Tariq Ramadan Best Quotes & Sayings

IS [Islamic State] has played a major role in helping Bashar al-Assad to reposition Syria on the international scene. Now, it is almost impossible to come up with a solution that would exclude him. The political game appears to be very cynical indeed. — Tariq Ramadan

We must re-center philosophy within our frame of reference which I think is the way to deal with it. — 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

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

Questioned by a Companion about the best possible hijrah, the Prophet was to answer: "It is to exile yourself [to move away] from evil [abominations, lies, sins]."12 This requirement of spiritual exile was to be repeated in different forms. — Tariq Ramadan

The Prophet's life is an invitation to a spirituality that avoids no question and teaches us - in the course of events, trials, hardships, and our quest - that the true answers to existential questions are more often those given by the heart than by the intelligence. Deeply, simply: he who cannot love cannot understand. — Tariq Ramadan

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

We should not fool ourselves. When the Quran says wa la qad karamna Bani Adam ["we have honored the Children of Adam"] so yes we should all be free but this should not mean that we must act against the dignity of human beings. — Tariq Ramadan

The problem, once again, as in all sciences is the attitude of the mind that is dealing with whatever field. The problem is not philosophy but the lack of intellectual humility. It is when reason becomes arrogant that we lose track. But intellectual humility with science: this is spirituality - this is the way we are with God. So we should not be scared and we must reconcile ourselves. — Tariq Ramadan

Every country in Europe needs immigrants for its economic survival. — 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

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

I had no intention to cover my tracks since I am not a politician and I do not represent anybody. — 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

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 wish to find the strength to beautify one's thoughts and to purify one's heart. It is everyone's hope and expectation to live in serenity and to plod along in transparency: the palms of the hands patiently directed towards heaven, at the heart of all this modernity. — Tariq Ramadan

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

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

Life is not black and white when it comes to perception. — Tariq Ramadan

I wanted to understand. I'm not here to support one, but I am here to criticize all, on a principled position. I very much value the position of counter power. I think this is where ethics should be, in front of power as I said in Radical Reform. The power of counter-power is very important. — Tariq Ramadan

Part of the French political class is realising that there is are large number of Muslim people coming from the ghettos who want to make themselves heard, politically, especially about foreign policy issues. Its electoral weight can bring back to the forefront the Palestinian issue. — Tariq Ramadan

There are in you two qualities that God loves: clemency [al-hilm] and forbearance [al-ana, "nobleness," "tolerance"]. — Tariq Ramadan

I think we are making a mistake, a very big mistake if we look at what we call the Arab Awakening only by looking at the whole dynamics in political and not in economic terms. — Tariq Ramadan

Those organisations, al-Qaeda being the first one, have all settled in areas full of mining and oil resources or in geostrategic zones. They settled in Afghanistan which underground is filled with oil and lithium. North Mali is filled with mining resources (uranium). It is essential to question the impact and role of some international players that create or let those organisations settle there. — Tariq Ramadan

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

Saying that the origin of the Islamic State (IS) is within the Muslim Brotherhood organisation only strengthens IS. This is what the Israeli government asserts when claiming that Hamas and IS are the exact same thing. By saying so, the historical resistance [against the Israeli occupation] is viewed as unlawful, called extremism and terrorism. — 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

The problem is that the constitution should have been and was an opportunity, exactly as Moncef Marzouki tried to do, to bring together the secularists and Islamists. — Tariq Ramadan

Since the uprisings in the Middle East many scholars have come out saying that freedom comes first before the Shariah. There is also something important that we must keep in mind in our understanding the Shariah, and that is the room for what is permissible should be as wide as possible. So we should leave it open to let people be creative. — Tariq Ramadan

Even the concept of the infidel is misleading, because the infidel is normally someone with a different faith, someone who refuses to recognize the truth of the words of the Koran, as revealed by God. He has every right to do so, as long as he does not question my right to believe in my truth. — 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 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