Composition

Headline

The headline of Tariq Ramadan’s article, “You Can’t Go Home Again” is very suggestive. The readers might assume at first that the headline simply states that someone cannot return to a place where they once lived. This is doubly important, since Ramadan refers to first-generation Muslim immigrants who did not return to their home countries (p. 204, ll. 20-22). On reading the article, however, we realize that the headline also has a metaphorical meaning. “You Can’t Go Home Again” refers to Muslims living in Europe, who Ramadan argues should adapt to the European way of life, while also keeping elements of their culture.

The sender mentions the first generations of Muslim immigrants who came to Europe from various Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey, or North Africa (p. 204, ll. 12-13). He suggests these people assumed they would return home at one point, which was why they did not try to integrate with the European culture. Ramadan urges their European-born descendants to act differently, and to adopt a European Muslim identity: “By respecting Islamic princi...