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

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.

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.

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

Instantaneous and mass communication is the mother of mass naivety. Should we then lose hope? Is there any hope? But to lose hope is as dangerous as to nurture false hope. Where then can we...

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.

The fact that Western Muslims are free means that they can have enormous impact. But it would be wrong to claim that we are imposing our ways on the West. New ideas are now coming...

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

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.

We are forever lured by the sirens of the dogmatic mind, with its haughty complacency, which determines that one´s relationship to others is only meaningful when one tries to convince them of one´s single truth....

The challenge for Muslims in America is to respect the fears of ordinary people while resisting the exploitation of those fears by political parties, lobbies and sectors of the media. To meet this challenge, Muslims...

The 21st century – and the atheists – needs the presence of religion, just as religion must deal with the real challenges and the thinkers of the day in order to sharpen the conscience and...

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).

I want to be an activist professor.

In the name of the rule of law, democracy and human rights, we cannot accept that the rights of individuals (Arab or Muslim) be trampled upon, or that populations are targeted and discriminated against in...

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.

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...

The world is a complex place, and the influence of the media in its representation and its power of communication and interpretation is a remarkable amplifier of emotions, and of illusions.

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

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

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

Being Muslim has become synonymous with pointed questions, with tension and mistrust, even with conflict. It has become a global phenomenon with profound consequences for inter-communal relations, political rhetoric and policies at the local, regional,...

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...

We can witness collective movements alarmingly influenced by genuine social phobias and affecting the most industrialized and educated societies. Exclusive identities are being asserted, singular affiliations are being stressed, and it is becoming increasingly difficult...

Religious symbols should be visible in public space, in a dignified and non-provocative manner. Christmas trees here, Jewish menorahs there and, further along, a minaret – these symbols represent human life in all its diversity.

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.

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...

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

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.

The philosophical connection between the Islamic world and the West is much closer than I thought. Doubt did not begin with Descartes. We have this construction today that the West and Islam are entirely separate...

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

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 ‘army camp’ that coordinates the agencies of our brain is vulnerable, both in itself and from within. In effect, he who can know and master its functioning and psychology from outside can become twice...

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.

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

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

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...

Da molto tempo, ai musulmani e ai miei concittadini ripeto che sono di nazionalità svizzera, con una memoria egiziana, di religione musulmana, di cultura europea, universalista per principio, marocchino e mauriziano d’adozione. Non c’è alcun...

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

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...

The strength of democratic societies relies on their capacity to know how to stand firm against extremism while respecting justice in the means used to fight terrorism.

Lack of consistency is a weakness shared by all nations.

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...

È un bene essere patrioti, sentire di appartenere a una società, a una nazione o a una comunità di fedeli, ma ciò non può giustificare il nazionalismo sciovinista e cieco, l’affermazione dell’eccezione e dell’elezione nazionale...

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

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,...

Every country in Europe needs immigrants for its economic survival.

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.

We must delve deep into history the better to engage a true dialogue of civilisations. Fear of the present can impose upon the past its own biased vision.

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...