramadan

Several political parties boycotted his appearance, which was loudly applauded by an audience of a thousand. Some political leaders attended reluctantly; others rose to his defense, saying the accusations were bogus.

But many others stood to his defense.

"We believe that the accusations against Tarek Ramadan are unfounded," said Pierre Khalfa, member of the ESF's organizational secretariat was quoted by the New Zealand Herald as saying.

She said if the organizers had the slightest belief that he could be anti-Semitic, he would not have been invited to speak in the first place.

"We can disagree with him on many things. His view of the world is very much determined by religion. It's not the same as mine. I am secular and an atheist and I am against any kind of sectarianism. But sectarianism and racism are not the same thing," said Khalfa.

Some French analysts attributed such campaigns to Ramadan’s popularity among young Muslims across Europe, while others said the European understanding of Islam, as preached by Ramadan, has eliminated all previous negative stereotypes about the religion.

Ramadan had earlier told IslamOnline.net audience in a live dialogue that the most difficult challenge facing Muslims in the West is to avoid standing on a defensive and to present Islam as a universal message.