Tariq Ramadan – Where is the Outcry?

It has been appalling to see the cold-hearted indifference among certain segments of the Western Muslim community to the plight of Prof. Tariq Ramadan. The man is wasting away in solitary confinement due to the unjust detention by racist, anti-Islam French authorities, and nearly no one is making a peep of protest.[1] Where is the outcry?

Personally, I disagree with the philosophy of Tariq Ramadan on many issues. But that does not give me the convenience of staying silent in the face of manifest injustice. Those individuals and organisation who are now silent for Ramadan have had no problem raising their voices for various non-Muslim causes, even some clearly un-Islamic ones (e.g. LGBT). But when you ask them to say something in defence of Tariq Ramadan, their cowardly and irrelevant response is, “But I don’t agree with him on the issues of x, y and z.” Such double standards are not acceptable.

Before he was selected for attack and unjustly jailed and put in horrific conditions, Ramadan regularly attended many Muslim conferences, lending his name to numerous Muslim causes in the US, UK, Canada, France, and throughout the Western world. Many prominent Muslim figures did not hesitate to take selfies with him and to put him on their panels and on the advisory boards of their organisations. And this silence is the thanks he gets? This is how he is abandoned in his desperate time of need? Allāh protect us all from ever getting treated in this cruel way.

And what about the “victims,” i.e. the four accusers who made their baseless accusations which, after months of investigation, have failed to be proven? Not a single shred of evidence suggests that Prof. Ramadan assaulted much less harassed anyone. Instead, what we have learned is that one of the four accusers is a white supremacist member of France’s National Front who plotted with other nationalist political actors to destroy Ramadan in advance.[2] [3] Another accuser was an escort with accusations so flimsy that even the racist judges were forced to throw out her case.[4]  And let’s not forget the first accuser, Henda Ayari. She has quickly attained celebrity status in France, celebrity status which has proven quite lucrative. She just published a new book titled: “I won’t be veiled, I won’t be raped.”[5] White supremacists regularly feature her on their programmes as a “survivor” of that “terrible cancer known as Islam.” All the evidence from her own cell phone and her own computer prove that none of her original claims were even close to being true.

But of course, unhinged feminist activists insist on lecturing us that we must #BelieveAllWomen. God forbid we require due process, a presumption of innocence, or anything else associated with justice and basic common sense. God forbid we think for a second how easy it is for any two or more women to collude with each other and come forward screaming “Rape!” in order to destroy the life of a prominent figure who has been a thorn in the side of the anti-Muslim, anti-Islam European political establishment for decades.

Now the most recent news being spread far and wide is that Prof. Ramadan confessed to “extramarital affairs.” How convenient that once all the rape accusations have been proven baseless, there is suddenly a “confession” of “sexual relations.” And of course the slimy cretins who were adamant that there is “not a shadow of a doubt” that Tariq Ramadan is a serial rapist are now, given the absence of substantiation, moving on to the next smear, telling us there is “not a shadow of a doubt” that he is a serial philanderer of some sort. Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us.

Once again, the biased media lets the world know about an accused Muslim leader expressing to a select group of “trusted” officials his regret for not being faithful and admitting to his misdeeds. This story is one we have all heard before. There have now been multiple such “scandals” following the same exact script in the last two or so years, e.g. Nouman Ali Khan. And the slanderers always tell us:

“Damning evidence will be released soon! You don’t know the details that we know about, so stay quiet! Trust us!”

The question is: When will we as the Muslim community around the world learn that a “confession” under duress means nothing? When will we learn that when agenda driven groups blackmail a person we can’t then expect the “confession” to be anything other than what the blackmailers want to hear? It is time that we finally understand this basic, obvious point.

Ramadan has been in solitary confinement, jailed for months,[6] by people whose sole motivation is to smear him, to get just enough dirt on him to call him a hypocrite, because HOW DARE a man take religion seriously in secular France, how dare a man claim to abide by a higher ideal, to care about God. How dare he think he is better than us Godless heathens. So we’ll drag him down with us into the swill, ruin his career, ruin his name, but most of all, ruin the idea of a God-fearing man.

In this context, in front of these ruthless captors, a “confession” is squeezed out of the man’s incapacitated body.[7] Certain “Muslims” have been jumping with glee — “A ha! We knew it! Our relentless slander over the years has finally been vindicated!” And the witting and unwitting assistants to these fitna-mongers solemnly write,

“It is only safe to follow the dead.”

When a man came to the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) confessing to zina,[8] the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) turned away and said, perhaps you did not commit it in its entirety. Even at that level, at the point of confession, the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) maintained husn al-dhann and did not wedge himself into the personal lives of others. But now we have those who wait to pounce on the flesh of the Muslims, to dig into their personal indiscretions, searching for the smallest detail with which to shred a man’s name, all behind the cheap façade of “helping victims.” These are the real predators, ignoring the Sunnah and its clear directives for their personal gain.

Brothers and sisters, let us be careful. Let us not get played. Let us wake up once and for all! Why are we handing our enemies the keys to our own destruction? Do we not realise that this is the playbook that is being carefully honed, carefully perfected so that it can be used against any Muslim scholar or leader who becomes too inconvenient for the powers that be, whether those powers are within our community or outside of it? It would not need to be like this if more people used some basic common sense and abided by time-honoured, sacred principles of due process and innocent until proven guilty, not private meetings, private investigations, private evidence held by “trusted” leaders, followed by public proclamation of wrongdoing and public denunciation of the target du jour.

Do not get conned.

Let us dedicate duʿā’ for Tariq Ramadan and his family. May Allāh grant him a quick release, strengthen and bless him and his family, restore everything that has been unjustly taken from them and grant them even more in this life and the next.

What can we do practically to help?

Support and follow this organisation:

https://www.facebook.com/FreeTariqRamadanCampaign/

Pressure and demand that our national organisations and figures make statements and exercise their connections.

Call out those who spread false information or contribute to the smear campaign.

And make duʿā’.

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Source: www.islam21c.com

Notes:

[1] https://www.islam21c.com/news-views/prof-tariq-ramadan-admitted-hospital-amidst-increasing-outrage-towards-french-authorities/

[2] https://lemuslimpost.com/affaire-tariq-ramadan-reellement-christelle.html

[3] https://lemuslimpost.com/affaire-tariq-ramadan-nouvelle-demande-mise-liberte.html

[4] https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/justice/tariq-ramadan/l-absence-d-une-troisieme-mise-en-examen-pour-tariq-ramadan-marque-evidemment-un-tournant-selon-son-avocat_2788367.html

[5] https://fr-fr.facebook.com/Henda-Ayari-667562510084943/

[6] https://www.milestonesjournal.net/articles/2018/3/19/the-tariq-ramadan-case-a-comprehensive-review

[7] https://lemuslimpost.com/en/swiss-consul-tariq-ramadans-health-is-deteriorating.html

[8] https://sunnah.com/bukhari/86/53