The double-talk of Tariq Ramadan
Caroline Fourest on Tariq Ramadan:
It has taken me years to reveal the double-talk of the controversial Islamic speaker Tariq Ramadan.
Since 2009 I have known that he has also led a double life, contradicting his many sermons on the « Islamic conception of sexuality. » Yet I could not write what I knew. The most serious facts could not be revealed without strong evidence, without a victim filing a complaint. Other facts were deeply troubling, revealing a hypocritical and misogynistic pathology, but I wanted to respect the principal of the right to privacy. I had enough evidence to demonstrate the duplicity of Tariq Ramadan without entering such a sordid area. But I did, however, alert colleagues and even lieutenants of Ramadan. Nothing happened.
The preacher’s groupies continued to quote him as a reminder that sex outside marriage was haram. It made me smile as I listened to his Puritan sermons about temptation and the duty of chastity. Like the tape on « the great sins, » where he gets carried away against men daring to swim in mixed pools: « You go there and inevitably it attracts you!
Therefore you have to segregate all the things! Which means women have to stay home.
On social media one of his loyal lieutenants already sees the work of an « international Zionist » plot . His fans accuse the victim, a repentant Salafist, of lying and wanting to promote herself (which, as everyone knows, is tempting). I have not meet her. But what I can say is that her precise and terrifying story is very similar to what four other women have told me.
It was in 2009, on the eve of my debate with Tariq Ramadan on TV. The French press had announced the debate. A first woman contacted me to tell me what she had experienced. I was suspicious. A false testimony to push me into making a mistake? With Tariq Ramadan anything is possible. At first I did not answer. Her messages became increasingly detailed. To clarity the situation I ended up seeing her. She showed me text messages and pictures that confirmed her allegations against Ramadan. She also put me in touch with other girls. They had experienced the same events: a request for religious advice had turned into a compulsive sexual relationship, very violent and very humiliating, before ending in threats. One of them had been subjected to such violence that it warranted prosecution. I presented her to a judge. But she feared Tariq Ramadan too much. She thought she was being followed. She was clearly too fragile to persevere.
Fourest’s conscience wouldn’t allow her to press the woman to accuse Ramadan.
I am well-placed to know the violence of the networks of the Muslim Brotherhood when one stands up to « brother Tariq. » I can hear the sermonizers joking about « everyone knowing and no one saying anything. » They cannot imagine the storm which would have engulfed this young woman if she had dared to break the omerta at the time. Now that Henda Ayari has had this courage, the situation has changed. My duty is to invite all those who can testify to do so, either in the press or at his trial. We must not abandon her. We must not leave her to confront the pack alone.
It’s time to break the omerta.
That’s what it all boils down to, isn’t it? The anti-TERF violence. The anti-SWERF violence. The favoring of religion over non-religion. The entire structure of the religious enterprise. The entire structure of the good old boy network in pretty nearly (probably not pretty nearly, but…) every profession in every part of the world. The slut shaming. The trolling. The sexual harassment. The use of adjectives such as “hysterical” “uppity” or other (a recent biography I read of Ernestine Rose referred to her repeatedly as “condescending” – a ‘nice’ way of saying uppity?). The hounding of Rebecca Watson, Anita Sarkeesian, and any woman who dares to appear in public without meeting the ‘proper’ standards of femininity that give men boners – and smiling as she wobbles on those high heels.
In short, women, stay home. Stay pregnant. Cook our dinners. Wear sexy clothes – but only for the one who owns you to see. Give all your property over to your husband when your father hands you over to him. That way, everything – property, jobs, money, women – belongs to men, and the men are happy and they will treat us nice. (Sure, I believe that! No, actually, I don’t).