Tariq Ramadan's Confusion
I'm currently reading Tariq Ramadan's new book, The Quest For Meaning: Developing a Philosophy of Pluralism, so you don't have to. Let me give you a little taste of the depth of his scholarship and the cadence of his prose:
We have to begin at the beginning. The intuitions of the women's liberation and feminist movements all over the world from the nineteenth century onwards and throughout the twentieth were highly pertinent: autonomy is central to the 'woman question'. In order to protect themselves from the strength, power, freedom, and sometimes the domination, of women, men organized and systematized their ontological, physical, social and financial dependency, and sometimes their intellectual dependency. The movements that fought against women's slavery in the United States (Female Anti-Slavery Society) and the Suffragettes who, from 1865 onwards, fought for civil equality, first in Great Britain and then in the United States, wanted recognition of women's autonomy in terms of being and status as much as in terms of enjoyment of rights...
Yes, as you can see Ramadan is confusing an abolitionist society made up of women with an imaginary movement "that fought against women's slavery" - whatever that means. Does he really imagine women were enslaved en masse in the United States? The entire book is like this. If one were to dissect it closely one would find that Ramadan shifts from saying nothing at all, but using lots and lots of words to do so in treacly New Age fashion, to saying something that is completely muddled and confused, similar to what you see above. Certainly this book is in the running for worst book of the decade, maybe even quarter century.
My review is coming for the October issue. Stay tuned.
Posted on 09/08/2010 12:53 PM by Rebecca Bynum
Comments
8 Sep 2010
Mary Jackson
systematized their ontological, physical, social and financial dependency
Ontologicical? That really hurt.
Ontology - sistas are doin' it for themselves.
9 Sep 2010
John P.
He's being true to type. Islam is a parody, a mockery of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and so Ramdan's 'intellectual' sorties are a parody, a mockery, of western scholarship.
A musical chimp attempting to play Chopin.
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