Abu Quotes & Sayings

Islam is perfect, there is nothing to be added or changed. — Abu Bakar Bashir

I don't know anyone at the highest levels who approved Abu Ghraib. If President Barack Obama for a moment thought that somebody at a high level had approved it, he would go after them. — Peter T. King

Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, as well as Abu Musab Zarqawi, have made it quite clear in their internal propaganda that they cannot win unless they can drive the Americans out. And they know that they can't do that there, so they've brought the battlefield to the halls of Congress. — Geoff Davis

Sadism dominates the culture. It runs like an electric current through reality television and trash-talk programs, is at the core of pornography, and fuels the compliant, corporate collective. Corporatism is about crushing the capacity for moral choice and diminishing the individual to force him or her into an ostensibly harmonious collective. This hypermasculinity has its logical fruition in Abu Ghraib, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our lack of compassion for our homeless, our poor, the mentally ill, the unemployed, and the sick ... We accept the system handed to us and seek to find a comfortable place within it. We retreat into the narrow, confined ghettos created for us and shut our eyes to the deadly superstructure of the corporate state. — Chris Hedges

Associate with people in such a manner that they weep for you when you die and long for you if you are alive — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

In the matter of justice, all should be equal in your eyes. — Abu Bakr

Courtesy costs nothing, but buys everything. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

When you seek advice, do not withhold any facts from the person whose advice you seek. — Abu Bakr

Laws are to be enforced justly but firmly, with an iron hand. This is the case anywhere, even in a family. — Abu Bakar Bashir

Thanks to a deal finalized in 2008, Chicago's parking meters will be operated for the next 75 years by a group of investors put together by Morgan Stanley, including the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. — Thomas Frank

Democracy is for infidels. A real Muslim is not a democrat because he doesn't care about the opinions of majorities and minorities don't interest him. He is only interested in what Islam says. — Abdul Sattar Abu Risha

The world will not be free of me who will establish religion secretly and openly in order that the proofs of God are not obliterated. They will be few in number but they will be great in honour. They will be lost openly, but their pictures will reign in hearts. God will preserve His religion through them. They will leave the religion for their successors and they will plant it in the hearts of the young. The real nature of knowledge will be disclosed with their help. They will get good news from the life of sure faith. They will make easy what the rich think difficult and they will make clear what the heedless think obscure. They will keep company with the world witht their bodies, but their souls will be kept hanging in lofty places. They are servants of God among His people, His trustees and deputies on the earth. Then he wept and said: How eager I am to meet them. — Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali

The streets of Aqaba are shell spirals and, on summer nights, crowded and complicated as a woman's heart. — Diana Abu-Jaber

If anybody seeks your advice, offer right and sincere advice. — Abu Bakr

The nourishment of body is food, while the nourishment of the soul is feeding others. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

An Eastern poet, Ali Ben Abu Taleb, writes with sad truth,
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
And he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing hurts a good soul and a kind heart more than to live amongst people who cannot understand it. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

Hany Abu-Assad was sitting next to me, and his film 'Paradise Now' had won the Golden Globe. He said to me at the Globes, 'Paradise now, talk to you later.' [laughs] I gave him a big hug for that. — Gavin Hood

Beg for Love.
Consider this burning, and those who
burn, as gifts from the Friend.
Nothing to learn.
Too much has already been said.
When you read a single page from
the silent book of your heart,
you will laugh at all this chattering,
all this pretentious learning. — Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir

I think because I came into journalism by way of the Black Panther Party - and not J-school or a corporate bourgeois institution - I tried to do news, writing and reporting that had social, political and racial content and context. — Mumia Abu-Jamal

You, mad to expect repentance,Tear your robe all you want;I will never repent! — Abu Nuwas

But my foster mother never explained to me that there can be a deep loneliness in modern sanity too. That madness can be its own form of solace. — Diana Abu-Jaber

He who becomes a Muslim does so in his own interest. — Abu Bakr

Piety is the most solid goodness, and the vilest of what is evil is vice. — Abu Bakr

As a human being, I will always feel that where there is oppression, I am with the underdog. — Hany Abu-Assad

Run away from greatness and greatness will follow you. — Abu Bakr

People usually wish that they had the superpower of being invisible but then I realized that the true superpower was to be noticed. — Abdullah Abu Snaineh

You should have hope in God alone and should fear nothing but your sins. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

But the West is trying to weaken Islam from outside and inside. They attack our people and invade our countries from outside, and they weaken us from within with ideas like secularism, liberalism and democracy. This is all designed to contaminate our pure Islam. — Abu Bakar Bashir

I like movies that deal with trapped men. Men that need to make choices that are not obvious or easy choices. Then how do you visualize this? You create this character conflicted between two sides, because drama is about the conflict of two things, between your duty and your will, between what you want and what you can't have. It is all conflict between two things, and this is why you put your character in a place where you can visualize the conflict. — Hany Abu-Assad

Here and there in the barrios and the favelas, among those who have least, beat hearts of hope, fly sparks of Overcoming. — Mumia Abu-Jamal

We should be proud that our Prophet came into the world with the message of Islam to change it for the better, and not for the worse, or to keep things as they are. — Abu Bakar Bashir

I don't read the news anymore because I know it would make me depressed. So instead, I make beauty. I make movies. — Hany Abu-Assad

The day Love was illumined,
Lovers learned from You how to burn, Beloved.
The flame was set by the Friend
to give the moth a gate to enter.
Love is a gift from the Beloved to the Lover. — Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir

When there is a fight of reason versus emotion and the mind wonders which one to follow, in most times, emotion wins over reason. But it is reason that should win and emotion shouldn't. — Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb

Avoid jealously for this destroys good deeds as fire destroys wood. — Abu Hurairah

Neither happiness nor grief are everlasting in this life-but one of the two is everlasting in the next. Which one do you want? — Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi

The career of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was very strange. He was an obscure figure until Colin Powell made him famous by denouncing him before the UN Security Council on 5 February 2003. Powell claimed that Zarqawi was not only a member of al-Qa'ida but linked to Saddam Hussein's regime. Neither allegation was true, but together they met the political need to pretend that the invasion of Iraq was part of the war on terror. The — Patrick Cockburn

American journalists and politicians made a perfect spectacle of themselves in discussing the Abu Ghraib prison controversy. — Tony Snow

The loneliness of the arab is a terrible thing; it is all consuming. It is already present like a little shadow under the heart when he lays his head on his mother's lap; it threatens to swallow him whole when he leaves his own country, even though he marries and travels and talks to friends twenty-four hours a day. That is the way Sirine suspects that Arabs feel everything - larger than life, feelings walking in the sky. — Diana Abu-Jaber

I bought abandon dearAnd sold all piety for pleasure.My own free spirit I have followed,And never will I give up lust. — Abu Nuwas

Woman is a delicate creature with strong emotions who has been created by the Almighty God to shoulder responsibility for educating society and moving toward perfection. God created woman as symbol of His own beauty and to give solace to her partner and her family. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

Making the future and the road to the future wealth lies in the youth of the present and future, and rebuilding the nation's institutions based on knowledgeable scientific foundations that require promising human capacities derived from college graduates. Universities are the makers of men, we are proud of their role and of the efforts of their administrators. — Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

Allah says, "The broken ones are my beloved. — Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir

When you advise any person you should be guided by the fear of God. — Abu Bakr

What mattered to Abu was the music of the sentence. 'A shadow does not belong to the object that casts it.' To Abu, it was a little poem. And in general, it was the poetics, the music of things that tossed his confetti. — Tom Robbins

Dislike in yourself what you dislike in others. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

There is not a single Muslim leader today who has the courage and commitment to defend Islam and Muslims, they are all in awe of the United States and other Western powers, and are indebted to them. — Abu Bakar Bashir

The Navy has a custom-if a ship runs aground, the captain is relieved regardless of who is responsible. That's how Abu Ghraib should be handled. — Rand Beers

You don't remember the gifts you are given; you remember the giver and how their love made you feel. — Toni Sorenson

Take Care Of Your Tongue Like The Way You Take Care Of Gold & Silver. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

Do not force your children to behave like you, for surely they have been created for a time which is different to your time — Ali Ibn-e-Abu Talib

When I was younger, I did dark movies. It was a reflection of what I saw around me. — Hany Abu-Assad

Arrogance is despised by God because no one has the right to feel superior to another when all are equally dependent on Him for everything. — Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi

Every day, nay every moment, try to do some good deed. — Abu Bakr

Muslims should live like brothers. — Abu Bakr

The CIA officer at the black site relayed the report to his headquarters. The CIA's director, George Tenet, was unhappy to learn that the FBI was leading the questioning. He ordered a CIA counterterrorism team to take over in Thailand. "We were removed," Soufan said. "Harsh techniques were introduced" - at first, stripping the prisoner of his clothes and depriving him of sleep for forty-eight hours at a time - and "Abu Zubaydah shut down and stopped talking." Then the FBI took over again. — Tim Weiner

almost everything is better than "living" in this shithole. Wait!! If my city is a shithole what does that make us?! — Abdullah Abu Snaineh

It is not true that only those people come to Islamic State who have experienced no success in life. Among them are many people who have university degrees, people who were well-established. But they all see the inequities that we Muslims have long experienced and want to fight against them. — Abdul Sattar Abu Risha

Cursed is the man who dies, but the evil done by him survives. — Abu Bakr

The intelligent person is not one who merely knows what is good and what is bad. The intelligent person is one who, when he sees what is good, follows it, and when he sees evil, shuns it. — Abu Nuaym

I love sports. The spirit and the fight you put to win a game. It is just like life except that life is not a game. There is no "retry" option in real life and you don't get to get a bonus life. — Abdullah Abu Snaineh

Why should we use the Dollar even when we trade among ourselves? — Abu Bakar Bashir

Not to have a thing is less humiliating than to beg it. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

He walked out without his money.
The lesson to me was clear: hold onto your integrity at all costs. Never compromise on that. — Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

Desire makes slaves out of kings, while patience makes kings out of slaves. — Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali

As there is no darkness in the moonlight. So is Mustafa (Muhammad), the well wisher, bright. — Abu Bakr

I believe you can only be lucky if you start out being
very good — Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

Before this generation goes on to its ancestors, we should, we must, do our level best to pass on our lessons, so that they live in our people's minds and lives. — Mumia Abu-Jamal

A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of
his mind. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

Faith does not increase, nor does it decrease; because a diminution in it would be unbelief. — Abu Hanifa

Wealth converts a strange land into homeland and poverty turns a native place into a
strange land. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

In light of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, critics are arguing that abuses of Iraqi prisoners are being produced by a climate of disregard for the laws of war. — John Yoo

Do not deceive or be faithless even with your enemy. — Abu Bakr

The goal of providing basic literacy and education to all the world's people is still the most basic development challenge. — Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

If the Constitution can be used against one, it can be used against all. — Mumia Abu-Jamal

The learned man who does not act up to his knowledge is like a patient who describes the qualities of a medicine without using it or like a hungry man who describes the taste of a food without eating it. — Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali

Likewise the leader of any state has to do the same, he has to enforce Shariah firmly, for he will be held in account later in the afterlife if he fails. — Abu Bakar Bashir

Freedom is never free. — Abu Zubair

If an ignorant person is attracted by the things of the world, that is bad. But if a learned person is thus attracted, it is worse. — Abu Bakr

Muslims must believe that all power, success and victory comes from God alone. — Abu Bakar Bashir

When you get ill do not get nervous about it and try as much as possible to be hopeful. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

The best of the people are the first to greet others. — Abu Umamah Al Bahili

Human experience throughout the ages has been enhanced through learning, information and communication. — Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

His expression seems a sort of surrender: the loss of a thing that he has already lost before. — Diana Abu-Jaber

Democracy is a hegemonic tool of the West and contrary to Islam. Why do you act as though the entire world needs democracy? And when it comes to homosexuality, the issue is clearly dealt with by the Koran. It says it is forbidden and should be punished. — Abdul Sattar Abu Risha

I do not feel remorse. Everybody makes mistakes in war. — Abu Abbas

Ali ruled from 656 to 661 but believed Muhammad intended him to succeed him originally in 632, rather than Abu Bakr. — Zephyros Press

Many times I heard Imam Ahmad saying (when asked to give his opinion) on controversial scholarly issues 'I do not know.' — Abu Dawood

He who is not impressed by sound advice, lacks faith. — Abu Bakr

There's a time when things go out of tune. It's not all the time. It's not even a lot of the time. But it is some of the time. And then you have to deal with it all. Everything comes out wrong. You dream about goats and monkeys. People start to look at things wrong. Maybe you think the world looks squashed and flat. Maybe you get stones in the bulgar and you burn the smoked wheat. — Diana Abu-Jaber

The people who abandon Jihad fall a victim to humility and degradation. — Abu Bakr

Ibn al-Khatib says: Ibn Battutah has a modest share of the sciences. He journeyed to the East in the month of Rajab 725 [1325], travelled through its lands, penetrated into Iraq al-Ajam, then entered India, Sind and China, and returned through Yemen. In India, the king appointed him to the office of qadi. He came away later and returned to the Maghrib [ ... ]. Our Shaykh Abu l-Barakat Ibn al-Balfiqi told us of many strange things which Ibn Battutah had seen. Among them was that he claimed to have entered Constantinople and to have seen in its church twelve thousands bishops. He subsequently crossed the Strait to the Spanish coast [ ... ]. Thereafter the ruler of Fez summoned him and commanded him to commit his travels to writing. — Tim Mackintosh-Smith

If Abu Nidal is a terrorist, then so is George Washington. — Muammar Al-Gaddafi

Every breath you take is a step forward toward death.
(Hazrat Ali-As) — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib

If there was one fact that sent me hurtling off to write 'Politics Lost,' it was when I learned that John Kerry had focus-grouped Abu Ghraib. We knew about the Justice Department memo in June of 2004, and Kerry didn't raise that in any one of his three debates with George Bush. — Joe Klein

There's the man with his cart who sold me rolls sprinkled with thyme and sesame every morning and then saluted me like a soldier. — Diana Abu-Jaber

I am encouraged by the news today that United States special operations personnel found, identified and killed the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the operational commander of the al-Qaeda led insurgency in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi was the public face of the insurgency. — Mike Fitzpatrick

Most of us want to live in harmony and peace and be good to others. Right now, however, the world is in a very turbulent time, and our leadership has gone crazy. — Hany Abu-Assad

I know I'm not perfect & will never become. Yet, I'm proud of being Me, with all humility & imperfections.
Cause this is the only life I have ... — Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb