Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan by Caroline Fourest Read Free Book Online Page B

atheists, strangers, or missionaries might have said. He
advised them: `Discuss these questions among yourselves and study them
in the company of those who are well informed; but as for ordinary people,
speak to them in such a way as to have an immediate influence and render them more obedient to God."'46 This sentence, quoted by Tariq Ramadan in On the Origins of the Muslim Renaissance, shows us-better than any
analysis could-where his habit comes from of speaking with one voice to
people outside his community and with another to people within it.

    Islamists in general have learned how to lie in order to avoid exposure. This principle even bears a name: taqiyya. The Shiites applied this prerogative when lying or even when swearing that they were not Shiite in order
to survive when they were persecuted by the Sunnis for their religious beliefs.
The reflex has remained with them. It spread to the Sunni Islamists intent
on furthering their cause despite the strict surveillance they were under in
Arab countries. Today, it is used by Islamists living in the Western democracies, not in order to avoid arrest, but simply as a means of pursuing their ends
while remaining disguised.
    Students of Islamism, who have heard militants say one thing in public and another when with their brothers, have become accustomed to this kind
of doublespeak. Many have been disconcerted by the doublespeak until they
have come to understand that this behavior forms an integral part of Islamist rhetoric. For Jean-Yves Chaperon, a reporter for Luxembourg's radio
and television (RTL) who has been covering the subject for many years, it
no longer comes as a surprise: "With the Islamists you'll always find this
kind of duality: sweetness on the outside, and fire within."47 Nonetheless, it
is always a bit disconcerting when somebody lies to you, often with a broad
smile. Another Islamist speciality is to make totally unacceptable remarks
in the most angelic manner. Hassan al-Tourabi is a prime example of what
the Muslim Brotherhood is capable of producing (although he has since
denied any connection with the Brotherhood). He often astounds his listeners by his habit of stirring up hatred in a good-natured, almost likeable,
manner. This friendly host studied in Paris, where he founded the Association of Islamic Students of France. He enjoys receiving French journalists
in order to explain to them, in the most cheerful of tones, how his social
model will, in the end, destabilize the entire planet.4$ This trait is even
more crude in the case of Omar Bakri, for many years the London leader
of the now banned Al-Muhajiroun, a man who makes no secret of the fact
that he has organized trips to Afghanistan and served as an agent of AlQaeda propaganda. He delights in summoning journalists and proclaiming, a broad smile on his face, that he is a fervent supporter of bin Laden,
and that non-Muslims will soon be defeated or will burn in hell. To utter
such anathemas in the very heart of the West, without taking the slightest
risk thanks to the right of free speech, is, for him, an additional source of
pleasure. It should be mentioned that such statements would, in his native
country of Syria, result in his immediate imprisonment, and probably in
his torture. The situation is a bit more complex for activists whose objective
is strategic. They are obliged to tone down their rhetoric, even to learn how
to lie-with a smile that expresses their disdain for the naivete of non-Muslims. And who can blame them? It is typical Western naivete to think that
one can form an opinion of determined, anti-democratic militants by relying on good impressions and to believe that fanatics dorit lie. The result is that Western journalists, when confronted by Islamists who are even a little
cunning, are constantly thrown off the track.

A Brother or not a Brother?
    "I have no functional connection with the Muslim Brotherhood," Tariq
Ramadan made a point of