Prof. Dr. Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan who is one of the most important thinkers of second generation Muslims in Europe was born in Switzerland in 1962. He came under intense criticism for his opposing comments against the hijab ban at French high schools. In 2008 his US visa was canceled. Ramadan introduces himself as a bridge between Islam and Europe. His collection of books and speeches which he has compiled at a young age are popular among Muslim youth throughout Europe.
Professor Tariq Ramadan is the grandson of Hasan El Benna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ihvân-ı Müslimîn). He holds a MA in Philosophy and French literature which he completed about the German thinker Nietzsche. Furthermore Ramadan holds a PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Geneva. Between 1988 and 1992 he was appointed as Dean of the Geneva College. In 1992 he received one-on-one intensive training in classic Islamic scholarship from Al-Azhar University scholars in Cairo, Egypt.
Despite his young age, he spent large part of his life by supporting the struggle for independence of underdeveloped countries in Africa, South America and Asia.
Professor Tariq Ramadan has resigned from the post of Professor of Islamic Studies at Notre Dame University (Classic Department) and Luce Professor at the Kroc Institute (Religion Conflict and Peacebuilding).
He is Professor of Islamic Studies (Faculty of Theology at Oxford). Professor Ramadan is also a Visiting Professor (holding the chair: Identity and Citizenship) at Erasmus University in Netherland.
He is currently Senior Research Fellow St Antony’s College (Oxford), Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan) and at the Lokahi Foundation (London).
In October 2007, he was offered a Professorial Chair in Islamic Sudies at the University of Leiden. He decided to turn down the offer.
Through his writings and lectures he has contributed substantially to the debate on the issues of Muslims in the West and Islamic revival in the Muslim world. He is active both at the academic and grassroots levels lecturing extensively throughout the world on social justice and dialogue between civilizations.
Professor Tariq Ramadan is currently President of the European think tank: European Muslim Network (EMN) in Brussels.
Professor Ramadan speaks French, English, Italian, Finnish and Spanish. His book ‘Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity’ has also been translated into Turkish.