Yesterday I discussed the new report on Tariq Ramadan, the “towering intellect” and “leading Islamic scholar,” that has just been released by the Swiss authorities. It details his life as a high school teacher in Geneva and serial seducer of his underage Swiss students, among whom four came forward months ago to accuse him of sexual assault, including rape. Three of the four succumbed to his assaults, while the youngest managed to fend him off.
These are not the first accusations against Tariq Ramadan. Let’s revisit the charges made by several French Muslim women.
Before the fall of 2017, when Henda Ayari came forward — the first of his victims to do so — to accuse Tariq Ramadan of sexual violence and rape, Ramadan had been the golden boy of Islamic apologists, offering his suave taqiyya to audiences throughout Western Europe. He held a prestigious post as a professor at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, with a chair funded especially for him by the Emir of Qatar. And at the same time, he held a second important position (and received, no doubt, an even larger salary than he was already getting at Oxford) as the head of the Islamic Law and Ethics Research Center, his own academic fiefdom, in Qatar. In 2004, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
But following upon the charges made by Ayari and then by another woman known as “Christelle,” Ramadan was put on “leave” from Oxford, a “leave” that is undoubtedly going to be permanent. And he no longer has his Islamic Law and Ethics Research Center sinecure in Qatar, for he has been told not to set foot in Qatar ever again. Still, he has his many unswervingly loyal followers — two million Facebook friends and 200,000 followers on Twitter, and 173, 387 who to date have signed a petition demanding that Tariq Ramadan be released from prison.
The Internet is full of “temoignages” (testimonials) to the greatness of Tariq Ramadan. Here’s the first one I came across: “I still remember. I was a child when I first listened to Tariq Ramadan. His words have had an effect on me, like a father who learns to walk to his child, to awaken my curiosity which was, until then, in the early stages. His thought, but also his way of expressing it, with sweetness and nuance, has been a principle for me in any approach to learning and teaching. I had the chance to meet him at various seminars where I was able to discover a simple and accessible man to his entourage, full of kindness. He is for me a thinker that enriches my thoughts, a brother who feeds my spirituality, a passeur of light that awakens my conscience and especially a man who constantly recalls hope.”
Ramadan had been held in a French prison since February 2, while an investigation could be conducted into the accusations of rape and extreme sexual violence made by several women (Muslim). But in mid-November, he was released, on $350,000 bail, under house arrest and with his passport taken way.
Before accusing Ramadan of violent sexual assault, Henda Ayari had written about him in her book J’ai choisi d’être libre (“I Chose To Be Free”), giving him the alias “Zoubeyr” because, at that point, she was still terrified of what he might do to her, given how violently he had already treated her in their encounters. Ramadan was both very powerful and, as she knew, very sinister. In fact, her fears were justified, for once she bravely accused him publicly, she received more than 3,000 death threats within just a few days. She now is forced to live under round-the-clock guard.
Here is how she had described Tariq Ramadan, giving him the name “Zoubeyr”:
“This man, Zoubeyr, transformed before my very eyes into a vile, vulgar, aggressive being – physically and verbally,” she wrote. And then she explained that she was now giving him, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, his real name: Tariq Ramadan. “For modesty, I will not give the precise details here of the acts he made me submit to. But it is enough that he took great advantage of my weakness and the admiration I felt for him. ”
“He allowed himself gestures, attitudes and words that I could never have imagined.”
“And when I resisted,” she writes, “when I cried to him to stop, he insulted and humiliated me. He slapped me and attacked me. I saw in his crazy eyes that he was no longer master of himself. I was afraid he would kill me. I was completely lost. I started crying uncontrollably. He mocked me.” And she described his violence: “He choked me so hard that I thought I was going to die.” She also described him as threatening that her children might be harmed if she were to tell anyone.