Quotes from Tariq Ramadan

Acknowledged differences may create mutual respect, but hazy misunderstandings bring forth nothing but prejudice and rejection.

Deeply, simply: he who cannot love cannot understand.

Je voulais vous faire sourire, et mes larmes ont coulé. Je voulais vous faire oublier, et la mort m'a rattrapé. Je voulais vous offrir ce que vous m'avez donné. On ne sait jamais n'est-ce pas ? Il se peut qu'un bien soit notre mal, et qu'un mal soit notre bien. Sait-on jamais ? Je vous offre donc ce sourire, louange à l'Unique de toutes les façons, et que la Paix vous accompagne, et Sa lumière, et Sa chaleur.

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

active acceptance" of God's will: to question with one's mind, to understand with one's intelligence, and to submit with one's heart.

The desert is often the locus of prophecies because it naturally offers to the human gaze the horizons of the infinite.

One would love nonetheless to know how to be a man, how to be a woman before God, in the mirror of one's own conscience, in the looks of those who surround us. One would wish to find the strength to beautify one's thoughts and to purify one's heart. It is everyone's hope and expectation to live in serenity and to plod along in transparency: the palms of the hands patiently directed towards heaven, at the heart of all this modernity.

Always walking along despite the dangers and adversities, despite the injustices and horrors, trusting in God so as not to despair of men and events.

It is impossible to live in autarchy, to make the testimony of faith, pray and fast and go to pilgrimage only, far from men and worrying about no one except oneself. It is worth repeating that to be with God is tantamount to being with men; to carry faith is tantamount to carrying the responsibility of a continuous social commitment. The teaching that we should extract from zakat is explicit: to posses is tantamount to having to share.

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

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).

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

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.

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

Culture constitutes an essential element of social and political liberation. As people rise up across the Middle East and North Africa, the diversity of their cultures is not only the means but also the ultimate goal of their liberation and their freedom.

The diversity is the risk of war, the necessity of diversity is mutual respect

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

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

Ghettos have their own characteristics and consequences : be they physical. social, intellectual or mental, those who live in them always nurture projection of themselves or world around them that are more imaginary than true. In the ghettos of the intellect and idealistic theories, there are a lot of intertolerant and racist people who do not realize that they are.

Your enemy is not the refugee. Your enemy is the one who made him a refugee.

Mental ghettos are not mirages; they actually exist in palpable reality: being "open" inside one's mental or intellectual ghetto does not open its door but simply allows one to harbour the illusion that there is no ghetto and no door. The most dangerous prisons are those with invisible bars.

Duboko i jednostavno: onaj ko ne može voljeti, ne može ni razumjeti.

The Prophet's life is an invitation to a spirituality that avoids no question and teaches us—in the course of events, trials, hardships, and our quest—that the true answers to existential questions are more often those given by the heart than by the intelligence. Deeply, simply: he who cannot love cannot understand.