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Professor Tariq Ramadan is a man of no need to introduction. He holds MA in Philosophy and French literature and PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Geneva. In Cairo, Egypt he received one-on-one intensive training in classic Islamic scholarship from Al-Azhar University scholars. Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University (Oriental Institute, St Antony’s College ). He is also teaching at the Faculty of Theology at Oxford. He is at the same time a Visiting Professor in Qatar (Faculty of Islamic Studies) and in Morocco (Mundiapolis) and a Senior Research Fellow at Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan).[/symple_box]
The Quran repeatedly insists on the eminent and singular position of the Messenger of God (PBUH), all at once a Prophet, a bearer of news, a model and a guide. He was but a man, yet he acted to transform the world in the light of the revelations and inspirations he received from God, his Educator (ar-Rabb): this accepted, elected and inspired humanity is what makes of Muhammad an example and a guide for the Muslim faithful.
Muslims do not consider the Messenger of Islam (PBUH) as a mediator between God and men. Each individual conscience is invited to address God directly, and although the Messenger did sometimes pray to God for his community, he often insisted on each believer’s responsibility in his dialogue and relationship with the One. Muhammad simply reminds the faithful of God’s presence: he initiates them to His knowledge and discloses the initiatory path of spirituality through which he teaches his companions and community that they must transcend the respect and love they have for him in the worship and Love they must offer and ask of the One, who begets not and is not begotten.
To those who, in his lifetime, wanted miracles and concrete evidence of his prophethood, the Revelation ordered him to reply: “I am but a man like yourselves; the inspiration has come to me that your God is One God.” This same Revelation also informs the believers, for all eternity, of the singular status of this Messenger (PBUH) who, while being elected by God, has not lost his human qualities: “Ye have indeed in the Messenger of God an excellent example for him who hopes in God and the Final Day, and who remembers God much.”
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Professor Tariq Ramadan is a man of no need to introduction. He holds MA in Philosophy and French literature and PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Geneva. In Cairo, Egypt he received one-on-one intensive training in classic Islamic scholarship from Al-Azhar University scholars. Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University (Oriental Institute, St Antony’s College ). He is also teaching at the Faculty of Theology at Oxford. He is at the same time a Visiting Professor in Qatar (Faculty of Islamic Studies) and in Morocco (Mundiapolis) and a Senior Research Fellow at Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan).[/symple_box]
