Tariq Ramadan is scheduled to give a lecture in Montreal that will draw a parallel between the Arab spring that led the Muslim Brotherhood to power in many Arab countries and the so-called “Maple spring” in Quebec. The “Maple spring” refers to the large-scale opposition movement against an increase of tuition fees that occurred in Quebec in the spring of 2012.
Version française ICI
Proud Muslims Convention
Sponsors: Islamic Relief Canada, a coalition of Edmonton mosques and CTV
Montreal / September 3, 2012
Democracy stronger than the crisis : From the Arab spring to the Maple spring
(La démocratie à l’épreuve de la crise : du printemps arabe au printemps érable)
Sponsors: Muslim Association of Canada and Muslim Presence
During the Labour Day weekend, Tariq Ramadan will take part in two conferences in Edmonton and Montreal. Both are being organized by the Muslim Brotherhood network in Canada. Their programs confirm the political ambitions of the Brotherhood in Canada.
The organizers of the Proud Muslims Convention in Edmonton are presenting the event as the first edition of a conference that they plan to hold on a yearly basis in Alberta’s capital. The convention described as “non religious” on the event’s website aims at “engag(ing) Canadian Muslim youth into creating social and economic projects.” Islamic Relief Canada and a coalition of Edmonton mosques (Inter Masajid Shura Council) are sponsoring the event. CTV is also involved in the affair.
In July 2010, Islamic Relief Canada sponsored the participation of Islamist Zakir Naik in the Journey of Faith conference in Toronto. At the time, Naik was barred from entering Canada by Canadian authorities.
On June 22, 2010, the Toronto Star reported that preacher Zakir Naik has been quoted as saying: “If (Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden) is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him” and “If he (bin Laden) is terrorizing the terrorists, if he is terrorizing America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, every Muslim should be a terrorist.”
In his videos, Naik also advocates for the killing of homosexuals and Muslims who leave Islam. He also lays out rules on how a Muslim man can beat his wife.
GMBDR gave more information about Islamic Relief Canada when the organization sponsored another meeting in Montreal in August 2010.
Sponsors of the 2012 Proud Muslims Convention in Edmonton
In Montreal, Tariq Ramadan is scheduled to give a speech that will draw a parallel between the Arab spring that led the Muslim Brotherhood to power in many Arab countries and the so-called “Maple spring” in Quebec. The “Maple spring” refers to the large-scale opposition movement against an increase of tuition fees that occurred in Quebec in the spring of 2012.
Point de Bascule (July 16, 2012): Bill 78: Montreal pro-Hamas organizer Ehab Lotayef denounces Quebec government’s “fascist laws”
Tasha Kheiriddin (National Post – May 10, 2012): Democracy + entitlement = mob rule
George Jonas (National Post – June 6, 2012): Quebec students don’t want free tuition, just someone else to pay it
On its own website, MAC, the main sponsor of the Montreal event, states that its “modern roots can be traced to the Islamic revival of the early twentieth century, culminating in the movement of the Muslim Brotherhood.” MAC adds that it “adopts and strives to implement Islam, as embodied in the Qur’an, and the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and as understood in its contemporary context by the late Imam, Hassan Albanna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
On the poster of the Montreal event, MAC’s new motto appears under its logo: “A revolution in Islamic work in Canada.”
Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan’s important role within the Global Muslim Brotherhood was confirmed once more in January 2012 when he was chosen to lead a Qatar-based research institute specializing in sharia. Upon the launch of the new organization, Ramadan was surrounded by numerous MB leaders including Youssef Qaradawi and Mustafa Ceric.
In July 2011 in Dallas, Ramadan told a crowd of supporters that “It should be us, with our understanding of Islam, our principles, colonizing positively the United States of America.”
In an interview given to Egypt Today in October 2004, Tariq Ramadan criticized Muslim leaders operating in Canada for their “lack of creativity.” He stated that it had been a mistake to openly call for the implementation of sharia in Canada instead of pushing for accommodations within the current Canadian legal framework. Ramadan did not condemn sharia but criticized the method that was applied to implement it in Canada:
The Muslims in Canada’s battle to set up shariah courts to settle domestic disputes is another example of lack of creativity. Within the normative law in Canada, they have huge latitude for Muslims to propose an Islamic contract. These courts are not necessary; all they do is stress the fact that Muslims have specific laws and for the time being this is not how we want to be perceived. We need to show that our way of thinking is universal, that we can live with the law and there is no contradiction.
It’s more useful for Muslims to examine the legal framework they have in Canada, which is one of the most open in the world, and come up with something Islamic that at the same time fits the Canadian reality. The term shariah in itself is laden with negative connotations in the Western mind. There is no need to stress that.
In a prayer recorded on one of his DVDs, Tariq Ramadan asks Allah “to strike the enemies of Islam (…) in Chechnya, Afghanistan, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, in Egypt, Sudan, Kashmir, in every land and on every battlefield.”
Tariq Ramadan’s scholars
Youssef Qaradawi (1926-)
In the past, Tariq Ramadan said that he awaits the conclusions of Muslim scholars before taking a specific stance on a given question (video – PdeB). Youssef Qaradawi is one of these scholars to whom Tariq Ramadan looks up for direction.
In his book Radical Reform, Ramadan presents Qaradawi as a “prominent scholar” who has outlined the attitudes and the kind of behaviour that Muslims living in the West should adopt. In another book, Ramadan wrote about Qaradawi that he “deeply respect(s) the man and the scholar and that (he) would be the last one to deny it.”
Aziz Zemouri and Tariq Ramadan, Faut-il faire taire Tariq Ramadan (Must We Silence Tariq Ramadan?), p.135 – Google Books
As for Youssef Qaradawi, he publicly endorsed Ramadan’s understanding of Islam by asking him to preface a compendium of fatwas published in French in 2002.
Tariq Ramadan et Yusuf Qaraḍawi, Conseil Européen des Fatwas et de la recherche, Recueil de fatwas: Avis juridiques concernant les musulmans d’Europe, Série no 1, Tawhid, 2002 Google Books
In recent years, Qaradawi has endorsed numerous positions hostile to individual freedoms:
- Qaradawi promotes the conquest of the West by Muslims;
- He endorses the killing of Muslims who leave Islam (apostates);
- He condones female genital mutilations;
- He claims that Hitler was sent by Allah to punish the Jews (video);
- He declares that resorting to force and coercion is legitimate to enforce Islam’s principles (“changing wrong by force whenever possible” – Priorities of the Islamic Movement chapter 4);
- He describes the mosque as a political institution where participants are mobilized for jihad (“It must be the role of the mosque to guide the public policy of a nation, raise awareness of critical issues, and reveal its enemies. From ancient times the mosque has had a role in urging jihad for the sake of Allah”);
- In conformity with a Muslim Brotherhood principle of operation already reported by the New York Times in February 1949, Qaradawi endorses the use of suicide bombers.
Syed Maududi (1903-1979)
In his book Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, Tariq Ramadan identifies Syed Maududi, a Pakistani scholar founder of the organization Jamaat-e-Islami, as one of the main representatives of the so-called “reformist salafist” trend of Islam to which he belongs. In an homage to Said Ramadan posted on August 4, 2011, his son Tariq mentioned that Maududi credited his own father Said “for having awakened him from his unconsciousness”.
Here is how Syed Maududi summarized Tariq Ramadan’s mission after having been “awakened”:
The aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution….Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam….The purpose of Islam is to set up a state on the basis of its own ideology and programme.
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, Jihad in Islam, Beirut, The Holy Koran Publishing House, pp. 6 and 22 Muhammadanism.org
In his August 2011 homage to his father, Tariq Ramadan vowed “not to forget and keeping moving on the Path”. He means his father’s path, Maududi’s path, the Islamic revolution path.
Hassan Turabi (1932-)
Although Tariq Ramadan rejects the notion of “moderate Muslim” as evidenced by his 2011 speech in Dallas (video 3 – 02:36) in front of partisans, he defended Hassan Turabi and presented him as a “moderate” in an interview aimed mostly at a non-Muslim public.
Interview with Luiza Toscane, L’Islam, un autre nationalisme (Islam, Another Nationalism), Paris, L’Harmattan, 1995, p. 205 Google Books (Archives PdeB)
As for Hassan Turabi, he called Tariq Ramadan “the future of Islam”.
Hassan Turabi has been the primary force behind the introduction of sharia in Sudan during the eighties and the nineties. In an immigration case heard by a Canadian tribunal in 2000, Turabi’s Sudan has been described as a “country of horrors (where) people are whipped in the name of Shari’a, terrorist bases are harboured and the Christians in the South are exterminated.” (X [Re], 2000 CanLII 21343 [IRB])
In this 2000 Canadian case, Turabi was also described as “the ideologue of the military regime in Sudan” and the leader of “the Islamist International”.
In another case heard by the Canadian Federal Court, it is mentioned that “(Usama) Bin Laden and his entourage moved to Sudan in 1991 at the invitation of the Islamist leader, Hassan Turabi.” (section 274 – Almrei (Re), 2009 FC 1263 CanLII)
In a 2006 interview, Hassan Turabi denied that bin Laden was involved in 9/11:
These actions were the consequence of American culture: cowboy movies, action movies, violence, boum, boum, boum (Laughs). That’s not (Bin Laden) who trained these guys.
Interview by Christophe Deloire, Ce que je sais de Ben Laden (What I know of Bin Laden), Le Point (Paris), March 4, 2006, p. 70
While Hassan Turabi was attorney general of Sudan, Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, a reformist Muslim theologian was executed for apostasy by the State because he had openly advocated the reform of certain Islamic principles. (BBC)
Hassan al-Banna (1906-1949)
Tariq Ramadan has endorsed the ideological legacy of his grandfather, Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, in these terms:
I have studied Hassan Al-Banna’s ideas with great care and there is nothing in this heritage that I reject. His relation to God, his spirituality, his personality, as well as his critical reflections on law, politics, society and pluralism, testify for me to his qualities of heart and mind. His commitment also is a continuing reason for my respect and admiration.
Alain Gresh and Tariq Ramadan, L’Islam en questions (Islam in Questions), Actes Sud, 2002, pp. 33-34
Hassan al-Banna’s ideas are summarized in his 50-point manifesto. The document promotes the abolition of political parties and the installation of a one-party State, the reform of the law, so that it will conform to Sharia, an increase in the number of youth groups promoting jihad, the prohibition of dancing, the censorship of movies and plays and a dress code for all citizens enforced by a religious police.
The City of Rotterdam and French president Sarkozy warned us about Tariq Ramadan
In 2009, the city council of Rotterdam (Netherlands) fired Tariq Ramadan who was acting as an adviser on integration issues. They did not believe that he was a credible voice for moderation. The city council based its decision on the fact that Ramadan kept on working for the Iranian agency Press TV after opponents of the Ahmadinejad regime were savagely beaten (and some even killed) in the streets of Tehran for having demonstrated against the electoral frauds that led to his re-election.
GMBDR (August 18, 2009): Tariq Ramadan Loses Positions In Rotterdam
Tariq Ramadan keeps on telling us that he relies on Muslim scholars before taking a stand on a given issue. The mentors towards whom he looks up to for direction (Qaradawi, Turabi, Maududi, al-Banna and others) have all promoted the idea that Islamic principles must be established all over the world. Sharia rules must be implemented violently whenever it is possible and by other means when it is not. This is also Ramadan’s struggle. This is what brings him to Canada once more.
In the aftermath of Islamist Mohamed Merah’s killing spree in Toulouse, French president Sarkozy banned Youssef Qaradawi from coming to France at the invitation of the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sarkozy also regretted that Ramadan had been invited by the UOIF because of the “ambiguous” statements he has made in the past.
RFI (via JihadWatch – April 8, 2012): Stop stigmatising Muslims, Islamic leader tells French politicians
Further reading
Point de Bascule (August 12, 2011): Tariq Ramadan’s “Understanding of Islam”
Point de Bascule (May 3, 2010): Tariq Ramadan, His Scholars, and His Jihad
Point de Bascule (May 5, 2010): The Conquest of the West by Ideological Jihad
Point de Bascule (May 6, 2010): Tariq Ramadan on Iranian TV
