Motus Mentis

The prominent Swiss Muslim theologian Tariq Ramadan is a controversial figure: to some, he is an important moderate voice, one that could do much to heal the deepening rift between Islamic and Western culture, while to others his call for an assimilable, Europeanized form of Islam masks a more radical agenda that is closer to the aims of his grandfather, Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and of the radical Islamist intellectual Sayyid Qutb, who was a comrade of Ramadan’s father Said.

Now Horace Jeffery Hodges, whose engrossing weblog The Gypsy Scholar is linked to on our sidebar, has written an excellent series of posts examining Tariq Ramadan’s ideas and influences. If you have an interest in the history, philosophy, and personalities that have shaped the current phase of this ancient struggle — and how could you not? — you should go and have a look. The series begins here.