Tariq Ramadan
The Challenges to Islam Today

Islamic scholar and author Tariq Ramadan's chosen mission is to create an independent European-Islamic identity. His interest in dialogue between Islam and the other faiths is exceeded only by his passion to promote intrafaith dialogue within Islam itself—to bridge the gaps between Islam's past, present, and future, and across continents, generations, and cultures. Here, Tariq speaks about the challenges modern Muslims face as they strive to retain traditional values yet keep pace with a rapidly changing world.

"We need to speak about spirituality as a Muslim, about love, about sexual [roles], about commitment—I’m speaking about ethics of citizenship. These [Muslim] ethics should nourish my European citizenship and the way I’m dealing with others."

Biography

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. He is, in his own words, "a European who has grown up in Europe. I don't deny my Muslim roots, but I don't vilify European culture either." He encourages self-criticism within Islam and also combats the negative misconceptions so prevalent in the non-Muslim world. 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, To Be a European Muslim, and Jihad, Violence, War and Peace in Islam. 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, and the "Laïcité et Islam" commission of the French Educational League.

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