PARIS,
October 19 (IslamOnline.net) – Swiss Muslim intellectual Tariq
Ramadan is at the center of a vile campaign by rightist French
magazines and newspapers, which accuse him of spearheading what they
called the political Islam drive in Europe.
Seeking
to blemish his reputation after he had been catapulted into the
limelight as a paradigm for moderate Muslims, L’Express
magazine ran a front-page photo of Ramadan titled, “The man who
wants to establish Islamism in France”.
The
ferocious attack came hard on the heels of Ramadan’s success in
grabbing the attention of the third round of the European Social
Forum, which concluded on October 17.
Ramadan
took part in three fringe symposiums, calling on Muslims in Europe to
fully integrate into their societies, stop casting in the victim mould
and get rid of the minority complex.
L’Express
further published excerpts from
Ramadan’s lectures and seminars recorded on audio tapes, branding
them as an outspoken call for Islamizing French society.
It
also quoted Ramadan as encouraging Muslims to respect European
constitutions so long as they were in line with Islam.
“It
means that Ramadan has no respect for European constitutions,” the
magazine said.
The
magazine wondered how “such a handsome Muslim guy managed to win the
hearts and minds of people in French suburbs and got much media
attention”.
"Brother
Tariq"
The
“Ramadan file” in L’Express also coincides with the release of a
new book criticizing the famed Muslim figure as a
“fundamentalist”.
In
her book entitled "Brother Tariq", Caroline Forest attacked
what she called Ramadan’s bids to suppress public freedoms.
“The
power of Ramadan lies in the fact that he doesn’t leave the
impression of being a fundamentalist,” Forest told L’Express.
“Nobody
is more capable of Islamizing French society and gaining ground for
fundamentalism than Ramadan.”
She
further played on Ramadan’s ancestry as the grandson of the founder
of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan Al-Banna.
Quizzed
on his soaring popularity among the Anti-Globalization Movement and
the Leftists, the writer dodged the question, saying Ramadan got much
sympathy when he was denied a French visa in 1995 by the then interior
minister.
No
Comment
Ramadan,
rated by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential
people in the world, only responded with the title of a new book by a
French researcher: “Should Tariq Ramadan be afraid of?”
The
41-year-old Muslim Ramadan is known for his calls on Muslims in the
West is to avoid standing on a defensive line and to present Islam as
a universal message.
He
