Why Revoke Tariq Ramadan's U.S. Visa?

danielpipes.org ^ | August 27, 2004 | Daniel Pipes

[hardhead]

It's not every day that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revokes a visa issued to a Swiss-national scholar scheduled to teach at one of America's premier universities. But this has just happened, and it's a good thing too.

The Swiss scholar is Tariq Ramadan. He is Islamist royalty – his maternal grandfather, Hasan al-Banna, founded the Muslim Brotherhood, probably the single most powerful Islamist institution of the twentieth century, in Egypt in 1928. Tariq is a Swiss citizen because his father, Sa‘id Ramadan, also a leading Islamist, fled from Egypt in 1954 following a crackdown on the brotherhood. Sa‘id reached Geneva in 1958, where Tariq was born in 1962.

Thanks to his pedigree and his talents, Tariq has emerged as a significant force in his own right. Symbolic of this, Time magazine in April named him one of the world's top hundred scientists and thinkers. And so, when Notre Dame University went looking for a Henry R. Luce professor of religion, conflict and peacebuilding, it unsurprisingly settled on Mr. Ramadan.

Its offer was made and accepted by the beginning of 2004; a work visa followed in February. Mr. Ramadan bought a house, found schools for his four children, and dispatched his personal effects to South Bend, Indiana. He was supposed to start teaching a few days ago.

But on July 28, just nine days before the Ramadans were to leave for America, Mr. Ramadan was informed that the Department of Homeland Security had revoked his work visa. A DHS spokesman, Russ Knocke, later explained this had been done in accord with a law that denies entry to aliens who have used a "position of prominence within any country to endorse or espouse terrorist activity." The revocation, Mr. Knocke added, was based on "public safety or national security interests."

[hardhead]

DHS is getting cagey.

[EagleUSA]

It is about time for sure. The liberal academia in this country, that would even have come up with this stupid idea to employ an Islamist, has to be held accountable.

The PC crowd, along with the far-leftists in this country have forgotten what America is and stands for. It IS NOT AN ISLAMIC COUNTRY and after 9/11, should not be pandering to Islamics in any manner.

Now ask the Russians how they feel about Muslim/Islamists???

[dinasour]

Let him visit sunny Gitmo. No visa required. Mastercard not accepted either.

[Valin]

I understand it's lovely this time of year.

[68skylark]

Thanks for the link. I don't know if Homeland Security has any information that isn't public at this time -- I suspect they do. But the information that's public is worrisome enough.