Haaretz Daily Sunday, May 26, 2002 Sivan 15, 5762

“My fellow Muslims, we must fight anti-Semitism”

In France, Muslim intellectuals and religious leaders have come out against attacks on Jews and Jewish religious institutions. Outstanding among them is Tariq Ramadan, who explains his beliefs.

By Joseph Algazy


In the middle of April, during the Israel Defense Forces campaign in the West Bank, a group of 57 Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders and intellectuals published a call in the French media “to stop the fighting.”

Among the signatories to this call was Tariq Ramadan, who lectures on philosophy at the College of Geneva and on Islamic Studies at Fribourg, Switzerland; the Grand Mufti of Marseilles, Soheib Bencheikh; the Catholic Bishop of Ivry, Michel Dubost; the President of the Protestant Federation of France, Jean-Arnold de Clermont; Orthodox priest Michel Evdokimov; the Chief Rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim and the former president of the representative council of the Jewish organizations in France, Henri Hajdenberg.

The public call stated: “The blood that is being spilled on the land that was sanctified by the Torah, the Gospels and the Koran is causing humanity to despair.” The signatories also warned that “the Israeli-Palestinian war has awakened criminal tendencies in France that endanger human lives and places of worship, including Jewish synagogues.”

Ramadan, 39, is not only an outstanding Muslim intellectual but also the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hassan Al-Bana, who was murdered in his own country in 1949. He firmly condemns the anti-Semitic incidents that took place during the past year in France, Belgium and other European countries, such as attacks on synagogues and Jewish institutions. “Too few Muslims have spoken out against these anti-Semitic and Judeophobic phenomena,” he says.

In his opinion, any attempt to afford legitimization to anti-Semitism on the basis of texts taken from the Islamic tradition, and as an expression of protest against the suffering of the Palestinians, must be firmly rejected.

“To my regret, anti-Semitic utterances have been heard not only from frustrated and confused young Muslims, but also from certain Muslim intellectuals and imams,” he says, “who in every crisis or political backsliding see the hand of the ‘Jewish lobby.’ There is nothing in Islam that gives legitimization to Judeophobia, xenophobia and the rejection of any human being because of his religion or the group to which he belongs. Anti-Semitism has no justification in Islam, the message of which demands respect for the Jewish religion and spirit, which are considered a noble expression of the People of the Book.”

Even when he identifies urges that have their source in economic distress and social frustration, or the desire to protest against Israel’s oppressive policy, among people who express themselves in an anti-Semitic way and are involved in anti-Semitic acts, Ramadan refuses to demonstrate understanding or forgiveness toward them. He says: “The social and political forces in the Muslim communities must act to educate toward the delegitimization of elements of anti- Semitism. Leaders and imams have the responsibility to disseminate an unequivocal message about the profound connections between Islam and Judaism and Islam’s recognition of Moses and the Torah.”

“Despite what is happening today in Israel and Palestine, despite [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon’s policy, despite the feelings of anger and frustration - those responsible for all the Muslim political and social organizations must open a clear dialogue that distinguishes between criticism of Israel’s policy, and anti-Semitic and Judeophobic statements and actions. This is lacking today and this is a great responsibility.”

The statements made by Muslim leaders so far do not satisfy him; these saw the anti-Semitic acts as deeds of a local nature, behind which there have been no national organizations and which derived from a sense of economic and social frustration. “The neighborhoods and suburbs must take educational action to clear out phenomena of Judeophobia and of the attaching of labels and stigmas; it is necessarily to criticize mercilessly the theses of the extreme right ad not to abandon the arena to dangerous political forces,” says Ramadan.


Self-criticism

Ramadan warned, in his interview with Ha’aretz that two dangerous phenomena exist side by side: one is criticism of and protest against the Israeli government’s policy toward the Palestinians that are accompanied by declarations that deny that the Holocaust took place and the other defines any criticism of Israel as anti-Jewish propaganda and as ignoring the memory of the Holocaust.

“Recently, in a public debate that was held in Brussels on the war in the Middle East,” related the Muslim philosopher, “a woman in the audience challenged: ‘Why do you always bring up the Holocaust?’

”I replied immediately, ‘It is possible to be against Israel’s policy in Palestine, but we must take into account the real memory of the Jews’ suffering in the 20th century and evince special sensitivity to the Holocaust. This is an obligation of conscience and ethics. We must remember what happened so that it will never happen again.’

“From a different perspective, it is our obligation to tell every Jew or Zionist who supports Israel’s official policy that it is impossible to make systematic use of the Holocaust and the memory of the victims to give legitimization to Israel’s oppressive policy in Palestine. This is forbidden. The fact that there are people who use the memory of the Holocaust to justify Israel’s actions, which many define as state terror against the Palestinian people, does not justify others not taking into account the memory of the Holocaust. Both approaches must be condemned.”

Ramadan says that this opinion is shared by various elements in the Jewish communities of Europe, including that in France, as well as in the United States and Canada. “Even though they are still a minority,” he says, “they are making their voices heard. They are not afraid of self-criticism and are making a clear distinction between the official Israeli policy and their belonging to Judaism and the Jewish tradition. We must hear an identical position in principle from non-Jewish intellectuals as well, Muslims and non-Muslims, that will lead to staunch opposition to criticism of the state of Israel that is accompanied by statements and actions against Jews.

“There is an urgent need for Jewish and Muslim representatives in Europe to hold a frank and serious dialogue about the spirit of malaise that prevails between their communities. This is in order to put a stop to expressions of hostility, introversion, and mutual stigmatization that could hurt their ability to live together. The self-criticism must be mutual.”

According to him, criticism of the policies of Sharon’s government does not mean the expression of disrespect toward Judaism and Jews, just as criticism of regimes and dictatorships in Muslim states does not mean an attack on Islam.


Enthusiastic response

Asked how his Muslim listeners, including intellectuals, respond to his positions, he replies: “Many of them were surprised by my opinions. Though I have not been defined as a traitor, there have been Muslims who have accused me of ‘playing into the enemy’s hands’ with my statements. My reply to them is that any position of self- criticism works to the benefit of he who expresses it and can correct and improve himself, and does not play into the hands of any enemy.

“The public and educational activity that I have undertaken is very difficult, as it deals with a subject that is emotionally loaded and demands a lot of patience. I also encounter responses of understanding and enthusiasm from Muslim intellectuals, including people from Arab states, who are encouraging me and telling me: ‘It’s good that you are showing the courage to express your opinions; they must be stated.’”

Asked whether he sees a contradiction between his tolerance and the ideological heritage of his grandfather Hassan Al-Bana, the founder and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose members persecuted Jews in Egypt during the 1940s, Ramadan replies: “In my opinion it is necessary to present each of the positions, my grandfather’s and my own, in their political and historical context. Al-Bana lived at time when the state of Israel was being formed and he, like others, defined its establishment as an act of colonization which in his opinion justified resistance. This was a very difficult period for the Palestinians.

“Clearly there is a difference between what he said in his day and what I am saying today. I am living and speaking out more than 50 years after he was assassinated, that is, in a different era and in a different historical context. Over the years there have been various developments that I am taking into account in formulating my positions, positions that are congruent with my principles. There are some things of my grandfather’s with which I agree and others with which I don’t agree. I have taken from my grandfather what in my opinion is part of Muslim reformism. Al-Bana often said that ideas must not stand still. In the social realm, my grandfather’s ideology was reformist. Sometimes I express a critical position toward some of my grandfather’s ideological heritage and I take full responsibility for this. Therefore, my grandfather would not necessarily have agreed today with everything that I am saying now.”