The New York Times’ Love Affair with Tariq Ramadan
By Sam Schneider | January 15th, 2008It’s official: the Gray Lady has consummated her romance with Tariq Ramadan, political Islam’s emissary to the West and, perhaps more importantly, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna. After a string of puff pieces, flattering reviews, and generally adulatory notices, the Book Review has opened her pages to Ramadan’s own writings. Titled “Reading the Koran,” this screed might better be understood as “Reading the Koran Without Sweating the Scary/Violent Stuff.”
Try this excerpt on for size:
The Koran is a book for both heart and mind. In nearness to it, a woman or a man who possesses a spark of faith knows the path to follow, knows her or his own inadequacies. No sheik is needed, no wise man, no confidant. Ultimately, the heart knows. This was what the Prophet answered when he was asked about moral feelings. In the light of the Book, he said, “Inquire of your heart.” And should our intelligence stray into the complexities of the different levels of reading, from applied ethics to the rules of practice, we must never forget to clothe ourselves in the intellectual modesty that alone can reveal the secrets of the Text.
Should your mind stray, should you ponder violent jihad, lapidation or any of those less than savory Koranic precepts - well - step back, take a deep breath and trade those unruly notions for ‘intellectual modesty’. Inquire of your heart, man. God forbid one considers the moral problems of the Koran.
If you haven’t yet read it (Ramadan’s piece, that is) you might want to forgo it for Hitch’s take on Mr. Ramadan’s slippery doublespeak. Or better, have a look at Paul Berman’s excellent TNR piece: “Who’s Afraid of Tariq Ramadan”.
But why stop there? Encounter’s newest addition, Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan by the fiery Caroline Fourest, is a far more penetrating analysis of the Islamist wunderkind. Best of all, you can purchase it on this very site!
