BIODATA
Tariq Ramadan is the president of the European Muslim Network in Brussels, a professor of Islamic studies at Oxford's Faculty of Theology, and a senior research fellow at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, at Doshisha University in Kyoto and at the Lokahi Foundation in London. His books include What I Believe, Oxford University Press, 2009; Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, Oxford University Press, 2008; Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2004; Globalization: Muslim Resistances, Tawhid, 2003; Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity, the Islamic Foundation, 2001; and To Be a European Muslim: A Study of Islamic Sources in the European Context, Leicester, UK, The Islamic Foundation, 1999. Born in 1962 in Geneva, Switzerland, Ramadan studied at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and holds a M.A. in philosophy and French literature as well as a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic studies, both from the University of Geneva.
EXCERPT (Translated)
Only through continuous reinterpretation in light of changing geographic and historical contexts can Muslims remain faithful to the revealed message's ethics and aims. Prophetic traditions (Ahadith) too must be subject to a critique of authenticity and substance….
A deconstruction is thus necessary to distinguish between the cultural and the religious….Confronted with literal readings and cultural interpretations, a vigorous reform process must be conducted that affirms there can be no loyalty to the texts' substance without evolution in their interpretation. A religious tradition that remains static betrays itself: there can be neither tradition nor fidelity without evolution.
–Tariq Ramadan, "No loyalty, no change," tariqramadan.com, March 10, 2008
EXCERPT (Original in French- Link)
Ce travail de réinterprétation continuée à la lumière des nouveaux contextes géographiques et historiques est le seul qui permette aux musulmans d’être fidèles à l’éthique et aux finalités du message révélé. Les textes de la tradition prophétique (ahâdîth…) doivent aussi faire l’objet d’un travail critique quant à leur authentification et leur substance.…
Un travail de déconstruction est ainsi nécessaire pour savoir ce qui est culturel et ce qui est religieux….Face aux lectures littéralistes et aux interprétations culturelles, il faut mener un travail de réforme qui affirme avec force qu’il ne peut y avoir de fidélité à la substance de textes sans évolution de leur interprétation. Une tradition religieuse qui reste statique se trahit: il n’y a pas de tradition ni de fidélité sans évolution.
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