In the Footsteps of the Prophet by Tariq Ramadan

It is a gift from me to all societies, and we have to draw some teachings from this, teachings which can be looked at from both a spiritual point of view and from a contemporary point of view. So I wrote this book “In the Footsteps of the Prophet,” which was translated into Turkish and Arabic. These are things that could help people like us today in the West or even in Turkey. All of this can be extracted from sources that include his biographies, his principles, visions and understandings. For example, we can examine him as the young orphan, or when he was poor, and the way he dealt with these situations. Rather than focus on these events, it is more important to understand the meaning behind some of the events that took place in his life. TARIQ RAMADAN: Be it for the West or for Muslims themselves, the best way to understand and introduce the Prophet of Islam is to refer back to his lifestyle, not to study his life through the major events that took place, but to study the small details that made up his personality. What do you think is the best way to introduce the Prophet’s life to the West, in particular?

UTKU: You say that the best way to introduce Islam is to understand the Prophet of Islam and introduce his life. The very essence of Islam is about freeing oneself from the ego, yet when it comes to the contemporary world, be it Turkey or the West, or any Muslim-majority country for that matter, it’s all about consumption, fashion, and ego. He is a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University. Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss intellectual, philosopher, theologian, academic and writer of Egyptian descent.

In the Footsteps of the Prophet by Tariq Ramadan