Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan (9 page)

"Banna junior" was born on April 12, 1926 in Shibin el-Kom, seventy
kilometres north of Cairo. He was only fourteen years old when he first heard
the name ofthe great al-B anna mentioned in a lecture given in Tanta. He was
still at secondary school when he joined the Brotherhood. After obtaining a
law degree from Cairo University in 1946, he was chosen by the Guide as his
personal secretary, as well as editor of his review, Al-Shihab. Of all his faithful disciples, Said Ramadan was undoubtedly the one he preferred, to the
extent that he gave him his cherished daughter, Wafa al-Banna, in marriage.
A woman of whom Tariq Ramadan tells us: "My mother was fully imbued
with this heritage: she was the eldest of Hassan al-Banna's children, but in
addition, until the age of fifteen and a half, she was very close to him and
greatly influenced by his spiritual appeal. Through her I have come to know
my grandfather's unique qualities, as a man and as a father."3

Tariq Ramadans parents grew up in the cult devoted to al-Banna, and
they transmitted this cult to their children. Tariq Ramadan remembers how
hard his father fought to rehabilitate Hassan al-Banna's reputation. "Hassan al-Banna, through his total devotion to God and God's teachings, had let
light into his [Said's] heart and laid out the path of his commitment. To those
who criticized him, who spoke of him without even having met him or listened to him, or had only read him, he would recall how he had learned spirituality, love, fraternity, and humility at his side. "4 This is a tradition taken up
today by Tariq Ramadan, brought up in the same atmosphere of idolatry. The
heir apparent admires his grandfather as much as he does his own father. He
speaks unendingly about Said Ramadan's military prowess when, at the age
of twenty-one, he set off for Palestine to fight the Zionists. Tariq Ramadan
claims that he "took part in the defense of Jerusalem." It was in 1947 and the
state of Israel did not yet exist; the territory was divided between Egypt and
Jordan under British mandate. It was not thus a question ofhelping the Palestinians recover the occupied territories, but of training anti-Jewish resistance
units. The contact in the field, the person who helped the movement conduct
its operations, was no novice as regards fighting the Jews: he was none other
than Haj al-Husseini, the man who had asked the Muslims to fight alongside Nazi Germany in the Second World War. He had even trained two Bos nian army divisions-both of them in SS uniforms-assigned to massacre
the Serbian population. He counted on Adolf Hitler to rid the world of the
Jews. Hitler's downfall left him an orphan in a particularly awkward predicament. Providentially, Hassan al-Banna-another friend whom he had known
since 1935-arranged for his political exile. Thanks to him, he rapidly found
employment, becoming the mufti of Jerusalem, a position that meant organizing the arrival of fighters drawn from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood's Special Organization, come to combat the Jewish immigrants, some
of whom had only just been released from concentration camps. The latter
saw in Israel a place of refuge where they would no longer have to suffer from
anti-Semitism. And they landed up face to face with al-Husseini, busy raising new legions of combatants. The head of these legions was named Said
Ramadan.

From 1945 on, Tariq Ramadans father was in charge of establishing a
branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. Al-Banna's special envoy
kept his promise. He carried out his mission as both war leader and diplomat, and became the indispensable ally of King Abdullah of Jordan, who,
at that time, would stop at nothing to prevent Jerusalem from becoming a
majority Jewish town. It was he who proposed that the king send tanks into
the old quarters of Jerusalem to evict the Jews, a feat of military prowess
that is recounted on the website of the Geneva Islamic Center: "One night
he [Said Ramadan] woke King Abdullah of Jordan to announce that Jerusalem was about to be taken over by the Haganah and Irgun gangs, and to ask
him to send the Jordanian army to help defend the holy city. Which Abdullah
did, and Jerusalem remained free until June of 1967, the year in which it fell
with almost no resistance. This time, there was no one on hand to wake King
Hussein."

King Abdullah named Said Ramadan head ofthe military court of Jerusalem, but he resigned after two months. He was not there to pursue a career.
The movement needed him to set up cells in Muslim countries that would
pledge allegiance to the Guide. He would be al-Banna's ambassador, as well
as his secretary. Everywhere he went, he served as the Brotherhood's envoy
in key posts. In 1948, shortly after the creation of Israel, he left for Paki stan on a particularly important mission: to represent the Muslim Brotherhood at the World Islamic Congress in Karachi. His name was put forward
for the post of general secretary of the Congress, but his extremism alarmed
Congress members, who themselves were far from being moderate Muslims, and a less controversial candidate was chosen. With his characteristic
gift for euphemism, Tariq Ramadan came retrospectively to the defense of
his father: "his determination frightened the `diplomats."'s When he was not
busy denying the fanaticism of his grandfather, he was occupied defending
the reputation of his father. All forms of criticism are but calumny. But no
matter. Polemics have never prevented the Ramadans from pursuing their
program.

Even though he was not elected secretary of the Muslim Congress, Said
Ramadan was to have a decisive influence on the debate in Pakistan during
the 1950s. This new nation, bringing together Muslims ofthe Indian subcontinent, had just been born and was in search of an identity based on pride in
being Muslim. Said Ramadan had no trouble convincing the elite to choose
an Islamic republic. No one knew better how to monopolize a national debate
(a technique that he passed on to his son). He soon became very popular with
young Pakistani intellectuals, thanks to his weekly radio program on Muslim
world affairs. He also published booklets that were easy to read and therefore
reached a wide public. The prime minister of the time, Ali Khan, even wrote
a preface for one of them. In his jinah, the traditional Pakistani headdress,
this chameleon-like person made people forget he was Egyptian. At the heart
of the debate on what direction the constitution was to take, he was omnipresent in the media-arguing, on every occasion, for legislation based on
the sharia. In 1956, a few years after his stay in Pakistan, the country ended
up becoming an Islamic republic. It was at this point that he met Mawdudi,
the true theoretician of the Pakistani Islamic state. In an article written as a
funeral eulogy in memory of his father, Tariq Ramadan wrote in somewhat
mysterious terms: "Mawdudi had thanked him for having saved him from
his recklessness."6 Which would imply that Said had a moderating influence
on Mawdudi, but this remains to be proved. At any rate, the two men were
acquainted.

In 1949, al-Banna's emissary was on tour for the Muslim Brotherhood,
with, as pretext, a cultural mission for Pakistan, when he learned that his
master had died. Tariq Ramadan tries to have us relive his suffering when
faced by the death of the man who had taught him to "bow his head to the
ground" when praying, as a sign of humility. He fails to remind us that his
master had taught him above all to lift his head up and fight in the name of
the jihad. In his usual euphemistic style, Tariq Ramadan recounts: `After the
assassination of his master in 1949, he had learned his lesson and sacrificed
everything to spread the liberating message of Islam." Said Ramadan, who
had by then become one of the masterminds of the organization, returned to
Egypt in 1950, the year in which the decree banning the movement was lifted.
The regime in power had made a gesture of conciliation, in the hope that the
organization would become less aggressive once deprived of its leader. But
that was leaving "Banna junior" out of account. On his return, Said Ramadan took up the fight where al-Banna had left off. "Once back in Egypt, he
became involved in the mobilization for social and political reform. He travelled round the country giving lectures and organizing meetings," 7 his son
tells us. For two years, 1950 to 1952, the Brotherhood movement became
more fanatical and better mobilized than ever. It was the eve of the generals'
putsch. But Said Ramadan continued to be obsessed by the idea of spreading Islamist ideology beyond Egypt's frontiers. He edited a monthly review,
Al-Muslimoon, published in Arabic and English, that served as the principal
vehicle for the influence of the Brotherhood's ideology and spread its message everywhere it could establish a foothold: from Morocco to Indonesia via
Palestine, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, Algeria ...

It was his international perspective that was to provide him with a way
out before and after independence. When Nasser's repression struck, he
was imprisoned-as were all the other officers of the movement who had
demanded that the sharia be applied. But he was not held for long. He was
released after four months, thanks to General Neguib, who apparently
remained convinced that the Brotherhood could serve as an ally. Once freed,
in 1954, he left for Jerusalem accompanied by Sayyid Qutb, who had also
been released. They attended the first meeting of the World Islamic Con gress of Jerusalem as representatives of the Brotherhood. This time he was
elected general secretary of the Congress. But not for long. To borrow his
son's words, Said Ramadan's "determination" once again frightened the "diplomats," this time Glubb Pasha, whose real name was Sir John Bagot Glubb.
This local "Lawrence of Arabia" was a general who had joined up with the
Arabs. It was he who commanded the legendary Arab Legion of King Abdullah of Jordan, the legion that had reduced the Jewish section of the old city of
Jerusalem to ashes during the 1948 war. And yet, Said Ramadan frightened
him to the extent that he banished him from Jerusalem.

"Banna junior" could have returned to Egypt and suffered martyrdom,
like Qutb, but he escaped adversity by journeying from one sponsor to the
next, always obsessed by the idea of spreading the Brotherhood's philosophy on an international scale. He landed up in Damascus in Syria for a brief
spell, from where he launched a new version of Al-Muslimoon with the help
of a Syrian publisher. He also spent time in Jordan. But it was in Saudi Arabia that he found his true place of refuge.

Said Ramadan was warmly welcomed by the Wahhabite monarchy, which
lacked both administrators and intellectuals. Saudi society had rapidly
evolved from a primitive Bedouin state to all-out modernism thanks to the
intake of petrodollars. The only bond that welded the country together was
Wahhabism, an Islamic fundamentalism close to the Muslim Brotherhood's
Salafism, although markedly more traditional in outlook.

Wahhabism was the result of a politico-religious pact negotiated in
1774 between Ibn Saud, a tribal chief, and Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab,
a Salafist preacher faithful to the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya, the father of
Islamic fundamentalism. During the period when some Muslim Brothers
in Egypt were planning to go into exile, Saudi Arabia was undergoing a radical transformation; it was attempting to maintain the teaching of Salafist
Islamism that served as an ideological straitjacket, but it was hampered by
the lack of an educated elite. Thus, the Brothers, who were familiar with
Ibn Taymiyya and had studied Ibn Abdul Wahhab, were enthusiastically wel- corned. During the time he spent in Saudi Arabia, Said Ramadan served as
tutor to the royal family, teaching them Wahhabism and becoming one of
their most trusted advisors. In 1962, he even oversaw the creation of the Muslim World League (Al Rabita al Islamiya Al Alamiya), a conduit for financing the spread of the Islamic faith (the Saudi version of the Islamic faith)
worldwide, even if this meant serving as a trust fund for Islamist terrorism
on account of the obligation to give alms (zakat). The Rabita (another name
for the League) was supported by the Americans, who counted on Saudi Arabia in the struggle against Arab nationalism and communism. Pakistan, in
which Said Ramadan had placed his hopes, seemed reluctant to assume this
role. It was thus necessary to find another country ready to promulgate Islamism as an antidote to communism and Arab nationalism. The Saudis were
more than ready to play the game. Fulfilling the obligation to give alms would
atone for their incredible financial windfall; moreover, the funds would be
used in the struggle against Arab socialism, which was highly offensive to
these ultra-religious representatives, firm believers in private property. Said
Ramadan was to be one of the architects of this alliance between the Saudis
and the Americans against Nasser. He himself drew up sections of the constitutive charter of the Muslim World League-of which section 2 criticizes
by implication the Bandung Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement. It
called for combating "dangerous conferences in which the enemies of Islam
intend to encourage Muslims to rebel against religion and destroy their unity
and fraternity."s

This historical background is particularly significant. Tariq Ramadan
claims today that there is a fundamental difference between the Brothers'
ideology and that of the Wahhabis. Ever since Saudi Arabia gave the Americans permission to establish military bases on the ground on which Mecca
stands-ever since, in particular, the world has become aware of the havoc
produced by Wahhabism-the Swiss preacher has never missed an occasion
to castigate "the traditionalist reactionary Islamism' of the Saudis, not only
out of anti-Americanism, but also in order to appear more modern in the eyes
of the anti-globalist and communist militants that he is intent on attracting.
He forgets to mention that his model father helped the Saudis to become the sponsors of this Wahhabism, second to none in the virulence of its reactionary policies and anti-communism.