Tariq ramadan quotes

The best measure of a successful life is the way we turn away, we renounce, and even by the way we depart it.

This simple truth is the essence of my message to Muslims throughout the world: know who you are, who you want to be, and start talking and working with whom you are not. Find common values and build with fellow citizens a society based on diversity and equality.

We need to acknowledge that there is a real issue with how the Scriptures are being interpreted. Whenever I am told that terrorists are not Muslim, I systematically reply that they actually are, and they cannot be marginalised, the same way they are marginalising other Muslim people. Scriptures are quoted even though their interpretations are twisted. In the face of misinterpretation the only way out would be using another interpretation of the Scriptures.

I think that political parties are fuelling this fear in order to create divisions. The more we bring up fear, the more we neglect real political issues. Political debate in France is crumbling since every single issue is brought to Islam now.

Your country needs religious leaders and religious politicians

True Sufism is resistance: spiritual, intellectual, social, cultural, political and economic resistance. It cannot be, for sure, supporting dictators.

The link between domestic policy and international affairs is essential: We cannot say we care about domestic issues and we leave international politics, and the opposite is wrong as well. Both are connected and should be addressed together.

I keep on repeating something told to me by an American psychologist: "When you are making a joke about someone and you are the only one to laugh, it is not a joke. It is a joke only for yourself." If people are making a joke they have the right to laugh at me but I will ignore them. Ignoring doesn't mean that you don't understand. You understand it so much that you don't want to react.

Clarity and consistency are not enough: the quest for truth requires humility and effort.

Our task is to change the world for the better, not to adapt ourselves to the world.

We always think from where we come from. We always think from the sources that shape our understanding. I think about the world through the lens of my Islamic tradition. I accept this but I must also have intellectual humility.

For Muslims, the source of everything we do is based in the belief that there is one God, and this one God is revealing to us there is one humanity with equal dignity for each, beyond faith, color and social status. Whatever your status, color, background or religion, you have the same dignity.

No one must ever let power or social, economic, or political interest turn him or her away from other human beings, from the attention they deserve and the respect they are entitled to. nothing must ever lead to a person to compromise this principle or faith in favor of a political strategy aimed at saving or protecting a community from some peril. The freely offered, sincere heart of a poor, powerless individual is worth a thousand times more in the sight of God than the assiduously courted, self-interested heart of a rich one.

A Muslim should be sincerely religious AND politically aware.

Proud to be a Muslim isn't a stamp you have on your heart, it's a light you have in your heart.

Times have changed; so must the lenses through which we see the political future.

I opposed the Fatwa against Salman Rushdie. I read the book and took a critical distance. I did not think The Satanic Verses is a blasphemous book. I did not consider the book as being a great read, but as an intellectual I read, I assess, and I respond. I make a difference between true freedom of expression to which we owe a response and provocation, which we ignore.

Saying that Islam is in heart, is similar to giving back the exam's paper completely white and saying : knowledge is in brain.

My experience of living with people of diverse religions and cultures taught me that one will never be at peace with the other if one is at war with oneself.

Emancipation can only come from within; it cannot be dictated by someone else. A law banning the wearing of headscarves changes nothing, except perhaps external appearance. Naturally, Islamic feminism must also include the right to education, to work and the freedom to select one's own husband.

You can’t be good to others if you’re not strict with yourself. The more shallow you are with yourself, the harsher you are with others. The more profound you are with yourself, the more generous you are with others

Intellect is a part of a good faith. Intellect is the light, the heart is the direction.

There is nothing more Islamic than critical thinking.

I am dealing with people with both sides. I see people who are liberating themselves but they want to forget the world. And I see people who want to liberate the world but they forget themselves. Neither is the way I want to go.

Arabic is the language of the Qur'an, but Arab culture is not the culture of Islam.

Don’t nurture a sense of guilt; rather, nurture a sense of responsibility married with a sense of humility.

For me, equal citizenship for Muslims, Christians, Jews, Atheists and Agnostics is an indisputable principle. Whoever you are, you should get the same rights with no discussion and no compromise.

Greek philosophy departs from the assumption that we can understand the world autonomously using our rational faculties. Islam is not saying this.

Ramadan is, in its essence, a month of humanist spirituality.

We have to free the Muslim mind from the obsession with limits and rules and forgetting the path and objective. This is truly a liberating process, and for me this is Islam: liberation from the ego, and in this case liberating ourselves from the wrong understanding of the religion.

Islam can only be modernized from within. If I state that I condemn the practice of stoning, that this punishment is despicable, it changes nothing. My fellow Muslims will say: Brother Tariq, you became a European, a Swiss citizen, so you are no longer one of us.

We must master our egoism, and through this mastery, step outside ourselves and educate ourselves in giving. Fasting requires that we rediscover all that is alive around us, and reconcile ourselves with our environment.

Having traveled a lot and met people from different horizons it makes you more humble and ready to listen.

Criticizing to destroy is easy, thinking in order to build is much more difficult to achieve

We should not treat people as they treat us, we should treat them better.

Compelling a woman to wear a headscarf is against Islam, and compelling her to remove it is against human rights.

We are in a world that is connected, but is not communicating.

Islam has no problem with women, but Muslims do clearly appear to have serious problems with them

While criticism of Israel is legitimate and justifiable, it cannot be an excuse - in any way, shape or form - for anti-Semitism.

I think many thinkers and activists, even in the Islamist parties like the Muslim Brotherhood, and the people who left the Muslim Brotherhood to follow Abou el-Fatouh, these people do have an understanding that the relationship between religion and the state must be re-thought and re-assessed. They're not going to use the concept of secularism in any straightforward way, because the concept of secularism is still far too loaded in that part of the world.

The media is putting a lot of emphasis on the few people that are destroying, while it won't report on the silent majority of people who are constructing, building and trying to find their way.

If you know how to live, even death is good news

It is only through the opposition of ideas that we can learn to be self-critical, to work towards intellectual humility.

In Ramadan, you should eat less and think more.

I don't like what you`re doing, but I won't insult you. Why? Because who you are tomorrow may be better than who I am today

Instead of looking outside of ourselves and counting potential enemies, fasting summons us to turn our glance inward, and to take the measure of our greatest challenge: the self, the ego, in our own eyes and as others see us.

In Islam, rules are important, like the Prophet said innal halaala bayyinun, wa innal haraama bayyinun ["what is halal is clear, what is haram is clear"]. The goal is not to diminish the importance of rules, but to have the right priorities.

Humility is my table, respect is my garment, empathy is my food and curiosity is my drink. As for love, it has a thousand names and is by my side at every window.

There is no faith, without a critical mind

Never forget your dialogue with God, it is your strength.

Muslims must speak out and explain who they are, what they believe in, what they stand for, what is the meaning of their life. They must have the courage to denounce what is said and done by certain Muslims in the name of their religion.

When Manuel Valls says there's nothing to understand because "understanding is justifying," he echoes back to Georges W Bush's logic in 2001. When François Hollande says "they are attacking us because of who we are," what does it say about victims in Mali, Baghdad, Ivory Coast or Turkey?

Islam doesn't need reform, we need to reform the Muslim mind.

Man is certainly free, but he is responsible for this freedom before God as before men. This responsibility is inevitably moral. In order of this morality, to be free is to protect the freedom of others and their dignities.

The Truth does not belong to you, you belong to the Truth.

Don't treat people the way they treat you. Treat them better.

To be kind is good. To be kind without expecting anything in return is better.

What I'm advocating is an intellectual revolution - it's a different mindset concerning the ethical benchmarks by which we live.

I am not a politician. I have often been approached in this regard, but I have always declined these sorts of offers. I view myself as an independent, critical intellectual, as someone who tries to stimulate thought on the left and the right, to encourage intellectual evolution.

Mankind must be positively and constructively wary of mankind, of their fellow man, of their families, of the members of their faith community, of their fellow-citizens.

Stand up for your values, be courageous and humble

The 'fires'n that produce thick, rarely innocent, often strategic smoke should therefore be scrutinized. they should be known and identified; and when they involve dishonesty, lies, or manipulation, they they should be ignored.

Islam came to teach us that there is no faith without intelligence and here we are: destroying our intelligence in the name of faith.

The problem with Salafis is that they are religiously sincere and politically naïve. And they allow themselves to be supported by people who have no religious sincerity but who are politically very smart, especially when it comes to their economic interests.

Fasting is, first and foremost, an exercise for identifying and managing adversity in all its forms. With faith, in full conscience, fasting calls women and men to an extra degree of self-awareness.

When you're overwhelmed by your emotion, you listen less and you judge more. This is also the reality of the dogmatic mind.

Do not respond to attacks with attacks. Respond with Mercy & Respect

We have to reconcile ourselves with philosophical questions in every field. Every field should be open to inquiry and knowledge.

One does not always know how to express the sorrow of the soul. One does not always know how to silence the joy of the heart.

I can see both trends among the youths: people who are ready for a constructive, critical and active presence, and others who are ready to become invisible Muslims and to compromise to be accepted. I put my hope in the former and pray for the latter.

A true teacher doesn't teach you to think like him, but to think without him.

We must re-center philosophy within our frame of reference which I think is the way to deal with it.

The universality of Islam is not uniformity, it is unity with diversity.

You're a man, but the day you raise your voice to your mother, you're not anymore.

Teach the heart not to give way to proud emotions and arrogant thinking; bring the mind to heart-soothing solutions that make it possible to control oneself gently and wisely.

A time will come when you're going to be numerous but your impact in the world will be like nothing

If you are not at peace with yourself then you cannot spread peace.

Pray in the night so that you can change the world in the day

We fail when we try to give simple answers to complicated problems.

The West hasn't been naïve, it has been patronizing the South by imposing its own views on what should be done - ironically after having been so close and so supportive of dictators who were not respecting the people.

The more I know, the best I believe. The more I know, the best I'm worshiping Him. Because, in the end Allah knows the best.

If there is a smoke, there is a fire, the saying goes, That is quite true, but one should find what the fire is, and who lit it.

Nature is telling us that if you don't respect the environment then you are living with artificial needs and a consumerism that is destroying the very conditions we need to survive.

I look to Islamic ethics to find something that can provide the basis for shared values with other traditions, and ultimately universal values. This ties into the point I made in a book, 'The Quest for Meaning', that the only way for values to be universal is if they are shared universal values. My main point is, in this quest for value the aim is not to express your distinctness from others, but about being able to contribute to the discussion of universal value.

Discomfort levels in our societies are rising, or so it would seem. In theory, we invoke diversity and tolerance. But in real life, we raise our hackles and withdraw into ourselves.

If you do not have boundaries, you do not have a path.

To live is to love,to serve, to forgive. Love the One, love and serve humanity. To learn to love oneself and to love is to learn to forgive

Integration is a word of the past, the word of the future and the word of the present is contribution.

The discriminations that are found in the Muslim majority countries are more Cultural than Islamic. .... I have always said to the Muslim women, please do not nurture the victim mentality. Stand up for your rights.

Intellectual modesty is humility as to what I know; intellectual humility is modesty as to what I do not know

A good Muslim is not one who is strictest in his judgment, but who is most patient in listening.

I believe my religion is the truth, but I am not the truth and the truth doesn't belong to me I'm trying to belong to the truth.

The philosophy of fasting calls upon us to know ourselves, to master ourselves, and to discipline ourselves the better to free ourselves. To fast is to identify our dependencies, and free ourselves from them.

When we begin to look around us, to observe individuals and societies, and to study philosophies and religions, we realize that our loneliness is shared. Our solitude is plural, and our singularity is the similarity between us.

The nature of the state is one thing, but there are other major challenges - what it will take to tackle the issues of social corruption, for example, social justice, and the economic system - and what are the future challenges when it comes to equality between the citizens, in particular in the field of the job market and equal opportunity for men and for women? This is at the centre of the question that is the Arab Awakening.

Your sensitivity is power. Don't let people transform your qualities into weaknesses.

Humility is knowing that you can get an answer from anybody: be it a child, another person, or nature.

We should not fool ourselves. When the Quran says wa la qad karamna Bani Adam ["we have honored the Children of Adam"] so yes we should all be free but this should not mean that we must act against the dignity of human beings.

You can't say 'I don't do politics,' because silence is a political statement.

Fear is created which can lead to racism. However, we can overcome that fear through trust.

We integrate the good wherever we find it.

You can be a very charitable capitalist. Like [Nicola] Sarkozy was saying, we have to 'moralise capitalism', which for me is a contradiction in terms.

Freedom of expression is not absolute. Countries have laws that define the framework for exercising this right and which, for instance, condemn racist language.

Behind every great man is not a woman, she is beside him, she is with him, not behind him

Modesty is the way you deal with beauty not the way you avoid it.

The most dangerous prisons are those with invisible bars

We need to realize that we should be on the side of any human being who is oppressed.

The very essence of the Sufi spiritual tradition requires you to purify your heart, to liberate yourself from your ego and to be courageous in facing any corrupt power, injustice and oppression. Unfortunately, colonial powers pushed an agenda by using Sufism against resistance, and some ulama played that game in the past and in the present.

"If we had not created a set of people against another the world would have been corrupt", and "against" here means two things: Against in the fact that they are challenging you with their diversity, challenging your intelligence and to challenge is not negative, it can be very positive depending on how you are challenged.

Those young ones who want to try military jihad are facing a triple issue. First of all, they are missing the point when it comes to understanding what there is at stake from a political viewpoint. How come so many of them are going to Syria and so few to Palestine, even though, when it comes to symbolism, Palestine definitively wins.Then, it is essential to understand that it is not a religious matter. Finally, let's not forget about the recruiters behind their screens. Those ones are quite skillful and well-supported financially.

The more you look into and understand yourself, the less judgmental you become towards others.

To be courageous is to be a voice for the voiceless

Cherish your tears and their reasons, they will be the light of your smile, your inner peace and reconciliation.

Your heart is the center of humility, your mind could be the source of arrogance.

Tell me what you are doing with your suffering, and I will tell you who you are.

If you want to have a good life, never forget that you are going to die

The very moment you understand that being a Muslim and being American or European are not mutually exclusive, you enrich your society. Promote the universal principles of justice and freedom, and leave the societies elsewhere to find their model of democracy based on their collective psychology and cultural heritage.

In sha Allah, God willing, must be the expression of humility of the active actors and it must never be the justification of the passive observers

This is the problem we have with many Muslim leaders: They claim to differentiate between domestic and foreign issues and they are obsessed with being accepted, at sitting at the table of power in order to talk (or rather to listen) and to be tolerated. This is the starting point of our weakness. It is in our minds because we do not realize we are part of the system.

Advertising, music, atmospheres, subliminal messages and films can have an impact on our emotional life, and we cannot control it because we are not even conscious of it.

If you read the Qur'an with your head, you find repetition. If you read it with your heart, you find depth.

Islam is a religion of justice and dignity, and we are taught to never keep silent when facing injustice, discrimination and double standards.

We need modesty not only in the way we dress; we need intellectual modesty.

I'm not talking about reforming #Islam..it is to reform the #Muslim minds & the Muslim understandings of the texts.

Wisdom is always connected to beauty. When you see someone acting by their principles, their wisdom makes them beautiful.