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Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs. Tariq Ramadan

Jun 18, 2006 4:25 pm By Robert Spencer

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the courageous spokesman of the anti-jihad resistance, takes on the slick “moderate Muslim” Tariq Ramadan: “Muslim pundits clash over future of Islam in Europe” from the Financial Times, with thanks to Fjordman:

Two of the leaders of European Muslim opinion clashed dramatically yesterday on the position and future of the Muslim communities in European states.

Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss-born intellectual and grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalian-born Dutch MP who was stripped of her Dutch citizenship over allegations of a falsified application for citizenship, displayed in personal form the bitterness of a debate which both agreed convulses their co-religionists….

“You must start from Islam as it is today. The great number of Muslims believe that the Koran is the absolute word of God; few believe it is a historic document. The number of people who believe the Prophet literally are much more numerous than those who see him as a historical figure.

“Why are large groups of Muslims leaving their countries? Nearly all Muslim countries are tyrannies, authoritarian, or failed states. Islamic states are in a terrible crisis. There is a lack of freedom; a lack of knowledge; and there is a subjugation of women. No wonder people leave,” she said.

She agreed with previous speakers from Britain and Denmark that there was an over-representation of young Muslim men in prison, and that there was “a micro-climate of fear for women”.

Mr Ramadan said it was wrong to suggest that Muslims were in Europe to proselytise, and wrong to say that Europe had a Judaeo-Christian past.

“Islam is a European religion. The Muslims came here after the first and second world wars to rebuild Europe, not to colonise. It is a mistake to deny complexity. When we speak about Islam we speak about terrorism; you are focusing on the few who are destroying and not the millions who are building. Muslims are in great majority law-abiding,” he said.

He argued against some who said that there would be a clash between native Europeans and European Muslims and that no integration was now possible. “Integration is done: you can’t go back. Social problems can’t be Islamised,” he said.

In a direct and sometimes heated argument, Mr Ramadan said: “My problem with you [Hirsi Ali] is that you are saying it is a problem with Muslims. Are you working to change a mentality – or to please the western audience?”

Ms Hirsi Ali said Mr Ramadan was guilty of ambiguity, and that if he believed in reconciliation, he should found a “Ramadanist” movement and fight for it.

To rebuild Europe, not to colonize? Highly tendentious at best.

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