Fretting & Whining

Submitted by Abu Nuwas (Saudi Arabia), Mar 6, 2007 at 10:36

Tariq Ramadan, he of the - I'm Ok, You're Ok - brand of Islam, is still smarting and whining for being refused entry into the USA to take up an academic position at, of all places, Notre Dame University - a fantasy academic appointment if there ever was one.

He recently made a literary appearance on the august pages of The Chronicle of Higher Education. If you want to really get an insight into this man's mindset (and state of mind), you should read this essay at: http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=mk4phhfw6qh399ql5g40d24l0j9vpq99

Insolently titled "What the West can learn from Islam" [ It should have been, of course, "What Islam can learn from the West" ], Ramadan begins by castigating the US government for its decision to refuse him entry into the US (yawn).

Then changing gears, he begins his polemic diatribe of what is wrong with the West and what is right with Islam (as if the "West" and "Islam" belonged within the same category).

Practically frothing at the mouth, he then continues with his nearly incoherent rant reminiscent of his true Ur-hero Sayyid Qutb's crypto-Islamic prose, a style that will lose nearly all his audience with its undertones of a Fatwa and its touch of madness.

In the epic struggle now going on between civilization and barbarism, I consider types like Ramadan far more dangerous, in the long run, than Bin Laden ever was. The message is the same, but the method of delivery is different. One is brazen and physical and can eventually be crushed. The other is much more subtle and more difficult to contain and neutralize.

To address the question asked by Dr Pipes: Is Ramadan lying? Oh yes, without a doubt.....but that is the least of Ramadan's characteristics that we have to contend with.

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