The question is how far secular society should be pushed to accommodate Islamic principles. “We are in favor of integration,” Ramadan says in a recorded speech, “but it is up to us to decide what that means. … I will abide by the laws, but only insofar as the laws don’t force me to do anything against my religion.” A Muslim must be able to practice and teach and “act in the name of his faith.” If any given society should take this right away, he continues, “I will resist and fight that society.” There is some ambiguity here. What does it mean to act in the name of one’s faith? In 1993 he was against the performance of “Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet,” a play by Voltaire, in Geneva, saying it “would be another brick in the edifice of hatred and rejection.” And yet he is careful not to call for violence or legal bans. As in the case of the Danish cartoons lampooning Islam, he prefers to use such words as “respect” or “tact.”

Tariq Ramadan i intervju med Ian Buruma i New York Times Magazine (4. februar 2007)