Ramadan, Tariq 1962–

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Ramadan, Tariq 1962–

PERSONAL:

Born 1962, in Switzerland; son of Said Ramadan; married. Education: University of Geneva, M.A., Ph.D.; attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Office-39 rue de la boulangerie 93200 Saint-Denis, Paris, France; European Studies Centre, St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, 70 Woodstock Rd., Oxford OX2 6JF, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Professor and writer. University of Oxford, St. Antony's College, Oxford, England, and Lokahi Foundation, London, England, visiting fellow, 2005-06, senior research fellow, 2006—. Visiting professor at Erasmus University, Holland.

WRITINGS:

Les Musulmans dans la laïcité: responsabilités et droits des musulmans dans les sociétés occidentales, Tawhid (Lyon, France), 1994, 3rd edition 2000.

Islam, le face á face des civilisations, Quel projet pour quelle modernité?, Les Deux Rives (Lyon, France), 1995, 4th edition 2001.

Aux sources du renouveau musulman, un siècle de réformisme islamique, Bayard Editions/Centurion (Paris, France), 1998, Tawhid (Lyon, France) 2001.

Muslims in France, Islamic Foundation (Leicester, England), 1999.

To Be a European Muslim, Islamic Foundation (Leicester, England), 1999.

Entre l'homme et son coeur, Tawhid (Lyon, France), 2000.

Islam, The West and the Challenges of Modernity, Islamic Foundation (Leicester, England), 2000, 2nd edition 2004.

(With Alain Gresh) L'Islam en questions, Actes Sud (Paris, France), 2000, Actes Sud (Babel, France), 2002.

Dar ash-shahada, l'Occident, espace du témoignage, Tawhid (Lyon, France), 2002.

De l'Islam, Tawhid (Lyon, France), 2002.

Jihad, violence guerre et paix en islam, Tawhid (Lyon, France), 2002.

La foi, la voie, la résistance, Tawhid (Lyon, France), 2002.

Musulmans d'Occident, construire et contribuer, Tawhid (Lyon, France), 2002.

Globalisation, Muslim Resistances, Tawid (Paris, France), 2003.

Les Musulmans d'Occident et l'avenir de l'Islam, Actes Sud (Paris, France), 2003, translation published as Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Muhammad: vie du prophète: les enseignements spirituels et contemporains, Presses du Chatelet (Paris, France), 2006, translation published as In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2007, also published as The Messenger: The Meaning of the Life of Muhammad, Penguin (London, England), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Péril islamiste?, by Alain Gresh, Complexe (Brussels, Belgium), 1995; La tolérance ou la liberté? Les leçons de Voltaire et de Condorcet, by Claude-Jean Lenoir, Complexe (Brussels, Belgium), 1997; Islam, Modernism and the West, edited by Gema Martin Munoz, I.B. Tauris (London, England), 1999; La spiritualité, un défi pour notre socieété, with Michel Bertrand, Michel Morneau, Luc Pareydt, Tawhid and Réveils (Lyon, France), 2000; La Méditerranée, Frontières et passages, by Thierry Fabre, Actes Sud (Babel, France), 1999; L'irrationnel, menace ou nécessité?, Le Monde, Le Seuil (Paris, France), 1999; ILa non-violence? Des images idéales à l'épreuve du réel, Féd. Nationales des enseignants de yoga, Dervy (Paris, France), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tariq Ramadan is an academic who has contributed to the worldwide debate concerning Muslims in the West and the Islamic revival in the Muslim world. In addition to social justice and dialogue, Ramadan—predicted by the editors at Time magazine to be one of the twenty-first century's most influential people—proposes a reconciliation between European Muslims and European lifestyles. "We need to separate Islamic principles from their cultures of origin and anchor them in the cultural reality of Western Europe," the author told Nicholas Le Quesne in an interview for Time Online. The author went on to note: "I can incorporate everything that's not opposed to my religion into my identity, and that's a revolution." Ramadan is viewed as a controversial figure by some observers, who also accuse him of anti-Semitism. Ramadan's visa to the U.S. was revoked in 2004, preventing him from accepting a professorship at the University of Notre Dame.

The author has written several books focusing on Islam, Muslims, and the West. For example, in his 2004 book, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, Ramadan, according to a contributor to the Economist, provides a "mix of orthodox and radical ideas, mingling social activism, religious tolerance and feminism with close adherence to Muslim tradition."

In In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, the author focuses on the teachings of the prophet of Islam. "The purpose of the book was not to correct or to come with new revelations about his life," the author told Steve Paulson in an interview for Salon.com. "It's really a rereading of his life, stressing two dimensions. The first one is spiritual. We can extract from his life the spiritual lessons for now and forever. And the second dimension is about contemporary lessons as to our relationships with our neighbor, with nature, with people from other religions. So it's really to come back to the teachings, the lessons and the meditations."

"For the non-Muslim reader the book offers a window onto a classic Islamic theme, while at the same time wrestling with urgent contemporary issues," wrote Richard McGregor in the Christian Century. "The book will also be welcomed among thoughtful Muslims, both in the West and the Islamic world, as an articulate progressive reading of a very traditional story." A Publishers Weekly contributor referred to In the Footsteps of the Prophet as an "excellent, engaging book" and also noted that the author "ably demonstrates why Muhammad is a spiritual paragon to the followers of Islam." Writing in the Library Journal, Sandra Collins commented: "Thoughtful and accessible, this book offers much of interest to those looking for a relatively uncritical spiritual discussion."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Favrot, Lionel, Tariq Ramadan devoile, Lyon Mag' Hors Serie (Lyon, France), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Biography, summer, 2007, Stephanie Giry, review of In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad.

Christian Century, May 29, 2007, Richard McGregor, review of In the Footsteps of the Prophet, p. 37; August 21, 2007, "European Muslim: The Multiple Identity of Tariq Ramadan," p. 30.

Commentary, June, 2007, David Warren, "A Kinder, Gentler Islam?," p. 72.

Economist, March 6, 2004, "The Provoker; a Muslim Philosopher in Europe," p. 46.

Foreign Policy, November-December, 2004, "Who's Afraid of Tariq Ramadan?," p. 20.

Library Journal, March 15, 2007, Sandra Collins, review of In the Footsteps of the Prophet, p. 77.

Middle East Quarterly, summer, 2005, Isabelle Tahar Miller, "Tariq Ramadan Devoile."

National Catholic Reporter, January 7, 2005, "Tariq Ramadan," p. 4.

New Statesman, June 21, 2004, Andrew Hussey, "Tariq Ramadan: Some Call Him ‘the Most Dangerous Man in Europe,’ Others ‘the Martin Luther of Islam.’ Just How Sinister Is He?," p. 32; September 12, 2005, "Not a Fanatic after All? The Sun Thinks He's Dangerous and the US Won't Let Him In, but He Is Welcome at Oxford and the Home Office Wants Him as an Adviser. Andrew Hussey Interviews the Muslim Thinker Tariq Ramadan," p. 16.

New York Times, February 4, 2007, Ian Buruma, "Tariq Ramadan Has an Identity Issue."

Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2006, review of In the Footsteps of the Prophet, p. 47.

Tikkun, July-August, 2007, "Is Tariq Ramadan Too Beautiful to Be True?," p. 23.

Time, April 26, 2004, Bruce Crumley, "Tariq Ramadan: Modernist or Extremist?," p. 116.

Time International, September 6, 2004, Elaine Shannon and Vivienne Walt, "Sins of the Grandfather," p. 15.