First Name:
Lucy
Last Name:
Ballard
Major Department:
Religious Studies
Thesis Director:
William M. Hutchins
Date of Thesis:
May 2014
Although Tariq Ramadan, a self-described "radical reformer," has emerged as a powerful voice within the global discourse concerning Islam and modernity, his theories of reform, which at surface level appear as a wholly revolutionary addition, are in truth an amalgamation of the ideas of his predecessors, from the Mu'tazilis to Muhammad 'Abduh and Hasan al-Banna. However, in a slight twist, he presents an Islamic modernity that values critical reasoning, a strong sense of spirituality, and honest interaction and integration with the West. Using the rationalist method of al-Afghani and others, Ramadan calls for the integration of Western culture with Islamic values as a means to effect a return to spirituality and the Islamic faith, treading a delicate path between liberal reform and Islamist ideology. To make the Qur'an meaningful in the modern context—through legal reform tempered by rationality and critical reasoning—is to establish a strong religious foundation for the millions of Western Muslims who must, as Ramadan argues, maintain Islamic values while fully engaging in their societies. Through emphasis on a human-centered pluralism and positivity with an ethical system based in Islam, Ramadan is able to reshape the social and religious theories of the early modernists and others, utilizing a rationalist method that harkens back to a long progression of Islamic thought in order to renegotiate what it means to be a modern Western Muslim.