Ramadan

Lore & Background

Ramadan is the month in which the Quran is believed to have been revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, known as Laylat al-Qadr. Muslims hold that all scriptures were revealed during Ramadan, including the scrolls of Abraham, Torah, Psalms, Gospel, and Quran. Muhammad is said to have received his first quranic revelation on Laylat al-Qadr, one of five odd-numbered nights during the last ten days of Ramadan.

Reader's Guide

Ramadan is central to Islamic faith and practice, serving as a period of heightened devotion, self-discipline, and community solidarity. Fasting from dawn to sunset is obligatory for all Muslims who have reached puberty and are not exempt due to illness, travel, or other conditions. The predawn meal is suhur, and the nightly feast that breaks the fast is iftar. Spiritual rewards (thawab) are believed to be multiplied during Ramadan, and Muslims refrain from all sinful behavior during fasting hours. The month ends with Eid al-Fitr, which marks the return to normal eating, drinking, and marital intimacy. The Islamic calendar is lunar, so Ramadan migrates through the seasons, and its start is determined by moon sighting or calculation, leading to possible variation by a day between countries.

Did You Know?

• The word Ramadan derives from an Arabic root meaning 'scorching heat'.
• In some hadiths, it is considered prohibited to say only 'Ramadan' without 'month of'.
• Muslims in countries with Persian influence often use the word Ramazan or Ramzan.
• In Shia Islam, the 19th and 21st days of Ramadan mark the assassination and death of Ali.

Academic Positions and Institutional Turbulence

Tariq Ramadan's academic trajectory was marked by both high-profile appointments and repeated institutional conflicts. State Department revoked his H-1B visa under the Patriot Act's ideological exclusion provision, prompting him to resign.

Family Legacy and Intellectual Self-Definition

Ramadan's intellectual identity is deeply intertwined with a family legacy in Islamic reform. His father, Said Ramadan, was a prominent Brotherhood figure exiled to Switzerland by Gamal Abdel Nasser. His great-uncle, Gamal al-Banna, was a liberal Muslim reformer. Despite these roots, Ramadan has described himself as a Salafi reformist, writing and lecturing on Islam, Muslim identity in Europe, and reformist thought. His academic training spans French literature (M.A.) and Arabic and Islamic studies (PhD) at the University of Geneva, with a dissertation titled Nietzsche as a Historian of Philosophy. This combination of Islamic scholarly lineage, European academic formation, and self-identified reformist positioning distinguishes his public intellectual profile from that of more conventional religious scholars.

Criminal Convictions and Legal Proceedings

Ramadan's later years have been dominated by serious criminal proceedings in two countries. The French judgment remains subject to appeal. The Swiss charges included rape and sexual coercion, while the French counts encompassed rape and rape of a vulnerable person. Together, these proceedings across two jurisdictions represent a profound rupture in his public standing, contrasting sharply with his earlier profile as a celebrated academic and public intellectual whose work on Muslim identity in Europe had attracted wide attention.

Political Engagement and International Controversy

Beyond academia, Ramadan built a substantial network of political and interfaith engagement across Europe. He founded the Mouvement des Musulmans Suisses, which organized interfaith seminars, and established the European Muslim Network, a Brussels-based think-tank gathering Muslim intellectuals and activists. He served as an advisor to the European Union on religious matters and was consulted on a commission examining Islam and secularism. However, his outspoken criticism of what he called undemocratic regimes earned him persona non grata status in Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Syria, as well as in Israel. These episodes illustrate how his public intellectual work consistently intersected with geopolitical sensitivities.