Dr. Tariq Ramadan

Dr. Tariq Ramadan is a well-respected professor of philosophy at the College of Geneva and Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Fribourg. He is a leading Islamic thinker and was Named by Time magazine one of the 100 most important innovators of the 21st century.

Ramadan has written more than twenty books including Western Muslims and the Future of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003), Islam, the West, and the Challenges of Modernity (The Islamic Foundation, 2000), To Be a European Muslim (The Islamic Foundation, 1998), and Jihad, Violence, War and Peace in Islam (in French only, Tawhid, 2002).

Welcome to this Month of Ramadan

by Tariq Ramadan

A Palestinian girl prays during Ramadan 2008

Once again we welcome it, once again it welcomes us. This month will be, for each of us, what we shall make of it. A month of return, introspection, meditation, brotherhood and love. The month of the Qur’an. Or a month of mechanical fast, almost unaware, that hurries to turn upside down nights and days ending up living the nights to forget the fast of the day…

This month is a feast… not of noise, but silence; not of banquets but restraint; not of forgetfulness but remembrance. This month is a feast for the faith.

We wish everyone a beautiful month of Ramadan. May it be a month of teaching where gift wins over avarice, generosity over selfishness, love over hatred. Be it a month where everyone tries to master one’s anger: the Prophet advised once to respond to adversity during these days of meditation : “I am fasting”…. and to pass over. Be it a month where everyone of us cares more than usual for the needy people in her/his nearest environment.

Happy Ramadan to all of you! May your fast be accepted and blessed. May the Most-High and His Light go along with you, protect you and love you.