Pray for France, The Eldest Daughter of the Faith

For those who do not pay much attention to Notre Dame, as I do to a point as an "alum", one may remember that in 2004, Tariq Ramadan, who was lecturing at ND, was refused a visa and had to return to Europe. Some of us never wanted him at the university in the first place, as he is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, son of a Muslim Brotherhood supporter kicked out of Egypt years ago, and a contentious Eurabian supporter. He lectures at Oxford and now allowed back in the States, because of the intervention of H.Clinton. Ramadan seems in the past to have wanted some sort of liberal interpretation of Islam, and an acceptance of Western law in countries in Europe, rather than the insistence on sharia law, but his views have changed, or at least can be studied for intense examination as to contradictions. That he is openly anti-Semitic is provable. Note this from the link just above. Prof. R. Scott Appleby, the man who did everything he could to bring Ramadan to South Bend, Ind., was hardly naïve about Ramadan’s European reputation. Over breakfast in New York recently, he told me: “He’s doing something extraordinarily difficult if not impossible, but it needs to be done. He is accused of being Janus-faced. Well, of course he presents different faces to different audiences. He is trying to bridge a divide and bring together people of diverse backgrounds and worldviews. He considers the opening he finds in his audience. Ramadan is in that sense a politician. He cultivates various publics in the Muslim world on a variety of issues; he wants to provide leadership and inspiration. The reason we wanted him is precisely because he’s got his ear to the ground of the Muslim world.”




Hmmm...my bold type.




The kerfuffle involving him now is whether he is supporting Hollande for the French elections coming up May 9th. France24 online has a rather amusing, if not confusing, article on the yes and no assertions of what Hollande and Sarkozy have said about the support of Ramadan. Here is the link and a quotation form the article.


Ramadan’s run-ins with Sarkozy date back to a nasty exchange on French television in 2003, when the current president was France's interior minister.

Sarkozy accused Ramadan of supporting the stoning of adulterers, and the Islamic scholar replied that he favoured “a moratorium” on such practices, refusing to condemn it outright. Sarkozy, like many French commentators, expressed outrage over Ramadan’s response.

For his part, Ramadan has maintained that he has never supported the stoning of women. “I have always opposed [stoning] by calling for a moratorium to stop this practice. My position is consistent with Amnesty International, which goes through a moratorium to prohibit certain practices, such as the death penalty,” he said.

Over the past five years, Ramadan has criticised of a number of Sarkozy’s policies regarding French Muslims, such as the banning of the burqa, a national identity debate that was widely criticized as being anti-Muslim and a controversy during the current campaign on halal food that was widely perceived as both anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant.

At the UOIF convention earlier this month, Ramadan did not specifically refer to the French president, but his message was clearly directed at him. “Instead of talking about halal meat, the burqa, national identity and dividing France, you should unite it,” he told a packed hall at the conference.

As I have said on this blog before, what happens in France will happen elsewhere in Europe. A few points from WND online: The Socialist Party candidate M. Hollande, however, is known for his desire to raise the top income tax rate in France to 75 percent, a stance that has worried investors and financial analysts as Europe continues to suffer economic difficulties.... and ...In many areas Muslim have established no-go areas where French police forces have little authority. Muslim activists are believed to support the Socialist Party candidate Hollande in an effort to halt attempts by the French right to confront Islamism in France.

I was born on the feast day of St. Genevieve, patroness of Paris, shepherdess and intrepid defender of France against Attila the Hun. I suggest a few prayers her way would be meritorious at this time.