Sunday Times 2
Parliament erupted over the controversial visit of Said Ramadan to Sri Lanka
The Ikhwanul Muslimeen (the Brotherhood Movement) was making a great impact in the Arab world when Sheikh Hasan-al Bannah – a great thinker and Islamic reformer started a great agitation in egypt to oust King Farook’s monarchy whichwas felt intolerable by the masses of Egypt as it was considered as one of the corrupt regimes in the world.
Said Ramadan
Islamic thinkers and leaders like Sayyed Khutb, Mohamed Khutb and Dr Said Ramadan joined the vanguard in order to topple Farook’s regime. The movement developed into almost an inferno which swept the entire Arab land. The peoples’ rage swept across the land mass of Egypt and King Farook was relieved of his crown and banished from the country.
Dr Said Ramadan had the good fortune of entering wedlock with the daughter of the great Hasan-al Bannah. His fame and name thus spread throughout the Islamic world. Ramadan was a great thinker, scholar and author who started the Islamic centre in Geneva. The Western world was enraptured by the writings of Dr Ramadan and he was hailed and a modern protagonist of Islam.
Brotherhood-backed military officers Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser were mainly responsible in ushering in the peoples’ era. As time went on difference of opinion began to splinter the thoughts of the Brotherhood movement mainly regarding the Islamisation of the regime. Naguib was soon replaced by Nasser. Some of the Brotherhood leaders fled the country fearing for their lives.
Minister M.H. Mohamed making use of his influence as a founder member of Rabitatul Alamul Islami (World Muslim League in Makkah) invited Dr Said Ramadan to visit Sri Lanka to address an Islamic seminar and also visit the Muslim community in various parts of the country. Dr Ramadan arrived in the Island in July 1965, and he was made a state guest by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake and accommodated at his official residence ‘Temple Trees’.
Tariq Ramadan
Sri Lankan Muslims had the opportunity to see and listen to one of the great modern thinkers of the Islamic world. People gathered in Colombo, Kattankudy and other places in their thousands to listen to this great man. In due recognition of his international image Dr Ramadan was given a civic reception by the Mayor of Colombo M Vincent Perera on behalf of the citizens, on 19th July 1965. The Mayor eulogized: “The high academic achievements of Your Excellency have been recognised by the conferment of Doctorate in the Law College of the University of Cologne, with honours in Islamic Law. Your being appointed as the Permanent Representative of Jordan in the United Nations European Office in Geneva is a proof of the high esteem in which you are being held by the Muslims. The ancient countries of South East Asia, throbbing with new life, turbulent vigour, aspire and seek to find their place among the Nations of the World entirely harmonious with the spirit of changes that are taking place in the hearts and minds of people. Your Excellency has in the course of your activities brought about solidarity and not only among the Muslims but among the others as well and have thereby contributed in large measure to bring about international harmony…’
Meanwhile, trouble was simmering beneath the ashes as certain elements loyal to the Nasser regime began to draw a black picture of the image of Dr Said Ramadan. They approached one of the best known Trotskyites leaders in Asia, the ‘Double Doctor’ Dr NM Perera to move an adjournment motion in Parliament on 27.07.1965: … A gentleman called Dr Ramadan has been an honoured guest of this Government. I do not know on whose recommendation this gentleman has been given this status of an honoured guest of this Government, I do not think the Hon. Prime Minister ought to be made aware of the fact that this gentleman is a fugitive from justice. He was charged in Cairo with attempted assassination of President Nasser. He escaped from Cairo and is still out. I understand on good authority this country has lodged a protest against giving this particular treatment to this gentleman. [Interruption]
M.D. Banda: Is he a State guest?
N.M. Perera: Yes, he is at “Temple Trees”.
Dudley Senanayake: He is not there now.
N.M. Perera: He is not there now, but he was there. The important point is that this gentleman having escaped from Cairo has now become the head of what is called the International Muslim Centre – of all places – in Geneva. Why Geneva?…Apparently that International Muslim Centre which could not find a place in any of the Arab States in the Middle-East had to go to Geneva for the purpose of establishment…
M.H.M. Naina Marikkar (Secretary to the Minister of Justice): Voltaire founded one.
N.M. Perera: Are you putting Dr. Ramadan on the same basis as Voltaire. Voltaire did not establish a Muslim Centre.
Pieter Keuneman: He was not a Muslim.
Dr NM Perera: That so-called Muslim Centre has a branch in Ceylon of which the Hon. MH Mohamed is the local agent. He is the Director-General…What I am concerned about is this. This may be only one example. There may be other impostors like this. Unless the Hon. Prime Minister gets a satisfactory recommendation from our accredited representatives in these various countries he should be very careful, be chary, of accepting these people as honoured guests, because, as you know it is an embarrassing situation for us to have the Ambassador of the UAR lodging a protest against this particular gentleman.
F.R. Dias Bandaranaike: They say he was trying to assassinate Nasser.
N.M. Perera: There was a charge. He escaped from justice; he is a fugitive from justice.
Pieter Keuneman: Have you given him political asylum.
N.M. Perera: I do want the Hon. Prime Minister to see that at least in the future, before people of this type are accepted, information is obtained from the various representatives that we have, ambassadors or charge d’affaires or any other persons , on whose official information we can rely…
M.H. Mohamed: I wish to make a statement at this stage. The hon. Member for Yatiyantota (Dr NM Perera) has made a certain reference to me. In fairness to me, I must be heard. The hon. Member is well known for making irresponsible statements on the Floor of the House. This is not the first time he has uttered a diabolical falsehood in this House by saying that I have been paid by the American intelligence from Geneva. It is a diabolical falsehood. It is not fair for a responsible senior Member of this House, one who talks so much of procedure in the House, to come here and utter such falsehoods. I want the hon. Member to either withdraw his statement or substantiate it. I am a responsible Minister of this Government.
I wish also to clarify the position in regard to Dr Said Ramadan. Dr Ramadan is a roving ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and also the permanent representative in the UN office in Geneva. I can produce documents. The papers which backed the hon. Member for Yatiyantota had written all kinds of rubbish. It is true that Dr Said Ramadan is anti-Marxist. Nobody can deny that.
N.M. Perera: Was there a protest from the UAR Embassy?
The Hon MH Mohamed: I am not aware of those things. Anybody can say anything. I appeal to you Sir, to protect the honour of each Member of this House. You cannot allow hon. Members to go scot-free after making low, dirty insinuations against a responsible Member of this House. It was thoroughly unfair and unjust for the hon. Member to have made that statement.
Bernard Soysa: I do not intend to take issue with the hon. Member in regard to the defence of a person against whom an accusation was made -
Speaker: That question will be answered by the Hon. Prime Minister later.
M. Bakeer Markar: There may be squabbles in other countries. We know what actually is the position in some of the Middle-East Countries, the Arab countries. They have got their differences. One section may be fighting the other. But here is a matter where, in Ceylon, Dr Ramadan was entertained as a religious leader. No politics was involved. So, whatever action the Government proposes to take must be after assuring Muslim organizations of this country that their religious activities can go on…
According to the Hon. Member for Yatiyantota, all Islamic associations or brotherhoods must be banned. Whatever organizations there are in this country, they are local associations without any strings or attachment politically to foreign associations. We entertained Dr Ramadan not as an anti-Nasser leader, not, as one who had anything to do with any political moves in foreign countries. If at all we entertained him, we did do as he was a religious dignitary, as one who had taken interest in religious matters throughout the world, and one who has been recognized internationally as a religious leader. If Dr Ramadan and Nasser have got their differences they should not be brought to our country which is not committed to take either Nasser’s side or Dr Ramadan’s side. We should be neutral. We know that these matters have been passed onto the UAR and information is hawked about in this country by a set of interested people. I caution the Government to see that whatever steps are taken, they are taken with views to safeguarding the good name of our country and maintaining our neutrality.
F.R. Dias Bandaranaike: We in the Opposition have recently believed that Dr Ramadan who was suspected and, after trial, found guilty of certain treasonable activities in the United Arab Republic. Whether that is true or not I frankly do not know.
Dudley Senanayake (Prime Minister): When we make statements about any individual we must be very careful about our facts. For instance some of the Members opposite bring accusations to the extent of saying that Dr Ramadan had been found guilty of having been involved in an attempted assassination of President Nasser. That statement is totally incorrect. There was an official protest from the UAR Embassy, and in that statement UAR never went to that extent. The Opposition Member for Colombo South (Bernard Soysa) made the statement that the hon. Minister of Labour is paid a salary as Director General of some organization. I asked the hon. Minister who said it is an absolute falsehood.
M.H. Mohamed: I am the Director General. There is a committee consisting of responsible Muslim members. It is an entirely religious organization, established a long time ago. Dudley Senanayake: I have been furnished with certain documents about Dr Ramadan. He is the Permanent Representative of Jordan in the United Nations’ European office. Here is the document to testify to that. It is his own passport. Then I have his diplomatic passport: “Dr Said Ramadan, Permanent Representative to the UN Geneva”. The passport has been issued from Jordan. Then there is the passport issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: “Dr Said Ramadan, ambassador at large for the World Muslim League”.
M.H. Mohamed: Consisting of the Arab countries including the UAR.
Dudley Senanayake: I do not think that there is anything alarming about that matter.
(The writer is a former MP and Minister of Muslim Religious Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs. He was the secretary of the organising committee of Dr Said Ramadan’s visit to Sri Lanka in 1965.)