Good timing

There i was rambling on about suicide bombers and what not, struggling to put my thoughts into words about how in particular young british muslims could be motivated to commit acts like suicide bombings and i find in today(mondays) paper an interview with a Swiss Muslim academic who can add a level of insight a smidgen greater than my own.

Tariq Ramadan has already been attacked by the sun newspaper for being "more dangerous" than Abu Hamza or Omar Bakiri. That should probably all one needs to know given the journalistic integrity of the sun. In reality he is a philosophy lecturer at the University of Geneva and president of the Swiss Muslim Association and has had no hesitation in denouncing the suicide bombings.

In case you were in any doubt as to how radical he is considered the police did want to have a word with him upon entering the country, although that would be because he was a keynote speaker at a conference sponsored by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Metropolitan Police.

Possibly key to why young Muslim men are attracted to the words of radical clerics could well be a guilt, feelings of inadequacy and alienation. "Young people are told: everything you do is wrong- you don't pray, you drink, you arn't modest, you don't behave. They are told that the only way to be a good Muslim is to live in an Islamic society, Since they can't do that, this magnifies their sense of inadequacy and creates an identity crisis. Such young people are easy pray for someone who comes along and says, 'there is a way to purify yourself'. Some of these figures even keep the young people drinking to increase their sense of guilt and make them easier to manipulate."

An interesting theory as to why perhaps those first steps are taken on a path that can lead to infamy. He does however have an altenrative, this is not some hopeless situation. The alternative is to teach them to develop a critical mind. "On the arts, literature, the way we eat, our sense of humour, the second generation feel close to the non-Muslims they went to school with. That's right. That's the Islamic way. The universlity of Islam is shown by the way you integrate into the local culture. Our young people need to be told, you can dress in European clothes - so long as you respect the principle of modesty. Democracy and pluralism arn't against your Islamic principles. Anything in Western culture that does not contradict the message of Islam can be accepted and integrated."

Is this guy talking of a 3rd way that isn't a total nonsense, whenever i hear that phrase i can't help think of Tony Blair and John Boyle. The interview is well worth reading in it's original form, it the kind of piece where i half bother why i'm summarising it, i'd be as well just putting in and a link and saying read this. To be honest all the things he has to say makes a lot of sense, and i'm trying to think of an exception i can make. He is willing to critisize Muslim societies, western governments, even muslims in the west for how they integrate with western society, not enough seems to be the judgement rather than to much.

Basicaly the guy talks sense and if what he said in this interview is representative of his opinions in general i can't think of a better person for the police associations to have invited. If only mainstream rags like the sun would sensibly and accurately put his opinion across as unfortunatley they have the largest readership in the country and hard as i credit it to believe are responsible for forming many peoples opinions.

Oh aye, there is one thing i guess i can say about this guy, he's clearly still religious despite his forward thinking views, i'd say i was an athiest but i'm not prejudice against religious folks when they are willing to show they are that erudite and intelligent. Who am i to critisise? :-)