Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford Tariq Ramadan

delivers a lecture at Awsaj Academy Auditorium in Education City. By Umer Nangiana

 

Ignorance about the variety of ethics is not protecting us from being accountable. We have to be honest. We have the responsibility to get more knowledge and to be involved,” said renowned scholar Professor Tariq Ramadan during a lecture he was invited to deliver on professional ethics.

The lecture organised by Pakistan Professionals Forum Qatar (PPFQ) at the Awsaj Academy Auditorium in Education City recently as a free public event was attended by a large number of people.

In addition to being Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, Professor Ramadan is a Visiting Professor at the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies and Director of the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics.

In the lecture titled ‘Professional Ethics: Meaning and Application in Our Daily Lives’ Professor Ramadan set forth an intellectual framework for defining ethical behaviour. He emphasised the importance of examining end goals in view of principles and values as a starting point for a discussion of ethics.

Noting that an ethical person is always an educated person, Professor Ramadan highlighted the importance of education and cultural awareness. “Religion and culture are intertwined and the cultural morals that do not conflict with religious principles are natural and acceptable,” noted the distinguished scholar.

He also advised keeping an intellectual distance when critically examining new ideas to maintain a sense of self and personal identity.

Taking questions from an engaged audience, Professor Ramadan explained that Islamic ethics is based on responsibility within one’s sphere of influence and that ethical behaviour requires courage.

He said no country on earth is perfect. There could be issues anywhere but one should have the courage speak about them and to change them. For instance, the way workers are treated in Qatar has to be changed, he said.

With respect to speaking out on geological conflicts, he said that Muslims needed to be global citizens concerned for the welfare of all oppressed and informed on the history of conflicts. “You should not be selective and be on the side of all oppressed in general before you talk about oppression against Muslims in particular, for instance, about Palestine issue,” the scholar added while replying to a question from the audience about how to raise voice for Palestine while living in the Western countries.

“We need to get to the big picture and then we come with what is happening now. And that is where the legal dimension comes in. We need to speak out but then have to structure a discourse that is persistent, knowledgeable and critical,” said the professor.

He said it was about putting this discourse within the global discourse that we are on the side of the oppressed. Also, Muslims need to understand their role in the West. Their role is not to disappear and be accepted, it is to be visible and to add value and to do that they need to be the “voice of the voiceless on the earth, all the earth.”

Professor Ramadan generously fielded questions from inspired listeners long after the official session had ended. PPFQ Acting Chairman and President Adnan Kirmani expressed his gratitude to Professor Ramadan and also to Qatar Foundation for providing an ideal venue for the lecture.

Replying to a question if the ethical standards he talked about were set a little too high to be achieved in the social world, the prominent scholar replied they were “very practical”. He said, “It (standard) is not too high. It is all in your mind. It is all about how you understand it and implement it in your routine life. It could simply be your interaction with the people around you; how you treat them and how you behave with them.”