Ian Hamel

But the biggest blow was brought to him by Muslims of France (the former UOIF), the tricolor branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Even prior to the distribution of his work, Duty of truth (produced in 12,000 copies) in the bookstores, the Muslim association declared itself betrayed “by the behavior revealed by Mr. Ramadan, a behavior that is in total contradiction with the ethical and moral principles expected by somebody who preaches Islam, calls for his spirituality and his values, and responds to the questions of a mainly young audience and looking for models”.

The Middle East Eye site, considered close to the Brotherhood and to Qatar, does not spare him, by declaring “the impossible defense of Tariq Ramadan”, and evoking a “smell of scandal “. The French press did not allow this rejection, on the part of the Brotherhood, giving it the place it deserved. Certainly, Muslims of France took a lot of time before breaking with the Swiss preacher. We should remind that at the annual meeting of Muslims of France, at Bourget in 2018, the main french Muslim association had not hesitated to applaud a man imprisoned for two rapes! But you have to know that since the creation of the Brotherhood in 1928, on the banks of the Nile in Egypt, the family of Hassan al-Banna had always been untouchable. The book The Muslim Brotherhood from origins to our days (Amr Elshobaki, Karthala, 2009) reports that one of the brothers of the General Guide was accused of stealing money. He was never worried. Hassan al-Banna will even cover one of his brothers-in-law, Abdel Hakim Abdeen, suspected of harassing and assaulting sexually the wives of some Muslim of the Muslim Brotherhood. The facts are serious enough that the Brotherhood’s internal tribunal decides to meet for the first time in 1945. The court demands the conviction of the brother-in-law. But Hassan al-Banna rejects the report presented by the Committee stating that it would form an additional impartial committee. In fact, he will exclude the members of the commission that drafted the report damning about Abdel Hakim Abdeen …

Farid Abdelkrim, former Muslim Brother (he led the Young Muslims of France), author of Why I Stop Being Islamist (Points on i, 2015) tells that the hostility of the leaders of the former UOIF against Tariq Ramadan comes from far away, because the character is particularly hateful and out of control. Internally, he is also nicknamed “His majesty TR”. But as soon as Hassan al-Banna’s grandson appears, everyone goes to bed. “I have in mind this convocation addressed to him by our honorable council on the pretext that he had to be called to order (…) Shortly before he joined, many openly showed their desire to fight out with the unmanageable Everyone went there with his unwavering determination to administer to him in the face his four truths … Now, just when he appeared, I was in such a panic “says Farid Abdelkrim. All that Ahmed Jeballah, president of the UOIF, manages to pronounce: “Tariq, uh … you are dear to us … Uh you are of ours and … and we are yours … ”

As for the book Duty of truth, it contains no revelation. He’s just rattling off in 283 pages the truths of the Swiss preacher. In fact, Tariq Ramadan would have fallen into a “Trap” (not to say “conspiracy”) fomented by the French power necessarily Islamophobic. And in order to compromise him, to shoot him down, we would not stop dragging in his bed women (inevitably easy ones). However, we will retain its attacks against Qatar. On the one share, by a pirouette, he denies that the emirate could have paid him 35,000 euros per month. “How could I have taken the silly risk of repatriating this money to France, as mentioned by Tracfin, where I am so guarded? He asks. Some lines below, he adds without laughing: “Can those who criticize me quote even one only speech or text where I defended a Gulf state, a monarchy, a dictatorship? On the contrary, there are dozens of examples of texts in which I denounce Saudi Arabia, as well as Qatar, Iran, Turkey … “.

Too bad that Tariq Ramadan does not go so far as to mention the publications where he would have allegedly dumped his wrath against the al-Thani, and more particularly against the Sheikha Moza, the mother of the current Emir, who sponsored his Chair at Oxford. We can also wonder why Tariq Ramadan chose to domiciliate his wife and his two girls in Doha, in this horrible dictatorship. Himself spending two weeks a month in his palaces!

* Journalist and writer, specialist of the Muslim Brotherhood.