Tariq Ramadan Quotes

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Cultures are never merely intellectual constructs. They take form through the collective intelligence and memory, through a commonly held psychology and emotions, through spiritual and artistic communion.

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

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).

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Malaysia is a country unlike any other: Full of promise and fragility. Its history, cultural and religious diversity make it a rich, compelling and surprising land.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Stand up for your values, be courageous and humble

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.

The most dangerous prisons are those with invisible bars

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.

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.