Quotes About Imams

Imams seldom condemn terror. And in their silence, in the void, acceptance - encouragement even - is assumed.

The Shi'ah believe that salvation requires the intercession of Muhammad, his son-in-law Ali, his grandsons Hasan and Husayn, and the rest of the Prophet's legitimate successors, the Imams, who not only serve as humanity's intercessors on the Last Days, but who further function as the eternal executors (wali) of the divine Revelation.

Imams must ridicule Caliphate fantasies. Exchange programmes between Muslim-only schools and non-Muslim-majority schools should be initiated. Community-based debates around these themes must no longer be shut down from fear of offence.

Female genital mutilation predates Islam. Not all Muslims do this, and a few of the peoples who do are not Islamic. But in Somalia, where virtually every girl is excised, the practice is always justified in the name of Islam. Uncircumcised girls will be possessed by devils, fall into vice and perdition, and become whores. Imams never discourage the practice: it keeps girls pure.

The Caliph is the preeminent political and religious leader of all Muslims, high above all Muslims, even over Imams. Shi'a believe that the Imams are chosen by Allah to be perfect examples for the faithful and that all Imams chosen are chosen by God, are free from committing any sin, and have the same status as a prophet.

According to Shiites, there were twelve Imams who lived through the seventh and eighth centuries AD. The 12th Imam, Muhammad ibn al-Hassan, is said by Muslims to have disappeared as a child in the year 941, and has been hiding alive in a well since that time. When he returns, as the Imam Mahdi, The Savior of Times, they believe he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.

We have religious freedom - which is important. But we want everyone in our country to respect our laws, and our laws on Islam say it is not acceptable to have influence abroad on the Muslim community in Austria, and it is not acceptable that Islamic organizations or imams are financed from abroad.

Nature is my temple; trees are my priests; birds, my rabbis; rains, my imams! Nature is my only true and eternal religion.

We need French chaplains and imams, French-speaking, who learn French, who love France. And who adhere to its values. And also French financing.

A Muslim woman opts] out of the glitter of the West because of [her] belief. It takes strength to do so. More strength than Muslim men realize: I wonder if imams would insist on the hijab as much as they do if they had to put it on themselves and cope with the consequences in ordinary life. It takes strength and character.

Where is the outrage of the Muslim community? Why aren't the imams of every mosque holding press conferences, and inviting the media to tell the American public, 'We are Americans first. Any enemy of America is our enemy. We will work to find, stop, arrest, turn in, and condemn anyone in our community who aspires to radicalize our religion and harm our country'?

Young people, some of whom are not born into the faith, are being fired up by preachers using basic Islamic scripture and mobilized to wage jihad by radical imams who represent themselves as legitimate Muslim clergymen.

I can think of a handful of priests and bishops and rabbis and imams who have put humanity ahead of their own sect or creed.

The roles of Muhammad's daughter Fatima and Mary are similar. The true line of the Prophet 'Isa (Jesus) and his real teaching passing through Mary and into Europe mirrors the true line of the Imams (who propagated the real teachings of the Prophet Muhammad) who issued from the womb of Fatima. Fatima is regarded by some Sûfîs and theologians as the first spiritual head (qutb) of the Sûfî fellowship.

Shi'as revere the person of Fatima, for she is the mother of the line of inspired Imams who embodied the divine truth for their generation. As such, Fatima is directly associated with Sophia, the divine wisdom, which gives birth to all knowledge of God. She has thus become another symbolic equivalent of the Great Mother.

Nature is my temple; trees are my priests; birds, my rabbis; rains, my imams! Nature is my only true and eternal religion.