Surprise: Tariq Ramadan, part-time lecturer at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland, is on his way to the United States. Next September, he will be named a professor at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. This arrangement comes after multiple offers made to him by many American universities for several months, in particular the University of Chicago. In April, he will also direct several conferences in California, and according to him, will be invited to the U.S. State Department, which seems interested in him more and more.

This information was also confirmed Wednesday by the Genevan daily newspaper Le Temps, which confirms, quoting a spokesman of Tariq Ramadan, that "he will give courses beginning next fall on the relationship between religion, conflict and the promotion of peace." However, according to the paper, the visa application filed by the intellectual is likely to take time, "because there are people who have questions about it."

His departure from Europe is even more surprising since the Genevan theologian (of Egyptian origin) is actively involved in France in the debate over the veil and secularism. Tariq Ramadan is considered, by many European intelligence services, to be one of the clandestine leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that supports the Palestinian kamikazes of Hamas. Is his departure for the United States a sign, as DST [Territorial Surveillance Directorate, France’s domestic intelligence service] officials believe, of an accord between Washington and the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood?