First U.S. Appearance–Tariq Ramadan to Speak at 6th Annual CAIR-Chicago Banquet
Read his full bio HERE.
RSVP for the Banquet HERE. Hurry while tickets last!
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CAIR-Chicago is pleased to announce that Professor Tariq Ramadan will be the keynote speaker at its 6th Annual Banquet on April 10, 2010. The appearance of Professor Ramadan will be a milestone for the American Muslim community since he was banned from visiting the United States almost six years ago. Late last month Secretary of State Hilary Clinton signed an order revoking Professor Ramadan’s visa ban.
In 2004, Ramadan, a Swiss citizen who is currently a professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University had been offered a tenured teaching position at the University of Notre Dame when the Bush administration revoked his visa citing unsubstantiated ties to terrorism and minor charitable contributions made by Professor Ramadan as reason for the visa revocation.
Civil rights activists accused the Bush Administration of using the Patriot Act to silence foreign scholars who were critical of their foreign and domestic policies by refusing their entry into the country to speak or teach.
Ramadan said in a published statement regarding Secretary Clinton’s reversal of the visa ban, “The decision brings to an end a dark period in American politics that saw security considerations invoked to block critical debate through a policy of exclusion and baseless allegation.”
Professor Tariq Ramadan holds Masters in Philosophy and French literature and a PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Geneva. He received one-on-one intensive training in classic Islamic scholarship from Al-Azhar University scholars in Cairo, Egypt.
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.
CAIR-Chicago looks to this appearance of Professor Ramadan as the first of many opportunities for him to engage in enlightened discourse on the compatibility of Islam and modernity.