Tariq Ramadan In Australia

Tariq Ramadan: Renowned Islamic Scholar

The most unusual thing happened yesterday. As I was listening to the Juma Khutba(Sermon) in my local mosque I realized that the Khateeb was not our regular Imam because the voice didn't sound familiar. Anyway, I thought the Imam would certainly announce the guest speaker's name and so I waited for the khutba to get over.

When the khutba was over the Imam spoke in Arabic and I only got bits and peices of it. Once I put it all together I realised that Tariq Ramadan was the guest khateeb. He mentioned Switzerland and Egypt alot in the khutba, which made him fit the profile of the Tariq Ramadan I had heard of. Since, I had never heard him speak I couldn't recognize him at first.I was unaware that he was in Australia.

He talked about how muslims should stop looking at each other as born muslims and converts. Arabs attitude of being better muslims than other non-arab muslims. Muslims that accuse each other of being ignorant about Islam and say that they know more than the other person. Muslims that consider Arabic to be the language of the Believers and English to be the language of the Kufar.

He said that he would not want to go back to Egypt and would rather stay in Switzerland because he has more freedoms in Swiz. He said that when he was growing up he used to think about going back to Egypt but when he went back for studies he realized he was more free as a muslim in Swiz than in Egypt.

What are the odds of him giving a khutba in my local mosque? I don't know why they didn't announce his coming to the masjid last Friday but it sure was a pleasure listening to him.