Tariq Ramadan talks the talk

The Swiss-born grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood was the recent subject of an interview in the WaPo (from Newsweek) religion section, where he discussed Islamophobia, assimilation, and why Bush might have denied him a Visa:

Caryle Murphy: How do you feel about the United States refusing to give you a visa?

Tariq Ramadan: My feeling is really it has to do with a specific administration not willing to engage in debates and critical discussions. Because for years I have been visiting the States, talking to people. I made my statements clear. I even went to speak at the State Department and all the people knew exactly…what I was saying, that I was critical towards the American policy in the Middle East: The unilateral support of Israel or the war in Iraq, which in my view was wrong and illegal...

Such unchallenged notions continued through the interview, rendering it a game of underhanded softball. Perhaps the readers would have benefitted by hearing answers to some of these assertions from Daniel Pipes, who has his own explaination of why Mr. Ramadan was denied entry into the States (proving that tough immigration decisions occasionally still occur).

Dr. Ramadan apparently has a warm and fuzzy way with words, but the proof is what he says in the Mosque. Such was posed to him in an interview by Foreign Policy magazine, and here's how he responded:

FP: Fouad Ajami, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, argues that you think it is acceptable to lie to non-Muslims about your true intentions. How do you react to that?

TR: You know, this is exactly the opposite [of what] I have been saying for the last 18 years to Muslims and non-Muslims. I’m always saying, “Just please have one word in the mosque, one word, and when you go out of the mosque, [stick with that] one word.” When he says that I lie, let him come with evidence…. It’s just allegations repeated and repeated…. Fouad Ajami is coming with very, very old French criticism, without evidences and just spreading suspicion about me because I am the grandson of [Muslim Brotherhood founder] Hassan al-Banna.

Ramadan seems to gingerly look down his nose at people in America for their "Islamophobia" as if recent events don't warrant at least some suspicion from the masses. The reporters didn't bother to point out we have the best track record of any nation on earth regarding assimilation, and to say any less is insulting.

It's a safe bet to say that citizens here don't care for being lectured about how we deal with our natural suspicion of Middle Easterners after the hoax perpetrated on us by Atta and company before 9/11. This might be doubly true when such lecturing comes from those who may themselves secretly hold the same destructive ambitions. We just don't know anymore, and it's not our faults.

Ramadan could have at least bridged the gap by pointing out how Bush was the first to use the term "religion of peace" and only used "Islamofascists" in an effort to separate out the terrorists from the rest. It's not as if he condemned all 1.5 billion.

It's also too bad they couldn't have squeezed in a question about the movie "Obsession". Strangely, the left reacts to this movie in the very same knee-jerk manner they did with "The Path to 9/11". Perhaps the reason is that anything seen as illustrating irrational Muslim hate towards the west may in some way tear down the mountain of work done during the past five years to depict the president as the world's one true divider. All the clips used in Obsession were taken from middle eastern TV and have been available on the web for years. It doesn't mean all Muslims think this way, but some do. Conversely, almost nobody in Christianity today harbors similar notions of violence as a means to a conversion.

But Ramadan's message of peace is certainly something conservatives (and some liberals) have been calling for since 9/11 from Muslim leaders, so we run the risk of hypocrisy by bashing. Any fool knows the only way to avoid Armegeddon will eventually involve dialogue, but not empty dialogue. As Zacarious Moussaoui once said, "it's permitted to lie for jihad". Excuse us while we get a background check.

It's possible Mr. Ramadan's banning from the US might have had more to do with his power as a speaker and stated ties to those in the black Muslim community here than those donations to Hamas charities. Judge for yourself. For me, any notion of a connection to Hassan al-Turabi would have been enough.

UPDATE 11/19
After a couple of glances I realized the pic was probably photoshopped. Such was not the intent here, so it was changed.