Here is an article by a certain Hatem Bazian on the victimization of Professor Tariq Ramadan, a “towering intellect” and “foremost Islamic scholar” who, Dr. Bazian claims, is being treated with monumental unfairness by the French justice system just because he is a Muslim.
But before getting to that article, it helps to know a little about Hatem Bazian and his extraordinary record of achievement. The paragraphs below have been helpfully provided to online admirers by Hatem Bazian himself, at his eponymous web-site:
Hatem Bazian is a co-founder and Professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College, the 1st Accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in the United States. In addition, Prof. Bazian is a lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bazian between 2002-2007, also served as an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He teaches courses on Islamic Law and Society, Islam in America: Communities and Institutions, De-Constructing Islamophobia and Othering of Islam, Religious Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to Berkeley, Prof. Bazian served as a visiting Professor in Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s College of California 2001-2007 and adviser to the Religion, Politics and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley.
In Spring 2009, Prof. Bazian founded at Berkeley the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the Center for Race and Gender, a research unit dedicated to the systematic study of Othering Islam and Muslims. Prof. Bazian in Spring 2012 launched the Islamophobia Studies Journal, which is published bi-annually through a collaborative effort between the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project of the Center for Race and Gender at the University of California at Berkeley, the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative for the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University; the Center for Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, the International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia, and Zaytuna College. In addition to academic work, Dr. Bazian is a weekly columnist for the Turkish Daily Sabah Newspaper and Turkey Agenda online magazine. Dr. Bazian is founder and national Chair of American Muslims for Palestine, board member of the Islamic Scholarship Fund, Muslim Legal Fund of America, President of Dollar for Deen Charity, and Chair of Northern California Islamic Council.”
I cannot have been the only one, aside from Dr. Hatem Bazian himself, who finds himself lost in admiration for Dr. Hatem Bazian and his tremendous achievements as a founding father of the burgeoning brand-new field — how did we ever do without it? — of Islamophobia Studies.
With that kind of background, Dr. Bazian’s article on the monstrous treatment of Professor Tariq Ramadan by the French authorities was sure to make a deep impression. His article did not disappoint.
Dr. Bazian’s piece, with occasional interpolations of comments and corrections, is posted below. “Professor Tariq Ramadan and France’s Islamophobia,” by Hatem Bazian, April 15, 2018:
Professor Tariq Ramadan’s case and the solitary confinement he faces in a French prison sheds
Sic for “shed”
some light on the differentiated
Sic for “discriminatory”
treatment Muslim subjects receive in the legal system
Sic for “criminal justice systems”
of the Western states. In this article, I am not defending or making any arguments for the charges levied against Professor Ramadan – they are serious and require full and fair examination by the authorities and the courts as well as more responsible coverage from the media. The cause [sic] of sexual harassment is rightly
Sic for “Cases of sexual harassment are now rightly”
receiving a much needed and overdue global attention. What is important is to make sure that the scales of justice in pursuit
Sic — “scales of justice” do not go in “pursuit” of anything
of a needed legal, social and political corrective does not lead to undermining the rights and standing of a similarly
“Similarly” to whom? what are those two communities?
demonized community.
This sentence, like so many in this article, is not English. Many of Bazian’s sentences don’t even try to be in English.
Demanding justice, fairness, and transparency is a universally supported set of principles,
“Demanding justice,” etc. is not “a set of principles”
which are critical in the case of Professor Ramadan. The guilt or innocence after a transparent legal process and a trial are what all parties to this painful case deserve and expect.
“All parties” do not “deserve and expect…guilt or innocence,” but rather, “all parties deserve a finding of guilt or innocence after a transparent legal process and a trial.”
Muslim subjects
Sic for ‘Muslims”
have become accustomed to an abnormal
Sic for “to unfair”
legal treatment from the moment they are arrested and charged, and even throughout the court proceedings. This unfair treatment is becoming the normal
Sic for “becoming the norm”
no matter whether the charges are civil or criminal for both civil and criminal trials
Sic — cut the pleonastic “for both civil and criminal trials”
for and is for sure the case
Sic for “and this is especially the case”
when the charges are remotely related [are related] to terrorism. I do think that the initial attempts to defend Professor Ramadan were wrong in disparaging the women who levied the charges. These short-sighted attacks on the women who came forth caused a mix-up and confusion
Sic for “resulted in a certain tension”
between the demands on the French legal system to treat Professor Ramadan fairly and the attempts to win public debates and alter the demonized
Sic for “demonizing”
media coverage of the Muslim subject. These two
Sic — for which “two”? “Demands” and “attempts”? Or “attempts” to “win public debates” and “alter the demonizing media”? It’s unclear, like so much else in this comical piece.
should be separated and I am not sure how this should be done but it should be part of any serious approach.
Now you tell us that you are “not sure how this should be done”?!
A basic analysis [sic for “An analysis”] of the [sic — strike “the”] French media coverage of this case points to the problematic
Sic for “disturbing”
nature of the coverage and the preponderance
Sic for “propensity”
of journalists to pile-on and sentence Professor Ramadan before even the end of the investigation and before the court proceedings have started.
Where, in what article, or on what television or radio show, has any French journalist declared Ramadan to be guilty?
What is expected of the French State and its legal system to adhere to the due process of the law
To make a modicum of sense, this should read: The French State should respect due process of law
and accord Professor Ramadan the same rights that are granted to any non-Muslim, non-Arab and non-Maghrabi person in the country. Indeed, the legal process in France is tainted by the differentiated
Sic for “discriminatory” — this is the second time this word has been used, still incorrectly
treatment accorded to all “non-French to the source”
This is a confusing mistranslation of the phrase “pas français de souche,” meaning not French by birth, going back generations on French soil, but instead, recently made “French” through immigration and naturalization, within the last few generations.
populations that face systemic discrimination at all levels of society, including foremost
Sic for “and especially”
in the legal system.
This charge of unfair and discriminatory treatment of non-French is made again and again, but no evidence is offered.
The treatment is similar to the one faced by the African-Americans in the U.S.
Now? During the Jim Crow days? During the time of slavery?
entrenched racism dating from the colonial period is ever present in France. Let’s be clear – Professor Ramadan travelled willingly to France and surrendered to the police authorities in order to face the charges levied against him and then to prepare for the legal proceedings.
Ramadan could hardly have done otherwise if he wanted to keep his post as a professor at Oxford. A refusal to go to France to face charges would have been devastating. And, as an arrogant past master in deception, Ramadan thought he’d be able to emerged unscathed. He’d gotten away, after all, with so much for so long. He wasn’t expecting the determination of the three French Muslim accusers to see their cases against him — despite the threats made to them — through to the end.
The French authorities moved to arrest Professor Ramadan, refused to grant bail, placed him in solitary confinement, and limited family visitation
Sic for “visitation rights”
and access to proper medical care, which collectively point to the differentiated
Misused for the third time to mean “discriminatory”
treatment reserved for the Arab [sic for “for Arab”] and Muslim subjects.
Actually, the medical treatment he is now receiving is superior to that he would have received in normal circumstances, for the French government is determined to make sure neither Ramadan, nor his lawyers, can complain of substandard treatment.
In reality, the French authorities are treating this case as if it was one of a terrorist who was caught “red-handed” with a ticking bomb in his possession.
No,this is hyperbolic nonsense. The French authorities have not treated this case as anything but what it is: multiple charges have been made by three different French women, accusing Ramadan of rape, sexual violence, and threats. Similar accusations have been made by two other women, one in Switzerland and one in the United States. All five of the women, Hatem Bazian carefully refrains from noting, are Muslims.
Maybe the French prosecutor’s office needs to be reminded of the type of case under consideration and that Professor Ramadan is not being charged under the terrorism laws.
This is a cheap charge by Hatem Bazian, who knows that the French magistrates have behaved scrupulously in sticking to the facts of the rape cases. The only person to have dragged in the word “terrorism” in order to obliquely accuse the French court of bias is Hatem Bazian himself.
The entanglements’ of the French state and professor Ramadan are all well-known and documented over a long period of time, and to call it antagonistic would be a polite description.
Tariq Ramadan has been removed from teaching posts in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and prevented from taking up a teaching post in the United States, but the French state has left him entirely alone. The French government, far from being antagonistic to Ramadan, knew of his unsavory sexual behavior over many years, as was revealed by its Islam “expert” Bernard Godard, and chose neither to say nor to do anything about it. For years, that French state was not antagonistic to, but protective of, Tariq Ramadan. He has had his critics in France, most notably the writer Caroline Fourest, who wrote Frere Tariq about his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and his general meretriciousness. More often, Ramadan has been treated over the last decade as a star by the French media, appearing endlessly on talk shows, attending conferences where he is treated with great deference, and giving interviews to deeply respectful, even sycophantic, questioners. It is absurd to claim he has been badly treated, ever, by the French state, for that state turned a blind eye to his most disturbing, and even criminal, behavior with women. It was not until charges were made publicly by first one and then another Muslim woman — Henda Ayari and “Christelle” — charges then found to be credible, that Ramadan’s well-deserved mini-cavalry began.
However, if the current case against Ramadan is used to settle a previous public injury by those who were often accustomed to total obedience and deference by post-colonial subjects, then it would be a travesty and the long-term domestic relations with the Arab and Muslim communities in France and abroad will certainly be impacted.
What “previous public injury” can Hatem Bazian possibly mean? And who are those French who are accustomed to “total obedience and deference by post-colonial subjects”? Where and when has that “total obedience and deference” been demanded, much less offered ? Certainly not in any Muslim state, and especially not in North Africa, where France has been giving billions in aid over the last sixty years. When Bazian claims that the “current case against Ramadan” is being used by the French state to settle scores with Muslim Arabs who have been insufficiently submissive to their former colonial masters, he still fails to tell us who these Arabs are. He never names them. And he never lets us know that all three of the cases brought in France against Ramadan involved Muslim women. The threat he makes is that if Ramadan is convicted — even though Bazian earlier claimed that he was not making a judgment as to his guilt or innocence — then “the long-term domestic relations with the Arab and Muslim communities in France and abroad will certainly be impacted” (sic for “affected.)” What might that mean? Mass mayhem by Muslims, with the usual burning of cars and breaking shop windows, by those who think that as a celebrated Muslim, Ramadan must be set free?
Is Tariq Ramadan the only one to be accused and charged with sexually related offenses in France and other Western States? If the answer is yes, then we can consider this case as the first and set new legal standards based on it. However, if the answer is no, which I am afraid is the case, then who else in France, UK or U.S.A. is under arrest in solitary confinement and not allowed bail or sufficient medical care because of mere accusations?
As far as I can tell and from all the current cases arising from similar accusations not a single person has been arrested or is in jail, let alone being placed in solitary confinement, before a trial even taking place
Nonsense: the defendants are always arrested before a criminal trial takes place.
Tariq Ramadan is serving as the most recent case
Sic for “example”
of the notion of the “dirty Arab” in the French racial imaginary [sic] that must be disciplined and put in his place. Professor Ramadan – and I would argue other Arabs and Muslims – in the French and other Western legal systems face a differentiated
This is the fourth appearance, and fourth misuse, of this word. “Discriminatory” is meant.
treatment by the police first and then throughout the legal process. The innocent until proven guilty legal standard does not apply to the Arab and Muslim subjects in France and other Western countries. The law is born and is shaped by social conditions, which are currently subjected to a heavy dose
Sic — “conditions” cannot be “subjected to a heavy dose.”
of Islamophobia and fear mongering [sic] at all levels of the society. I maintain that the current imprint [sic] on the [sic] western society [sic] is a function of latent Islamophobia, which worked to produce the manifest Islamophobia type that Professor Ramadan is currently experiencing.
Sheer gobbledygook.
Guilty until proven innocent is the legal standard applied to Arabs and Muslims.
One more charge without any evidence.
Furthermore, any accusation or crime committed by Arabs and Muslims gets immediately the embedded latent Islamophobia enhancement of connecting it to some type of terrorism, either directly or through a six-degrees of separation going back possibly seven generations.
No, I couldn’t make sense of it either.
In Professor Ramadan’s case, the standing accusations against him are often linked back to his grandfather, Hasan Al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement and this “pedigree” cast an unforgiven shadow over all his involvements.
What evidence does Bazian have that the “standing accusations” — just “accusations” would be clearer, but clarity is not Bazian’s strong suit — made by five Muslim women were affected in any way by their knowing he is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood?
I have my own epistemological, historical, economic, and political critique of the origins and ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement but I don’t confuse them with the ongoing demonization campaign directed at individuals and groups that are connected to it.
With the thoughts he’d be thinking/He could be another Lincoln/if he only had a brain…
More importantly, the Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a legal entity across the Western World and throughout the Cold War was recruited as a major piece and a partner in the anti-communist and anti-Arab Nationalist campaigns.
Not a single example of the Western world’s supposed “recruitment” of the Muslim Brotherhood, whether as an ally against domestic Communists or against Arab nationalists, is offered by Bazian.
I was very critical of this involvement early on and before the many Johnny-come-lately crowed.
Sic: “many…crowed”? How about “before many in the Johnny-come-lately crowd?
The contemporary Islamophobes, neo-Cons, or post-Arab Spring Johnnys engaged in metaphorical food fights centering on crafting good Islam versus bad Islam that pivots
Sic for “is based”
on demonizing and essentializing the role of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in the region.
Not a sentence, but why worry about that when we have already entered the realm of the completely absurd.
So, if the Muslim Brotherhood Movement is the cause of all evils in the Muslim World
Who ever said so? Can’t Bazian be bothered to provide even one quote by someone who thinks that?
then what country or countries did they actually manage to rule since 1945?
The answer is none, unless one wishes to consider Hamas-ruled Gaza as being governed by the Muslim Brotherhood. But what does any of this have to do with the accusations against, and likely trial of, Tariq Ramadan? It is Bazian who wants to make much of Tariq Ramadan’s Muslim Brotherhood connection, not the French judges who are sticking to the charges of rape and other sexual violence, and to the evidence for such charges provided by Ramadan’s Muslim accusers.
The failure in the region is rooted in a long series of dictatorships and monarchies that set [sic for “sit”] on top of a vast oil ocean that propels the modern global economy.
No, he attributes too much importance to Arab oil; it is not oil that any longer “propels the modern global economy,” but rather, advances in technology, and innovation of all kinds.
Oil is a curse that is masquerading as a blessing and is at the root [sic for “the cause”] of the last 100 years of utter destruction in the region,
That oil began to flow in significant quantities only in the 1940s.
not Islamic groups [sic] are the easy [sic] bearded patsies used to produce the needed compounded ignorance of the sources and causalities of the unfolding and never-ending disasters.
Whatever this sentence is, it is not English. The trillions of dollars that the Arab oil states and Iran have received over many decades turn out to have been, in Bazian’s view, a “curse” for which the West, which buys all that oil and thus provides the money that is such a source of misery, is responsible. It is oil money that enables the Muslim Lords of Misrule to remain in power. Apparently, Bazian fails to notice that these Lords of Misrule are everywhere in the Muslim world, not only in the oil states. Think of the authoritarian rulers in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, Morocco. Don’t blame the oil money for the failings of Muslim states — for ISIS and al-Qaeda, for the failures to educate women, for Sunni-Shi’a hostilities, for genocidal attacks on Christians and non-Arabs, for authoritarian rulers (kings, despots, military men) who rule over all but a handful of the 57 Muslim-majority states. In Western democracies, a government’s legitimacy depends on how well it follows the will of the people as expressed, however imperfectly, in elections. In Muslim political theory, a ruler’s legitimacy depends on how well he follows the will of Allah, as expressed in the Qur’an. None of that has to do with oil wealth.
Professor Ramadan is discussed through [sic] the use of a demonization strategy
Bazian loves the word “demonization”; he uses it a half-dozen times in this piece. But what “demonization strategy” is he talking about? Has the French government made any public remarks about Tariq Ramadan? Has it been telling the world everything it knows about Ramadan, or has it been behaving, rather, in quite the opposite fashion, reluctant even now to discuss what Bernard Godard finally revealed, that he, and therefore the French government, had known about Ramadan for some time? There is no demonization of Ramadan. The vivid testimonies of his Muslim victims — see Henda Ayari, see “Christelle,” see “Marie” — are horrifying enough.
directed at his supposed family connection
That family connection to the Muslim Brotherhood is not “supposed,” but well-documented.
to the Muslim Brotherhood Movement and this is possibly one of the reasons why the French authorities are acting to discipline him as a representative of political Islam in the Western context.
The French authorities are not out to “discipline” Tariq Ramadan, but to slowly and methodically investigate the charges made against him by several Muslim women, and if the evidence proves sufficient, to bring him to trial.
Failure yet again, in the Arab and Muslim world in the current period is simplistically attributed to the role played by the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, which is a weak argument and uses [sic for “relies on”] a single causality [sic for “cause”] to explain a very complex set of political, economic, social, and religious stimuli and agents that shaped the region to [sic] what it is today. The case of Tariq Ramadan sits at the intersection of debates related to his voice and role in the field of political Islam rather than on the issues related to the accusation itself, which goes a long way to explain the French State’s differentiated
Is this the fifth or the sixth appearance, and misuse, of this word? He means, yet again, “discriminatory.”
treatment before the actual trial. The basic demands are for Professor Ramadan to be granted immediate bail, to be allowed to organize his defense, and to be able to face the accusers in court.
Why should Tariq Ramadan be granted bail? Plenty of prisoners are not granted bail when there is a likelihood that they might flee. Now let’s see — is there such a risk in this case? Ramadan has two million friends on Facebook and 200,000 followers on Twitter. He has millions of dollars from the sale of his audiotapes, his books, his former well-paid sinecure in Qatar, and Oxford. 142,000 people have signed a petition demanding his immediate release. He has powerful and deep-pocketed admirers all over the Arab world, especially in North Africa, and in the Gulf. Given all that support, isn’t it possible that if released he would manage to flee from France? Many Arabs see him not as a serial rapist but as a Muslim victim of Infidel “justice,” a brave standard-bearer for Islam, who deserves to be rescued from the (colonialist, neo-colonialist, islamophobic, racist) French state. All of that contributed to the decision that he was a definite flight risk and needed to be kept in custody.
Furthermore, the failing health and well-being of Professor Ramadan are the direct and sole responsibility of the French State – an innocent man until proven guilty that has not yet had his day in court or found guilty is being held in solitary confinement.
In fact, his health is not noticeably failing; Ramadan has for more than a decade had multiple sclerosis, which is a long-term illness; he can live with it for decades more. He is receiving, by all accounts, excellent medical treatment, including four sessions of physical therapy every week, which is more than many M.S. sufferers can count on. The French state is not about to create a martyr out of Ramadan and will be sure to continue to provide him with the best treatment available.
Lastly, the charges and the case in general should not be linked to any developments or possible carrying [sic for “currying”] of favors for any segments of the domestic right-wing Islamophobes or interested Arab and Muslim political elites that are seeking to settle political accounts through it. We seek justice and fairness, nothing more and nothing less, for all involved.
Bazian says he seeks “justice and fairness,” and early on claims he does not know if Tariq Ramadan is guilty of the charges made against him, and he just wants a fair trial, but he then proceeds, through the rest of his piece, to refer repeatedly to the “demonization” of Ramadan by a French state he claims has long been determined to settle scores with him (despite that French state knowing for decades about Ramadan’s sexually violent behavior) as a prominent Muslim, and that treats him cruelly, by keeping him locked up, for apparently Bazian doesn’t believe Ramadan could be a flight risk, capable of being whisked off to some safe haven in Dar al-Islam.
A few sentences from this article made my day:
What is important is to make sure that the scales of justice in pursuit of a needed legal, social and political corrective does not lead to undermining the rights and standing of a similarly demonized community.
Demanding justice, fairness, and transparency is a universally supported set of principles, which are critical in the case of Professor Ramadan.
A basic analysis of the French media coverage of this case points to the problematic nature of the coverage and the preponderance of journalists to pile-on and sentence Professor Ramadan before even the end of the investigation and before the court proceedings have started.
The entanglements’ of the French State and Tariq Ramadan are all well-known and documented over a long period of time, and to call it antagonistic would be a polite description.
Lastly, the charges and the case in general should not be linked to any developments or possible carrying of favors for any segments of the domestic right-wing Islamophobes or interested Arab and Muslim political elites that are seeking to settle political accounts through it.
The substandard English in the article is part of the fun, but it’s the series of claims made, without the slightest supporting evidence, that make this bizarre and deplorable performance so memorable, and a fitting tribute to its subject, Tariq Ramadan, by one of his admirers, Hatem Bazian.
Bobby says
Obviously its some kind of jihad against grammar…
mortimer says
I am more interested in Hatem Bazians fallacious thoughts and INTELLECTUAL DISHONEST than his second-language mistakes.
Lydia Church says
And his name…. “Hate’em”?
That must be part of the joke!
6woods says
I know. I love it! There could be no more fitting name for a muzzie. Cut’em, Kill’em, Slice’em, and Hang’em are also popular choices.
Wellington says
This highly ungrammatical, factually deficient and overall deceitful article by Hatem Bazian serves as a good example of why it is arguable that Islam is more likely to be laughed out of existence than crushed into oblivion. Just watching the way Muslims pray with their asses in the air (which is why I often call them “Buttlims”) and seeing how Muslims honor the character of Mohammed, which character is dispositive of a brutal psychopath, narcissist, pedophile and overall fraud, serve as two other reasons (and there are many more) why Islam’s ultimate demise may be due first and foremost to derision rather than to any kind of martial endeavor.
mortimer says
‘DECEITFUL’ and intellectually dishonest.
How can a university professor DEFEND RAPE in our day and age?
Why is the UNIVERSITY NOT GOING AFTER HIM?
If a white American prof DEFENDED a RAPIST, the white American prof would NEVER WORK IN ACADEME AGAIN!
These are the Libtarded double standards of their RACISM OF LOWER EXPECTATIONS for the ‘noble savages’.
souare says
The assumption, of course, is that people would become sufficiently intelligent to see that Islam is founded on the same epistemological grounds as belief in Santa Claus or Big Foot.
mortimer says
Hatem Bazian DEFENDS RAPE OF DIRTY, SLUTTY KAFIR WOMEN … They have it coming to them, he seems to think.
However, TARIQ RAMADAN is being sued for RAPING MUSLIM WOMEN who were his former ADMIRERS and STUDENTS !!!
Hatem Bazian is defending a man who RAPES MUSLIM WOMEN !!!
How does that make you a good Muslim, Mr. Bazian?? (Answer: It doesn’t.)
If ISLAM were CONSISTENT, then the MUSLIM LEADERS would want TARIQ RAMADAN STONED TO DEATH.
However, there were not 4 male witness to his crimes. Nor were there 8 female witness to his crimes. So under Sharia law there would never be a rape trial for EVIL DOER TARIQ RAMADAN.
He would go scot-free on his merry way raping all the while.
Carolyne says
I don’t think that raping any woman, including a Muslima, is improper or illegal in Islamic law, providing certain conditions are met I.e. uncovered head, no male escort, or simply the desire and opportunity to do so.
Frank says
I agree with the general sentiments expressed in this article but feel the author goes too far in mocking, almost to the point of pettiness, the language used by the defender of Tariq Ramadan. The issue here is not the poor English—we should not expect perfect English or fluent writing from the foreign born, even academics—but the multitude of unsubstantiated clains. Focus on the substance, or lack thereof, not the inept and laughable writing style. And by the way, “differentiated,” although unorthodox, is an intelligible synonym for “discriminatory.”
Robert Spencer says
No, an academic, whatever his or her background, should be able to write standard English.
And there is an abundance of criticism of the substance of Bazian’s argument in this Hugh Fitzgerald article. Perhaps you should read it again, more attentively.
Frank says
I noted the abundance of criticism of the substance and agree with it. I have met many academics who barely speak English, let alone write it, and I have sat in college classes where undergrads struggle to understand a foreign-born teacher, so I share your view that academics should be fluent in English. I just felt Hugh Fitzgerald went overboard in focusing so much attention on the poor writing.
souare says
College professors not being able to speak English properly or fluently seems more the case in mathematics and the sciences than otherwise. But textbooks and references do help much in facilitating understanding.
Westman says
I tend to agree that so much emphasis was placed on criticism of grammar that the flow of Hatem’s illogical thought and absurd apologetic claims became disjointed. It was easier to read the Unabomber Manifesto.
Reading this article felt like watching a PBS documentary with a short commercial break taken every 30 seconds.
Carol the 1st) says
I suspect HF was not only irritated but was being somewhat “tongue in cheek” after reading the tedious list of academic busyness Badem had eagerly displayed on his “eponymous” website. A little pointed “counterpoint” seemed quite in order.
gravenimage says
Frank, Hatem Bazian is teaching at the University of California Berkeley–an elite university. He should be literate. And the above is not one or two slight errors–it is an absolute mess.
Worse, of course, is his antisemitism and constant Taqiyya.
somehistory says
All of his “accomplishments” are in furthering islam and jihad, taking over of other religions, cultures, countries. He is so “proud” of it all, but it is really nothing of which to be proud.
“Othering Islam and Muslims”
“The otherization of Muslims and Islam by Trump and his administration has awakened a sleeping civil society giant, a human decency guided by universal ethical and moral imperatives that soon will bring forward a counter narrative” (from dailysabah)
He;s an “academic” only in the modern meaning of anyone who gets a position of authority over students, whether or not they know anything useful. He only knows islam.
Carol the 1st) says
‘Nuff said.
And how typical of muslims to try to discourage valid criticism by turning the tables and “refusing to wear the shoe when it fits”. Islam is the one with a VERY serious problem with the “OTHER” but men like Bazian trust that bombast and stubborn drivel will confound critics and take the air out of their sails when such critics expect remorse and conscience but find this is not forthcoming. Instead we see new tricks emerging from the Islamic bag of tricks such as Bazian’s flurry of campaigns against “the OTHERIZATION of muslims” – when in fact muslims have chosen that stance for their very own selves.
Terry Gain says
Tariq Ramadame (sic) belongs in prison.
Carol the 1st) says
Perhaps a Ramavan can point him in the right direction.
JM says
There seems to be a discrepancy regarding Hatem Bazian’s professional title. Several websites indicate his title as “Professor, UC Berkeley”, which means full professor, with tenure. One such site is the notorious and mendacious pro-sharia Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC).
But Bazian is not a professor at UC Berkeley. Nor is he an assistant professor. He’s not even an associate professor. He’s a lowly lecturer, in the Ethnic Studies Department.
Link:
http://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/people/faculty-profile/hatem-bazian
Academic title inflation seems to be rampant among Muslims in the West. For example, Tariq Ramadan (the “towering intellect at Oxford) falsely claimed to a professorship at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland (the university recently debunked his claim). And Reza Aslan claimed to have a doctorate in the philosophy of religion on YouTube (his Ph.D is in sociology).
It’s curious how all three Islamic scholars seem to be victims of inacurracies in their titles or qualifications, but in each case the error is in their favor. What else are they lying about?
By the way, many of Hatem Bazian’s students don’t seem to appreciate his brilliance; his ratings by students suggest that he is disorganized, inefficient, and prone to tirades. But one student sings the praises of Bazian’s passionate hatred of Jews and Israel (consider the source: this is UC Berkeley, after all).
Link:
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=122342
JM says
When he’s not inciting deadly attacks on Jews and Israel in his UC Berkeley lectures, “Professor” Hatem Bazian enjoys giving life-changing speeches, such as at the Institutional Islamophobia Conference in December 2014, organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC).
The IHRC is a notorious and shady pro-sharia group, peddling grossly inflated statistics on attacks on Muslims, and generally engaging in lies and propaganda.
Consider this (former) IHRC project:
“…campaigns for ‘Prisoners of Faith’ focus on USA detainees and include Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, …”
Source:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Human_Rights_Commission
That would be the late Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman (“The Blind Sheikh”), one of whose most impressive achievements was masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Sheikh Omar also held a doctorate in Quranic interpretation from the world’s foremost center of excellence in Islamic scholarship, Al-Azhar University in Cairo. It’s a safe bet that the Egyptian sheikh knew something about the Quran, especially since he had memorized all of it by age 11.
And ISIS’ mild-mannered leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also has a doctorate in Quranic studies.
Do these two mass-murdering, renowned Quranic scholars know more about the Quran than Pope Francis? What a silly thought. We infidels can all sleep soundly, as Pope Francis has assured the world that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to any form of violence.”
Matthieu Baudin says
“… A basic analysis of the French media coverage of this case points to the problematic nature of the coverage and the preponderance of journalists to pile-on and sentence Professor Ramadan before even the end of the investigation and before the court proceedings have started…”
Naturally parts of the media get excited when they smell a rat and will take steps to take a look at the exotic sewer that this specially privileged rodent has inhabited. Many interesting stories are sure to follow and will prove to be a welcome change from the phoney adulation that greeted this sleek menace in the past.
livingengine says
CAIR has released their annual hate report for 2017 entitled “Targeted”. http://www.cair.com/images/pdf/CAIR_2018_Civil_Rights_Report.pdf
There is no need to alert the media, though. They already know. This Ohio news station had three separate broadcasts about CAIR’s latest. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/council-on-american-islamic-relations-official-2017-report-on-anti-muslim-bias-unprecedented
But, they did not really read the report. They only looked at the pictures, and recited the bullet points. However, a careful reading of CAIR’s latest report shows how dubious this group continues to be.
The most serious accusation in CAIR’s report is that of hate crimes.
A hate crime charge is no joke.
“Criminal penalties for hate crimes vary from state to state but many hate crimes are felonies (crimes punishable by more than one year in prison). Under federal hate crime legislation, bias-motivated violence is punishable by ten years to life in prison, and some bias-motivated crimes are punishable by the death penalty.” https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/hate-crimes-laws-and-penalties.htm
So, this is a serious charge and not a trivial matter. A careful reading of the charges in any list of hate crimes should be enough to separate the charlatans from the rest.
CAIR’s list of 2017 hate crimes is short. Let us see what we can learn from it.
If one is going to use the term “hate crime”, then two of the incidents on CAIR’s list qualify as such.
The man who “called the cabbie a “motherf—ing piece of Muslim sh-t,” needed to be stopped. http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20170123/suspect-in-new-paltz-hate-crime-case-was-drunk-and-used-vulgarities-in-reference-to-islam-police-say
Notice how this person’s arrest, charging, including an additional hate crime charge, sentencing, and imprisonment, all happened without CAIR’s involvement. The system works. We do not need CAIR.
This is also true in the case of the man from Boston. This man’s immediate arrest after repeatedly assaulting a 70 year woman on public transportation system shows the system works. http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/06/muslim_victim_undeterred_by_alleged_attack
CAIR’s description of their involvement in this case as being “present outside the grand jury room” paints a lonely and pathetic picture.
CAIR includes three incidents in which we do not know who the perpetrator is. We do not know who set fire to the restaurant. We do not know who burglarized the apartment. We do not know who pulled on the Muslima’s scarf. This is an important detail, and one would have thought CAIR had learned this lesson.
In 2012, after the murder of Shaima Alawad in March, CAIR warned us “the number of hostile incidents against Muslims in and around San Diego was nearly equal to the total number of incidents in 2011”. However, her murder was not a reflection of anything CAIR was detecting. It was a statement about the treatment of women in Muslim society. As soon as this became undeniable, CAIR dropped Shaima Alawad, and never spoke of her again.
CAIR jumped the gun again in 2015 after the Quba Islam Institute fire. CAIR was warning us about an “unprecedented level of anti-Muslim rhetoric in our society” before a homeless man voluntarily admitted to setting the fire.https://www.chron.com/houston/article/Fire-burns-Islamic-center-6079285.php
2015 was the year CAIR started relying on the phrase “unprecedented”. CAIR let us know that we were entering uncharted territory almost every other month in 2015.
In 2016, the rate fell to two, but a significant qualitative increase occurred. CAIR was now having elected state representatives repeat CAIR’s mantra.
Ami Bera (D-Calif.) “the unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim hate incidents occurring nationwide”
Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.)” an unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim hate incidents occurring nationwide” https://www.cair.com/about-us/what-they-say-about-cair.html
By 2017, CAIR’s use of “unprecedented” exploded in a staggering 180% increase over 2015. However, hate crimes are not occurring as rapidly as CAIR is reporting them. In fact, CAIR creates hate crimes by including in their statistics things that are not hate crimes. They do just that in the case of Mohammad Munshi.
CAIR would have us believe that Mohammad Munshi suffered a broken nose during a scuffle with several large men. However, there is no sign of blood in the security camera footage. His picture at the hospital does not show any sign of a nose injury. He looks fine during his day interview 3 days later. But, most importantly, the police do not consider this a hate crime. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/06/19/bronx-muslim-attack/
Finally, the 68 year old hate criminal story seems remarkably trivial, but there is one important detail. She is a hate criminal because she used the word “terrorist”. If you call a Muslim a “terrorist”, that is a hate crime. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jul/12/spokane-valley-woman-arrested-for-a-hate-crime-aft/
This is important because if this definition broadens or changes over time, it may be necessary to get our update from local news about what is proscribed speech along with stocks, weather, and sports.
CAIR blames Donald Trump for the “unprecedented” rise in anti-Muslim feelings. Yet, a look at the short list of Islamic terror attacks that occurred during Trump’s 2015 campaign include: the Charlie Hebdo murders, the Curtis Culwell Center attack, the Chattanooga shooting, the San Bernardino attack, and the 2015 Paris Attacks, considered to be the deadliest attack on French soil since the Second World War. http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-europe-terror-20160715-snap-htmlstory.html
Many other people, not just Donald Trump, are talking about this sort of thing, even if CAIR won’t.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Aw, stop picking on poor Hatem Bazian as he struggles with the English language. It’s not like he’s a professor at some college in the English-speaking world.
Estee Tabernac says
When a person does not have English as a first language, it is a cheap shot to criticize their grammar. If this guy is so pathetic, why are you threatened by him?
Could it be because he is methodically keeping track of your obvious Islamophobia? Do you think someday that Islamophobia may come out of the current chaos smelling as bad as Antisemitism? Do you think there is a potential for your hatred to be exposed for what it is? Will there be consequences for what you are promoting now? Are you racist religious bigots and proud of it? You and your ragtag hillbilly followers will be brought down. I will be standing nearby, laughing and pointing my long crooked brown finger at you. Just place that pointed dunce cap on your head and hang that sign around your neck that says “I’m a racist religious bigot, spit in my face!”.
Frank says
So many things wrong here but I’ll make 3 quick points:
1). The problem with the concept of “Islamophobia” is that it blurs the crucial distinction between persecution of individuals and criticism of an ideology. Persecution includes violent attacks, concentration camps, and denial of ordinary civil rights accorded to other people. I don’t know anyone who wants to persecute Muslims in these ways and would condemn anyone who does. But what’s wrong with criticism of the religious tenets of Islam? The alternative is blasphemy laws. People freely criticize Christianity, Hinduism, Scientology, and all other religions. Why should we accord Islam an immunity from criticism? It is a fact that Islam, for example, is the most sexist of the major religions, so why shouldn’t we have the right to criticize how it treats women?
2). Islam is not a race so criticism of Islam is not racism. Islam is an ideology with adherents of all races. For example, the Boston bombers—the Tsarnaev brothers—were from the Caucasus region and were about as white (Caucasian) as one can get. If you filled a room with naked Middle Eastern Muslims, Israelis, Greeks, Italians, and Spaniards, you wouldn’t be able to pick out who was Muslim. Calling critics of Islam racist is a cheap shot, too often a dodge to avoid having to respond to legitimate criticism. (By the way, if you consider hundreds of millions of Latin Americans nonwhite, then you could say most Christians are nonwhite. So is it therefore racist to criticize Christianity?). There are many instances of genuine racism around the world, and we should condemn and oppose them. But criticizing religion is not racist.
3). Note the writer’s implicit threat of violence against critics of Islam. How else should we interpret his talk of “consequences” and of “bringing down” critics of Islam? Even his silly talk of putting dunce caps on critics suggests he is sympathetic to rounding up critics and persecuting them in the ways I outlined above. A recourse to violence and persecution is a way to avoid rational discourse and signifies one is unable to respond to criticism. There are over 4 billion nonMuslims in the world and I suggest Muslims get used to being criticized. The criticism must not and will not stop.
Carolyne says
I, too, thought the ” Dunce cap” suggestion was rather juvenile, but the crooked finger scared me. Could you direct me to the nearest safe room?
Carolyne says
Estee Tabernac,
Why is your finger crooked? Have you been pointing it too much at people with whom you disagree? Perhaps you could use the services of an Orthopedist. Muslim, of course.
If learning of the danger facing us from Islam and trying to make others aware of it makes me an Islamaphobe, then I wear the epithet with pride. Sticks and stones, doncha know?
6woods says
Estee Tabernac – as a woman, I am a very proud “islamophobe”. I’ve read the horrendous koran. Have you? It doesn’t have very flattering things to say about women in particular, and “infidels” in general. Please read it, Estee.
And one other thing: islam is not a race. Did you know that mohammed called black people “raisin heads”? Did you know that he traded one white slave for two black slaves? Why do you think that was?
Most of us here have read not only the koran with its unspeakable ugliness directed against non-muslims, but have also read other islamic canonical texts, and books by ex-muslims (Brigitte Gabriel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, among others). Islam is racist, misogynistic, and “otherist”. If, after a thorough reading of Islamic texts, you still think criticism of islam is racist, come back and make your case.
gravenimage says
Estee Tabernac wrote:
When a person does not have English as a first language, it is a cheap shot to criticize their grammar.
……………………..
No, it’s not. Bazian is not some fellow selling falafels or taking out the trash–he is a lecturer at the most elite public university in the United States. We have the right to expect basic standards.
More:
If this guy is so pathetic, why are you threatened by him?
Could it be because he is methodically keeping track of your obvious Islamophobia? Do you think someday that Islamophobia may come out of the current chaos smelling as bad as Antisemitism? Do you think there is a potential for your hatred to be exposed for what it is? Will there be consequences for what you are promoting now? Are you racist religious bigots and proud of it? You and your ragtag hillbilly followers will be brought down. I will be standing nearby, laughing and pointing my long crooked brown finger at you. Just place that pointed dunce cap on your head and hang that sign around your neck that says “I’m a racist religious bigot, spit in my face!”.
……………………..
This is just bizarre–Islam is not a race, it is an ideology–and a particulary vicious one. The idea that criticizing Muslim rape, brigandage, and mass slaughter makes one a racist, a bigot, and a hillbilly is ludicrous.
And that this poster would accuse others of racism is grotesque, given her other repulsive posts:
Estee Tabernac says
May 4, 2018 at 2:09 am
There are no Christians in Nigeria. They have not evolved culturally nor intellectually sufficient to comprehend even the most basic of Christian principles. Most of the churches in Nigeria are obsessed with witches and evil spirits. Church leaders cast spells on members to increase contributions and even sell indulgences to allow people to cheat, steal and murder each other. The Boko Haram are doing us a favor by killing all these crazy Niggerians.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/05/nigerias-muslim-president-downplays-jihad-attacks-on-christians#comment-1892145
Estee Tabernac says
May 4, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Well, that’s why Indians always wrap their heads in towels. I suppose the children were bare headed. There are too many children in India anyway. They are completely disposable people. They reproduce like rats. A school bus in India is a wheelbarrow painted yellow.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/05/kenya-246-schools-close-917-non-muslim-teachers-flee-because-of-jihad-attacks#comment-1892483
Elsewhere on that thread she is ranting about “porch monkeys” (a racist term for Black people).
There are others. Ugly, ugly stuff.
The only thing that is consistent is spouting apologia for Islam.
Angel says
Great de-construction of a poorly written pamphlet by what is in reality an impostor (like Ramadan, maybe that’s why Batian feels so close to him: they both phonies). The real question, however, remains how do incompetent impostorslike him ever get to the teaching positions they are in? It has now been discovered that Ramadan never received the PhD he claimed to have and on the basis of which he was given teaching positions (from where to better abuse sexually some of his students).What about Bazian’s titles? Has anybody bothered to check them and vet them for good, or was this all done by UCBerkeley? We know how reliable these guys are. They’ll take anybody as long as he is a radical of some sort, academic standards and requirements be damned. Bazian is a proven hate-mongerer. All you have to do is look him on YouTube. He should have been fired a long time ago.
gravenimage says
They get into teaching positions because the ones putting them there are virtue signaling.
Giacomo Latta says
Muslim ethnicities? Islam is a religion (at best); it is not an ethnic group. I sense several attempts to ‘ethnify’ Islam so that those who disagree with legal murder, wife-beatingt, male hegemony, etc. can be cheaply labelled as racists. Is his lack of desire to speak English in an English-speaking part of the world supposed to be an excuse for anything he may need to retract later?
Laura says
“Ramadan thought he’d be able to emerged unscathed” Hubris, Robert
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: In Defense of Tariq Ramadan, Hatem Bazian Tries to Write English
…………………….
I can’t believe this illiterate, immoral, dishonest Muslim thug is teaching at my alma mater. *Ugh*.