Tariq Ramadan Lecture: Islam and Democracy 

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April 9, 2007 | In April 2007 the Berkley Center hosted Tariq Ramadan over satellite feed from Europe to speak and answer questions on Islam and democracy, Muslim minorities in Western Europe, and Catholic-Muslim relations. Since July 2004 Ramadan has been unable to enter the United States. Shortly before he was to assume a professorship at Notre Dame University, his visa was revoked under the "ideological exclusion" provision of the Patriot Act. The visa denial is the subject of an ongoing legal challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the American Academy of Religion, the American Association of University Professors, and PEN American Center.
Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University. A Swiss citizen of Egyptian descent, he holds degrees in Philosophy and French Literature and a PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Geneva. He has also studied at al-Azhar. He advocates a self-confident Islam that both engages and critiques Western ideas and institutions. His works include Western Muslims and the Future of Islam (2003) and Radical Reform (2009). He is President of the European Muslim Network.