Tariq Ramadan Quotes & Sayings

Islam, as a religion, has been established in France for a long time, and the religious question has been resolved in this country. Islam does not threaten France's future in any way. — Tariq Ramadan

To be more precise, it's ethics and liberation, and as a consequence there is an ethics of liberation. — Tariq Ramadan

Criticizing to destroy is easy, thinking in order to build is much more difficult to achieve — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

I think that political parties are fuelling this fear in order to create divisions. The more we bring up fear, the more we neglect real political issues. Political debate in France is crumbling since every single issue is brought to Islam now. — Tariq Ramadan

The best measure of a successful life is the way we turn away, we renounce, and even by the way we depart it. — Tariq Ramadan

The problem with what we call the 'Arab spring' is that these are very nationalistic experiences. Tunisians are concerned with Tunisia, Egyptians concerned with Egypt and so on. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

Mankind must be positively and constructively wary of mankind, of their fellow man, of their families, of the members of their faith community, of their fellow-citizens. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

There is nothing more Islamic than critical thinking. — Tariq Ramadan

[Human] wisdom is the believer's lost belonging; he is the most worthy of it wherever he finds it. — Tariq Ramadan

There is no faith, without a critical mind — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

Faith must recognize the autonomy of reason and its ability to produce a rational, secular ethics. By the same criterion, reason must accept that it is legitimate for the heart, consciousness and faith to believe in an order and ends thar exist prior to its observation, discoveries and hypotheses. Once the distinction between the realms of faith and reason, and religion and science, has been accepted, it is therefore futile to debate, and still less to dispute, the hierarchy of first truths or the nature of the authority granted to their methods and their references. — Tariq Ramadan

I have learned that one should say "Peace!" to those who shout their hatred for one's being and presence or at one's passage. — Tariq Ramadan

I am dealing with people with both sides. I see people who are liberating themselves but they want to forget the world. And I see people who want to liberate the world but they forget themselves. Neither is the way I want to go. — Tariq Ramadan

Compelling a woman to wear a headscarf is against Islam, and compelling her to remove it is against human rights. — Tariq Ramadan

It is important that the Muslim leaders, scholars, and intellectuals are much more vocal and explain what Islam is. — Tariq Ramadan

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

The more I know, the best I believe. The more I know, the best I'm worshiping Him. Because, in the end Allah knows the best. — Tariq Ramadan

We need more citizens that are committed and courageous. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

Your sensitivity is power. Don't let people transform your qualities into weaknesses. — Tariq Ramadan

"If we had not created a set of people against another the world would have been corrupt", and "against" here means two things: Against in the fact that they are challenging you with their diversity, challenging your intelligence and to challenge is not negative, it can be very positive depending on how you are challenged. — Tariq Ramadan

I am portrayed as a dangerous individual who can be fought thanks to their ideas. — Tariq Ramadan

It's okay to feel the need for protection if there is a real external threat. But to feel protective from the inside, it's a kind of jail: you get so protective that you cannot get out of the box. — Tariq Ramadan

Very often when I see people who are perceived to be, or who call themselves progressives, sometimes I see an imbalance. Yes I understand the courage in their mind but I don't see the spirituality in their heart, good you are questioning the limits, but what about yourself, are you also liberating yourself? — Tariq Ramadan

We are then content with some well-intended speeches, and as far as the rest is concerned we would have to rely on God. As if "reliance on God" means a lack of intelligence or competence in action; as if the Qur'anic Revelation has not distinguished between orientation and state, between where we should be and where we are; between the actualised foundation of a social project and the well-intended expression of its form. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

What I'm advocating is an intellectual revolution - it's a different mindset concerning the ethical benchmarks by which we live. — Tariq Ramadan

When I go back to the Quran I see that the context of Revelation is creation in its entirety. The universe is a Revelation and this of course includes nature, plants and animals. In other words, what is coming from the Quran as rules and objectives are set within the larger scheme of the universe and nature as part of Creation. — Tariq Ramadan

I think many thinkers and activists, even in the Islamist parties like the Muslim Brotherhood, and the people who left the Muslim Brotherhood to follow Abou el-Fatouh, these people do have an understanding that the relationship between religion and the state must be re-thought and re-assessed. They're not going to use the concept of secularism in any straightforward way, because the concept of secularism is still far too loaded in that part of the world. — Tariq Ramadan

Integration is a word of the past, the word of the future and the word of the present is contribution. — Tariq Ramadan

Prayer is better than to sleep. Wake up. Wake up & pray. This is the way you free yourself. — Tariq Ramadan

The point for me is people who are atheists or are coming from different religious traditions; they are coming from their own sources and specific roots. We should analyze these. — Tariq Ramadan

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 intelligence of those who study the timeless sacred texts in a spirit of responding to the questions of their time. — Tariq Ramadan

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

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. — Tariq Ramadan

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

Do not respond to attacks with attacks. Respond with Mercy & Respect — Tariq Ramadan

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

Shaking up whole region means that Israel needs the US for its safety and military camps are "flourishing" everywhere in the Middle East. It has been said that [Barack] Obama is less interested in the Middle East. I don't think so. This mess has been created and maintained. Maybe the US is pretending to be less interested, however, it allows them to take their power back when it comes to security. — Tariq Ramadan

The message of Islam asks you to be intellectually, spiritually, socially, and politically independent — Tariq Ramadan

Globalisation means indeed everything is global but there are still very specific centres of power, especially when it comes to media and news.Misinformation about some attacks is going to affect how emotionally involved the audience is going to get. In the end, an emotional ranking is artificially created when it comes to casualties. — Tariq Ramadan

I'm not talking about reforming #Islam..it is to reform the #Muslim minds & the Muslim understandings of the texts. — Tariq Ramadan

We have to free the Muslim mind from the obsession with limits and rules and forgetting the path and objective. This is truly a liberating process, and for me this is Islam: liberation from the ego, and in this case liberating ourselves from the wrong understanding of the religion. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

Cultures, along with the religions that shape and nurture them, are value systems, sets of traditions and habits clustered around one or several languages, producing meaning: for the self, for the here and now, for the community, for life. — Tariq Ramadan

It is of the highest importance to provide equal access to the labour market. Governments should act to establish equitable employment standards and penalise racial discrimination. — Tariq Ramadan

South Africa is labouring to find its revolutionary path; the colours of the Rainbow Nation have difficulty blending together; the wealthy elites (white, black or Indian) profit from de facto segregation. — Tariq Ramadan

The media is putting a lot of emphasis on the few people that are destroying, while it won't report on the silent majority of people who are constructing, building and trying to find their way. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

And the crowd often betrayed the people — Tariq Ramadan

The suicide bomber who blows up Israeli children cannot transform himself into a martyr. The Palestinian problem is not an Islamic problem. — Tariq Ramadan

The only way to resist colonialism is through education. — Tariq Ramadan

The nature of the state is one thing, but there are other major challenges - what it will take to tackle the issues of social corruption, for example, social justice, and the economic system - and what are the future challenges when it comes to equality between the citizens, in particular in the field of the job market and equal opportunity for men and for women? This is at the centre of the question that is the Arab Awakening. — Tariq Ramadan

What we also need to have a discussion on the philosophy of art: so we must ask what is it that we want in the first place? Is it just about saying and doing whatever you want, or is it about something more? We should let the artist be free, but we must also question how exactly he deals with freedom. Is it arts for elevation or arts for destruction? Is there dignity in the process? — Tariq Ramadan

The rich stick together; the poor and the marginalised are thrown together. — Tariq Ramadan

There is great potential and deep fragility [in Malaysia] that can be used by any group that stresses on religion, pushing towards Islam, rejecting people and alienating migrants - anything can be used to win the next elections. So these are the signs of fragility that is very much there. — Tariq Ramadan

I want to be an activist professor. — Tariq Ramadan

The collective psychology is something very close to being sacred - we can do it but we don't do it. We should understand that the Holocaust in the European conscience is reaching a point which is very close to what is sacred for people in the Southern countries, whether they are Muslims or not. Because of that we need to try to have intellectual empathy. — Tariq Ramadan

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

I don't buy anything which is Islamization of knowledge. I don't understand what it means in fact. — Tariq Ramadan

We can think of solutions in various theoretical ways, but it's not so on the ground. If they don't have a reference that helps them to belong, then they will end up excluding, and through that they get to feel that they belong on the basis of some narrow identity, language or color. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

No one can deny that some Islamist groups have credential and popularity. But that does not mean they are a majority. If we are serious about democracy we cannot blame the people for choosing what they want. We must promote the kinds of procedures and processes that are helping the people move ahead. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

A time will come when you're going to be numerous but your impact in the world will be like nothing — Tariq Ramadan

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

Saying that I am talking out of both sides of my mouth just proves my very point. Politicians would bypass real social issues by referring to my grandfather, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood, or to my brother, currently chairman of the Islamic Centre in Geneva. — Tariq Ramadan

Destroying the nation state are mainly three things: the global economy, global communication technology and global culture. And this is where we are lost in the process. What could be something that can provide us a transversal political sense of belonging? At the end of the day, without an alternative we end up with populism in the name of very narrow identities. — Tariq Ramadan

Man is certainly free, but he is responsible for this freedom before God as before men. This responsibility is inevitably moral. In order of this morality, to be free is to protect the freedom of others and their dignities. — Tariq Ramadan

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

Having traveled a lot and met people from different horizons it makes you more humble and ready to listen. — Tariq Ramadan

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

I look to Islamic ethics to find something that can provide the basis for shared values with other traditions, and ultimately universal values. This ties into the point I made in a book, The Quest for Meaning, that the only way for values to be universal is if they are shared universal values. My main point is, in this quest for value the aim is not to express your distinctness from others, but about being able to contribute to the discussion of universal value. — Tariq Ramadan

Muhammad particularly loved cats, but, more generally, he constantly made his Companions aware of the need to respect all animal species. He — Tariq Ramadan

When we begin to look around us, to observe individuals and societies, and to study philosophies and religions, we realize that our loneliness is shared. Our solitude is plural, and our singularity is the similarity between us. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

I have never, so far, in all the studies I have done, met a contradiction between what the human, experimental and natural sciences are telling us and the Islamic rules. In fact, the opposite is true: anything that is coming from the modern sciences is helping me better understand the text. It's not a contradiction. It's a relation. — Tariq Ramadan

I'd say that the modern social sciences are just showing us why the conditions for implementing Hudud are so demanding, and thus Hudud should only be for the absolutely last resort. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

The logic of freedom of religion implies freedom to be an atheist, even though, from a historical perspective, this has not been accepted in the Muslim world. — Tariq Ramadan

The discriminations that are found in the Muslim majority countries are more Cultural than Islamic.
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I have always said to the Muslim women, please do not nurture the victim mentality. Stand up for your rights. — Tariq Ramadan

We are not competing for the good when we only compete for numbers, being preoccupied with how many converts we are gaining. The true competition for good only happens when we are implementing our values of justice. — Tariq Ramadan

We have talked about revoking French citizenship for some individuals. Therefore, I have decided to apply for citizenship, which in a way points out the contradictions of this bill that states the forfeiture of French citizenship exclusively to individuals holding dual nationalities. Through this application, I put myself in the midst of the French political debate and discredit everything that might be said against me about this matter. — Tariq Ramadan

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

We cannot have a free market since it does not really set us free. It's free for interest, speculation and consumerism to create false needs. — Tariq Ramadan

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 find hope that is responsible? — Tariq Ramadan

That gentleness and kindness were the very essence of his teaching. He kept saying: God is gentle [rafiq] and he loves gentleness [ar-rifq] in everything. — Tariq Ramadan

We have to watch the world, and watch ourselves, with the humility of those who know, in the very depths of their being, that learning to become human is a process that never ends. — Tariq Ramadan

Feeling sympathy and searching for explanations isn't the same as believing that the violence is justified. — Tariq Ramadan

Still I have been invited I don't know how many times to Turkey, where Turkey has been following very quickly in the footsteps of what is sometimes referred to as the movement of cyber-dissidents. They have been training young people and also encouraging them to come into contact with western Muslims. — Tariq Ramadan

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. — Tariq Ramadan

We always think from where we come from. We always think from the sources that shape our understanding. I think about the world through the lens of my Islamic tradition. I accept this but I must also have intellectual humility. — Tariq Ramadan

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