Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" The great majority of Americans do not know much about Islam but nonetheless fear it as violent, expansionist and alien to their society. The problem to overcome is not hatred, but ignorance. "

Related Quotes:

" Terror will crash down on us if we fail to understand that a pluralistic society requires the personal and daily commitment of every citizen. "

Tariq Ramadan

Society

Commitment

Daily

" Every country in Europe needs immigrants for its economic survival. "

" Our pluralist society must provide its citizens with the tools to understand religions, their symbols and their practices. "

" I want to be an activist professor. "

" Tunisia's responsibility, and especially that of its political and intellectual elites, is enormous. All the protagonists of the nation's social, cultural, economic and political life must work to overcome useless and counterproductive polarisation, and to find solutions to domestic, regional and international problems. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Our democratic societies are in danger. In allowing ourselves to be infiltrated by fear, to be blinded by the passion of identity, we are entertaining the most serious illusions about our freedom. "

" If people who cherish freedom, who know the importance of mutual respect and are aware of the imperative necessity to establish a constructive and critical debate, if these people are not ready to speak out, to be more committed and visible, then we can expect sad, painful tomorrows. The choice is ours. "

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

" 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. "

" Violence against embassies and civilians must be categorically condemned. At the same time, we must attempt to understand why such events occur. "

" Many U.S. organizations believe that I am being barred from the country not because of my actions but because of my ideas. The conclusion seems inescapable. "

" 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. "

" We must confront our own racism. Discriminatory housing and employment policies are nothing more than institutionalised racism. "

Tariq Ramadan

Racism

Housing

" In its haste to bolster nationalism, in its obsession with security, Europe is losing its soul. "

" The rich stick together; the poor and the marginalised are thrown together. "

" National politics and elections are dominated by emotions, by lack of self-confidence, by fear of the other, by insecurity, by infection of the body politic by the virus of victimhood. "

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

" No civilisation can claim to have a monopoly on universal values and no one can claim to be always faithful to his own values. "

" The process of reclaiming the self is one of reconciliation with meaning. "

" Our emotions are often beautiful, but they can also be dangerous. They represent our spontaneity, and seem to speak to us of our freedom. "

Tariq Ramadan

Beautiful

Emotions

" South Africa never leaves one indifferent. Its history, its population, its landscapes and cultures - all speak to the visitor, to the student, to the friend of Africa. "

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

" The month of Ramadan is the world's most widespread fast and yet its teachings are minimised, neglected and even betrayed (through literal application of rules that overlooks their ultimate objective). "

" 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. "

" History is replete with ideologies of freedom, justice, liberation of the downtrodden and the exploited, that have been turned against the very people they had mobilised, or that have reproduced the same logic of exclusion and terror toward those whom they claimed to set free. "

" If religious people deny paradise to their opponents or to 'non-believers,' atheists would likewise seek to eliminate 'dangerous' believers with their 'childish' ways and their heads in the clouds. "

" The young people who join extremist groups are clearly suffering from massive deficiencies in religious knowledge and are often politically gullible (when they are not attempting to salve pangs of conscience by cutting themselves off from a life of delinquency). "