Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan Page 20
Long live sex, but only within marriage!
Unlike Christian fundamentalists, Muslim fundamentalists have, in theory, no qualms about speaking of sex. Even Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood's theologian, who preaches on Al-Jazeera TV, is known for his juicy sexual metaphors. As Gilles Kepel put it: "Islam has never been encumbered by our Victorian prudishness, for while zina (fornication) is condemned on all sides-which results in an apparent desexualization of public societysex, once it is within the law, is considered an excellent thing, since it provides pleasure (for men at any rate) and perpetuates the species."76 Heir to the tradition inaugurated by a Prophet who was keen on women, Tariq Ramadan encourages Muslim men to think of sex as something natural, and even to take women's feelings into account. "Don't be brusque." But removing the guilt attached to sexuality has its limits. While they are far from devoting a cult to chastity (as do fundamentalist Christians, following St. Paul's example), Muslim fundamentalists live in constant fear of engaging in unlawful sexual acts. Websites such as Fatwa Bank or Fatwa-Online are inundated with questions that reveal a fear of transgression-a fear that the Islamist leaders are keen to foster. Even in marriage, relations are so codified that certain Islamic publishing houses have specialized in producing instruction manuals. For instance, Le manage en Islam: Modalites et finalites [Marriage in Islam: Means and Ends]-a manual you can find in any Islamist bookshop associated with the Muslim Brotherhood-recommends reciting an invocation before sexual relations: "When one of you approaches his wife, if he says to himself: `In the name of God, 0 God, keep Satan away from all that you will give us,' and if a child is then granted you, Satan will be helpless to harm him and will have no power over him." 77
Confronted by this avalanche of taboos, all the more agonizing because they are vaguely worded, Tariq Ramadan seems to provide an alternative for these youngsters, terrified lest they confound what is haram (illicit) with what is halal (licit). He disapproves ofthe binary, systematic way of approaching a religion that he sees, above all, as "a religion of the heart": "How have we come to make of Islam a technical system of rules and regulations?" he asked, in vexed tones, ofhis Muslim audience, which was relieved to hear this sort of language.78 Unfortunately, the let-up was not to last for long. For the open-mindedness that Tariq Ramadan displays is only superficial. In content he says exactly the same things as is written in the books he refers to, published by houses with which he is on good terms. The rules-Yusuf al-Qar- adawi's speciality-governing what is "licit or illicit," end up being applied. Ramadan asks of young people "an Islamic conception of sexuality," that is to say "exclusively within the context of marriage."79 He is ready to admit that sexuality is "a natural need," but he asks his followers to exercise self-control "in order to remain worthy in the eyes of God." "Sexuality is natural; it is to be lived naturally," he asserts, before insisting on the necessity of remaining chaste until marriage.
The fact of "exercising self-control until marriage" is presented as a gift comparable to the alms given to "him or her that one loves in the eyes of God,"'° which is exactly the approach taken by traditionalist Christians. A few years ago, I interviewed a young activist in the movement Love and Truth, an association responsible for promulgating the Catholic Churchs position on chastity. He explained his point of view in the same terms.', To be sure, abstinence is a perfectly respectable choice, so long as one does not try to make those who have another conception of sexuality feel guilty, especially at a time when talking openly is essential because of the threat of AIDS. What does Tariq Ramadan have to say on the subject? Does he take advantage of his unbelievable prestige to advise young Muslims to "protect" themselves? I have never heard him pronounce the words `AIDS" or "condom' in his talks on sexuality. No doubt because, as with the Catholic Church, he considers that the model he proposes provides the remedy in itself: abstinence, then faithfulness, and too bad for those who lose their way.
On the other hand, unlike many fundamentalist Christians, he has nothing against contraception by natural means, so long as it is between married couples. Mohammed himself permitted one of his contemporaries to practice coitus interruptus so as to avoid his wife becoming pregnant once again. Tariq Ramadan specifies that it must be "a natural form of contraception' that is no danger to health, and that it must be performed with the wife's consent. He remained, however, sufficiently vague for a member ofthe audience to feel it necessary to ask him if contraception involving anything other than natural means was authorized. His reply: A man and a woman have sexual relations in the framework of a marriage with the idea offounding a family ... buts chol- ars are in favor of all forms of contraception that respect Islamic values ."12 Which hardly made things crystal clear. In the event, it turns out that "Islamic values" authorize contraception if a couple already have too many children, but not if it is a question merely of protecting what Ramadan calls "a couple"s selfishness." One suspects also that artificial contraception is authorized if there is no health risk or danger of permanent sterilization. On the other hand, at no point in his conference on the "Islamic conception of sexuality" does he say a word about abortion. To know more, the faithful are obliged to solicit the opinion of the European Fatwa Council, the theological apparatus ofthe Union of Islamic Organizations of France. In one case, Yousouflbram, a Union militant, issued afatwa refusing to grant the right of abortion to a woman who had asked his advice, a mother of four children who could not stand being constantly pregnant year after year.83 The Council's fatwa number 22-published in the selfsame book that has a preface by Tariq Ramadan-reiterated that recourse to abortion was forbidden: `Abortion is illicit in terms of the Islamic sharia"84-an opinion confirmed by Ramadan himself in his book of interviews with Jacques Neirynck: `Abortion is forbidden, except in cases where scholars have unanimously decided that the life of the mother is in danger."85 Christian "scholars" have ignited controversy for less than that.
"A man for a woman and a woman for a man"
Tariq Ramadan bans homosexuality for his followers: "Islam, in regard to sexuality, has established limits. God decreed that there be an order. And that order is a man for a woman and a woman for a man." 86 Obviously, it is no invention of his. The Koran, like all the monotheist religions that invoke Sodom and Gomorrah, condemns homosexuality. But some believers have revised their opinion on this prejudice that belongs to another age. Tariq Ramadan is not one of them. For him, fundamentalism always takes precedence over reform: "The ban is unequivocal; homosexuality is not something that Islam permits."87
This irrevocable condemnation concerns more than the private sphere. When Jacques Neirynck brought up the question ofthe Pacte civile de Societe or Civil Solidarity Contract (which allows unmarried heterosexual or homosexual couples to legally formalize their relationship), the preacher's reply was unambiguous: "Homosexuality is not allowed in Islam, and the pub lic legalization of homosexuality, which is what is demanded in Europe, is inconceivable in Islam, whether it be a question of social acceptance, of marriage, or anything else. There are limits to what can be considered as normal in society and in the public domain."88 At least he makes no bones about it. The simple fact that Ramadan does not advocate the death sentence for homosexuals is enough for him to be considered a liberal Muslim. We can be grateful to him for encouraging his peers not to insult those whose lives are, in his terms, "outside of nature." He admits being moved by the numerous letters received from young Muslims suffering from the hostility that they encounter in their communities. He invites his brothers and sisters of the faith "not to pass judgment on human beings, even if they pass judgment on the acts they commit."89 Which brings to mind the hypocritically compassionate distinction proposed by the Pope when he differentiates "the sinner" from "the sin." As in the case of Christians, the rejection of homosexuality goes together with "an offer to accompany them' on the road to repentance and recovery. What Tariq Ramadan calls "guiding them towards a more righteous way," "that is in harmony with mans creation. "90 As far as com
passion is concerned, it is, above all, a means of diluting the intolerance of his message with a semblance of charity-the sort of "charity" that has led Jewish and Christian fundamentalists (and soon their Muslim counterparts?) to set up associations of "reformed homosexuals," in which the faithful who are in the grips of temptation are propelled towards heterosexuality by means of sermons, "guilt" sessions, and sometimes even exorcism. In Tariq Ramadaris case as well, the call for tolerance is rapidly exhausted: "For Islam, homosexuality is not natural; it lies outside the true way and outside the rules by which we become human beings in the eyes of God. Such behavior is a sign of disorder, dysfunction and disequilibrium."91
As a result, the problem of homophobia in the Muslim community is by no means resolved. Young people coming from Muslim families who are unlucky enough to fall in love with someone of the same sex are immediately classed as apostates; which, in the eyes of the scholars close to Tariq Ramadan, warrants the death sentence. Sheikh Qaradawi puts it this way: "When a man becomes effeminate and a woman virile, it's a sign of chaos and moral decadence."92 Tariq Ramadan shares the same obsession: "Just how far can one accept that a young boy acts like a girl, and a young girl like a boy? Where is the border line?"93 Once more, he is on the same wavelength as his brother Hani.
This intransigence is not limited to homosexuals. Even heterosexual sodomy is a tragedy! According to a hadith cited by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Prophet is supposed to have said: "Do not visit your wives by the anus" for "it is almost homosexuality."94 In obedience to this teaching, Tariq Ramadan forbids sodomy: "That sort of act encourages something that is close to bestiality."95 He says the same thing about pornography, characterized as "bestiality in the form of images."96 Finally, even if Islam is supposedly less prudish than Christianity, and despite his promise of achieving serenity, the figure of Tariq Ramadan that emerges from his advice on sexuality is very much the puritan.
Keeping watch on the young
In a conference devoted to the "major sins," recorded in Reunion in August 1999, Tariq Ramadan called for mobilization of the Muslim community as a whole to combat fornication among the young:
It's a monstrous transgression, a monstrosity, to live such an experience outside the bonds of marriage. And young people today, in our Muslim community, here in Reunion, are doing things that are shocking to us and that are not Islamic. We are all of us concerned. Rather than staying behind in the mosque repeating "Please, 0 God, protect us from that," we must launch a vast campaign of education to bring back our children, our daughters and our sons.
At least Ramadan has the merit of insisting that parents stop making more stringent demands of their daughters than of their sons. Which is certainly worthwhile, given the fact that daughters in some Muslim families are constantly spied on and denied any sort of outing on their own, so strong is the fear that their virginity may be at stake, while their brothers can do anything they like, including mistreating, attacking, or raping girls: "I have not spoken only of young girls, as I dori t know where you got the idea that to pro tect your daughters you should let your sons have their way .... In terms of protecting the body, there is no difference between a boy and a girl."97 Unfortunately, we see that this call to keep as close a watch over boys as over girls is an encouragement not to grant more liberty for all, but rather to impose more restrictions on all.
Woman: Keep us from temptation
As is the case in all the monotheistic religions, Tariq Ramadan is obsessed by the perils of zina, that is to say, fornication or adultery. Like all men, he would reform society so as to protect men and their sexual instincts, rather than challenge the ideology of male domination. Tariq Ramadan calls on women to protect men from temptation! Ifthey want their husbands to remain faithful, they are expected to "give themselves over entirely." "What is asked of a Muslim wife in regard to her husband is to be the cloak that protects him from the unlawful ... to know how to surround him with tenderness and offer him in terms of sexuality what he need not seek elsewhere."98 It is a recommendation that brings to mind several hadiths in which women are clearly presented as sex objects for men: A woman must never refuse a man, even on the edge of a burning stove";99 or again, A woman must never refuse him even on the back of a camel." This recommendation may appear unimportant, but it is one of the prerogatives of Muslim men, and is by no means the least. In the West, men who regard equality between men and women as an offense to their virility are sometimes attracted by a religion that seems to cater to their desires. This patriarchal conception would be a matter of personal morality if it applied only in the sphere of the family. But to Ramadan's way ofthinking, these taboos and recommendations are to be extended to the social domain, with the result that women are asked to do everything in their power to avoid tempting men; in other words, they are obliged to hide themselves beneath a veil, so that their feminine silhouette should not excite men's male instincts. Ramadan's explanation resembles the most odious expressions of male chauvinism: "If it is women who are asked to wear the veil, it's because the weaker of the two is not the woman; in reality, the weaker of the two is the man, and the man who looks at a woman is far more vulnerable than the reverse. The veil is a protection for the weaker of the two."°° So it is the men who are the weak beings, and women, acting as good Muslims, must help them overcome their instincts ... by hiding! And all of this, of course, in the name of that marvelous strength that women possess, which is always invoked as a prelude to requiring more obedience of them. To be sure, the requirement to act with decency is supposed to apply to men as well as to women; but in practice this recommendation, as always, concerns primarily women. They are the only ones required to wear a veil because "beauty must not suggest seduction." So, Ramadan tells women, "ifyou try to attract attention, by your body, your perfume, your appearance, or by gestures, you are not on the path of decency, you are not on the way that leads to spirituality."'
From the obsession with decency to separation of the sexes
Tariq Ramadan has devoted considerable time to thinking about relations between men and women. According to him, three things can disrupt relations: ignorance of the principles of Islam, the overly restrictive constraints insisted on by certain scholars, and systematically choosing the opposite of what is done in the West, instead of relying on Islam: "In the name of the campaign against certain types of relations between men and women based on seduction," he explains, "we tend to forget the true sense of our relations founded on spirituality, on the sense ofourbeing, and on complementarity."b02 Which leads him to urge Muslims to do away with the atmosphere of suspicion that prevails between them: "The Muslim community-it is brothers and sisters together, respectful of Islamic principles; not brothers against sisters." 103 As an example, he takes campuses where the young Muslim male students speak with other women, but not with their Muslim sisters. "You can speak with your sisters, but only under certain conditions." His grandfather was more adamant on the subject, since his program "banned male and female students being educated together," and considered that "students meeting alone together were committing a punishable crime." Ramadan, however, knows that he has to deal with audiences that are very much in favor ofcoeducation. Yet his acceptance ofopen relations between men and women has its limits.
In theory, Tariq Ramadan is very critical of overly staged respect for decency. He makes fun of those who tremble at the very idea of taking a good look around them. In practice, however, a young man or woman, having listened to one of his lectures, will come away convinced that duty requires him or her to make every effort to avoid succumbing to temptation or seduction, according to a conception of life that remains Manichean in religious terms: "Don t forget the angels ... the one on the right notes down what you have done that is good; the one on the left what you have done that is bad." 104 Behind his apparently reassuring words, Tariq Ramadan turns out to be an outdated bigot, obsessed with chastity and the risk of transgression. After having intimated that caricaturing the West was no substitute
for thoroughgoing self-criticism of the Muslim community, he lapses into an apocalyptic portrait of a decadent Western society that is a menace to Muslims intent on remaining true to their principles: "When we witness what is happening in the world, and you can see it via television or the press, then all sense of decency is lost. And when decency is lost, it's just do whatever you please; and when you do whatever you please, there are no longer any values, any limits, any sense; there is only total permissiveness." 105 Posters displaying pictures of naked women are particularly repugnant to Tariq Ramadan. On this subject, his rhetoric comes close to that of certain feminists; except that the feminists-at least the majority of them-protest about sexism, rather than the absence of decency. They reject domination, not seduction. Tariq Ramadan says exactly the reverse: "We live in a society that assaults our senses-that accentuates all that stimulates the instincts, particularly by exploiting what, for men, is the feminine dimension. `01 He explains that publicity material featuring scantily clad women constitutes "aggressive stimulation' for him who "has moral principles and wants to please God."107 In his course on "Today's Muslim man' that he gave to a Muslim audience in Roubaix in zoos, he even went so far as to recount his own embarrassment when, on stepping onto a moving walkway in an airport corridor, he could not turn his head without coming face to face with an enormous poster of a woman in a bikini. "Which means that when you walk in the street you should keep your eyes glued to the pavement! 11,o8