In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an order that allowed Tariq Ramadan back into the United States after being banned during the Bush administration because of his ties to terrorist organizations. Last month, we learned that the Obama administration had enlisted the help of current Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef al-Qaradawi to be an intermediary between the United States and the Taliban. Now, according to a Gulf News report, Ramadan will be the Director of the Centre for Islamic legislation, which is based in Qatar, where Qaradawi has lived for years:

The centreis under the guidance of Director Tariq Ramadan, renowned Muslim thinker, alongside Jasser Auda, Deputy Director of CILE and founding member and member of the Executive Board of the International Union of Muslim Scholars. “Islamic scholars and research centres can benefit greatly from engaging with the experts in modern fields that have been untouched by the parameters of traditional questioning,” Tariq Ramadan said. “We aim to provide not only a theoretical framework, but also concrete contributions and practical applications in areas that are current and relevant to 21st Century communities, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report (GMBDR) makes some interesting connections back to Qaradawi:

The new center appears to be the latest in the series of research centers being established by the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies (QFIS). An earlier post reported that the QFIS was in the process of establishing a research center to be named after Qaradawi. Dahlia Mogahed, an associate of Global Muslim Brotherhood supporter John Esposito and herself tied to the Global Brotherhood, reported via her Twitter feed that Qaradawi was speaking at the conference discussed above. It should also be noted that Mustafa Ceric, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia is also tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood through his membership in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), headed by Qaradawi who also heads the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS). Yousuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, has his own set of ties to the Global Brotherhood.

This connection between Qaradawi and Ramadan is not necessarily surprising but the fact that it is this public certainly indicates a rising comfort level among two Islamists. After all, if the Obama administration is willing to elevate Qaradawi, why shouldn’t Ramadan feel comfortable with an out-in-the-open relationship?

More at GMBDR