Tariq Ramadan: the liberals’ favourite Muslim

Although Koranic study and French post-modern theory may seem to be two very distinct modes of thought, they in fact share a common openness to multiple interpretations. At least, that’s the polite way of putting it. Some might say that they are both refuges for intellectual vagueness and evasion.

If so, then no one has benefited more from this particular conjunction of obscurantism than Tariq Ramadan, who brings a post-modernist sensibility to the business of discussing Islam.

Plenty know who Ramadan is, but few know what he actually stands for

The grandson of Hassan al Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ramadan is a senior research fellow at St Anthony’s College, Oxford, and president of the think tank European Muslim Network.

As such, he is often spoken of as a leading Muslim intellectual, a reformist who is able to move between the academic circuit, the clerical establishment (he's been an ardent defender of the reactionary Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi) and the wider Muslim population with equal felicity.

But so far the size of his reputation comfortably outstrips the strength of his ideas. There are plenty of people who know who Ramadan is, but far fewer who know what he actually stands for.

And of those that do think they know, some believe that Ramadan tailors his message to different audiences - secular and Muslim - to such an extent that it amounts to deception.