As salamu alaykum.
I have to say, I think I disagree with almost everyone here.
I dont approve of Tariq Ramadan myself because he does not have the appropriate background to start giving out verdicts about martyrdom operations and activities of the mujahideen around the world.
He has studied Islam extensively, although you may not agree with him - he is still a scholar and so you should respect him.
But then it was expected, channel 4 would never allow a speaker come on its show if he would speak the truth about islam. for instance, we would never see the likes of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam (Rahimullah) on Dispatches, or would we?
This is one of the reasons I quite like Tariq Ramadan. Although his views are not mainstream with most scholars, he is someone who is trying to bring the great and amazing history and knowledge of Islam to the non-Muslims. I went to a talk recently by him and he mentioned that many great Sheikhs write books on Islam, but these are always in Islamic bookshops published by Islamic publishers. Non-Muslims have no real access to this material. Scholars such as Haneef Oliver (author of Sacred Freedom) are bringing the intellectual nature of Islam to Western audiences. This is in no way a bad thing.
I dont particularly like Tariq Ramadan, his opinions(and that all they are) are complete nonsense.
I don't agree sis. His opinions regarding huduud have a strong Islamic base and though controversial, they are sound from an Islamic perspective. The majority of scholars agree that huduud is only implementable in a Khilafah and even then, it is the final system to be implemented as part of the Khilafah. So shouldn't the scholars openly talk out against the unfair and unIslamic application of huduud? In fact Tariq Ramadan is banned from Saudi for talking out against the Petromonarchy there - not many scholars are willing to do that.
Again, agree or not with his views, he is respectable scholar and I feel he should be given credit.
I did watch most of the programme, but i notice that when he interviewd a group of Muslim youths - none of them seemed particularly religious(Allah knows best). Why couldnt they chose some practising Muslim bros and siss to talk on that programme. Some of the imams made good points but the majority of the programme was complete rubbish
Like Bro Minaz said - we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Also, I feel he was trying to get a broad sprectrum of views from the Islamic youth.
All four schools of thoughts used IJTIHAD as a source for islamic Judgments.
Now maybe the guy said something wrong here n there, but still its not fair to say wat he is saying is nonsens...i just find it too strong.
I am not a big fan of Tariq Ramadn either, I dont agree with some of his statments. But still we have to admit he is serving Islam better than lot others. N let us not forget he is a Mujtahid who will be rewarded by Allah SWT, even if he was wrong in his Ijtihad (as stated by prophet Muhammad PBUH).
Well said sis. The important thing here I believe is that despite differing views we have to realise that unless their view is Islamically corrupt, then we can not really condemn them for it. Unity is the only thing Islam is lacking, and unity of Muslims is the only Dua Allah did not accept from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
i agree with what you saying because, all the muslim youth interviewed not one acted like a proper muslim (i mean dress wise)
I really find this quite disturbing. Are we really that shallow that we make judgements based upon dress. Ok, so maybe a sister wasn't wearing hijab... as her Muslim brother or sister, shouldn't we give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps her parents are severely against it, perhaps she doesn't wear it properly because she is bullied about it, perhaps she spends every night crying to Allah asking for forgiveness from Allah for not wearing it. We're not the judge here, we should not act like it.
Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales; and do not look for the others' faults and do not spy, and do not be jealous of one another, and do not desert (cut your relation with) one another, and do not hate one another; and O Allah's worshipers! Be brothers (as Allah has ordered you!") (Book #73, Hadith #90)
he also interviewed shaid malik who i find sucks up to the khufars (excuse my language).
I don't really know much about this brother but seriously, he bows his head to Allah - doesn't that make him our close brother!
I've been to a few talks by Tariq Ramadan and what he said in the talks I found to be very informed and very intelligent solutions to Muslims problems - some aspects of the show I did not agree with but I don't have to. He is working earnestly towards the Islamic revival and insha'Allah so are we - though we may differ on technicalities we should support the good we see each other do.
Salam.