In a controversial move, the Obama administration has decided to lift Tariq Ramadan’s ban from the United States. Who is Tariq Ramadan? By birth, he is the grandson of Hassan al Banna – the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). By word and deed, he is today a leading member of the European branch of the MB.
The MB is the mother organization for some of the terrorist groups that became part of al Qaeda’s core, including Ayman al Zawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Osama bin Laden himself was first wooed to the dark side by Muslim Brothers teaching in Saudi Arabia. The MB has also spawned other hardcore jihadist organizations, including Hamas. While the MB’s descendents have publicly disagreed over tactics at times (for example, Zawahiri has taken issue with Hamas’s participation in Palestinian elections), they still share the same long-term strategic vision: the re-establishment of an Islamic Caliphate capable of ruling the Muslim world and challenging the West.
And that is what Tariq Ramadan believes in too. At the Counterterrorism Blog and on his own website, Douglas Farah explains:
As noted in this extensive review of "Brother Tarik: The Doublespeak of Tarik Ramadan," by French journalist Caroline Fourest, the definitive look at Ramadan's cannon, he is intent on saying one thing to Western audiences while something else to his followers. They often do not match up.
This is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is eager to use the freedoms that would never exist under the caliphate is so desires to create, in order to promote its totalitarian vision. It demands the right to be heard while being unequivocal in its unwillingness to view as equal anyone who does not embrace its view radical Islamism. While it is willing to use the democratic process to achieve its goals, often putting it at odds with militantly violent groups such as al Qaeda, in the end the Brotherhood and Osama bin Laden share an identical vision of what the world should look like under Allah's rule.
In keeping with this, Ramadan's choice of language is also interesting (al Qaeda attacks are "interventions," jihad is entirely peaceful, Anwar Sadat was not assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood but "executed," etc.) His numerous lies have been exposed (sic) exposed, his refusal to condemn stoning as a death sentence well documented and his convenient belief that only Muslims can understand the Koran has been rehashed.
Stephen Schwartz also made a persuasive case for upholding the ban on Ramadan last year.
For more on Ramadan, visit the Investigative Project's website.
Thomas Joscelyn is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
