TARIQ RAMADAN has been described as one of the most influential Muslim theologians in the world today. His works are the subject of passionate analysis and debate. It was only natural that a theologian of the caliber of Gregory Baum should be interested in it. In the religion-secularism dialogue that is underway in the West, his work comes at the right...

He has been traveling through France and Europe for fifteen years, tirelessly questioning faith and secularism, the Muslim fact and French identity, the Islamic headscarf and the blackboard. For him, the question is not whether Islam is soluble in the Republic, but whether the Republic really wants its Muslims. His media notoriety - did he want it so brutal?