Tariq Ramadan
Biography & Resources

 
 

Named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the 21st century, Tariq Ramadan occupies a unique place among leading Islamic thinkers. Representing a new generation of Islamic reformers, Dr. Ramadan advocates the exploration and application of Islamic traditions and values within a modern pluralistic context, calling on Western Muslims to embrace Western culture rather than reject it. A Swiss national, he is a well-respected professor of philosophy at the College of Geneva and Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Fribourg. In fall 2004 Ramadan was appointed Henry R. Luce Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.

Ramadan has written more than twenty books exploring the difficult issues of reinterpretation and reform within Islam itself and between the Islamic world and its neighbors around the globe. His books include Western Muslims and the Future of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003), Islam, the West, and the Challenges of Modernity (The Islamic Foundation, 2000), To Be a European Muslim (The Islamic Foundation, 1998), and Jihad, Violence, War and Peace in Islam (in French only, Tawhid, 2002). He has also published a total of 700 contributions or articles in collective books, academic reviews, and magazines.

Ramadan serves as an expert in various commissions linked to the Brussels Parliament, and is a member of several working parties concerned with Islam in the world and on the continent: Deutsches Orient Institute, British Council, Vienna Peace Summit, The Parliament of the World's Religions 2004 in Barcelona, and the "Laïcité et Islam" commission of the French Educational League.

selected books

Western Muslims and the Future of Islam
(Oxford University Press, 2003)
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To be a European Muslim
Translation by C. Dabbak (The Islamic Foundation, 1998)
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Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity
(The Islamic Foundation, 2000)
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Jihad, Violence, War and Peace in Islam
(Tawhid, 2002)
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selected articles

Mystery of the Islamic Scholar Who Was Barred by the U.S.
By Deborah Sontag (The New York Times, Oct. 6, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/international/europe/06ramadan.html?hp&oref=regi

"What you fear is not who I am"
Globe and Mail (8/30/04)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040830.wramandan30/BNStory/Front/

"Tariq Ramadan: What does America have to fear from me?"
International Herald Tribune (9/1/04)
http://www.iht.com/articles/536660.html

"Trying to Bridge a Great Divide"
By Nicholas Le Quesne. Time 100 Innovators: Spiritual Leaders (Time.com)
http://www.time.com/time/innovators/spirituality/profile_ramadan.html

other related websites

The Joan B. Kroc Institute of the University of Notre Dame
Ramadan named Luce Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding
http://www.nd.edu/~krocinst/research/luce.html

Kroc Institute
Open letter from the Kroc Institute Director
http://www.nd.edu/~krocinst/applebyramadan.htm