“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.” HumansDoneFactsHelpingNaturalStudyModernMetsOppositesRelationIslamicContradictionModern ScienceNatural Science Author:Tariq Ramadan
“There are certain things that we cannot understand, like why we pray five times a day, for example. But the fact that we choose to pray is understandable.” FactsCertainFiveExamplePraying Author:Tariq Ramadan
“I don't buy anything which is Islamization of knowledge. I don't understand what it means in fact.” MeanFacts Author:Tariq Ramadan
“In my book, the Arab Awakening, I talk about the fact that we have to move from this. All the contemporary ideologies of political Islam have been based on the nation state. The nation state is very problematic but I'm not sure if we have an alternative political model.” IfsHas BeensBookStatesFactsMovingPoliticalNationsModelsIslamAwakeningContemporaryIdeologyAlternativesNot Sure Author: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.” PeopleIfsWorldMeanHas BeensTwoFactsChallengesDiversityNegativeTwo ThingsVery Positive Author:Tariq Ramadan
“When I came here [to Malaysia] I heard that there is a problem with the concept of pluralism whereby pluralism is understood in a very narrow way, which I think is wrong. This is not to diminish your sense of truth in what you believe but to acknowledge the fact that we live in a world where we need to deal with pluralism. It's a fact.” ThinkingWorldWayNeedsBelieveFactsProblemDealsHeardUnderstoodConceptsAcknowledgeDiminishPluralismMalaysiaPluralism Is Author:Tariq Ramadan
“Now no one can deny the fact that whatever is the state of the affairs in the country, you did not have the army controlling the country and you have a pluralistic society anyway.” CountryStatesFactsArmyAffairDeny Author:Tariq Ramadan
“The fact that this organisation is called the Islamic State reveals something even deeper. In fact, it implies that every single Islamist party in Egypt, Iraq or Tunisia are not really representing Islam and Muslim people. Nowadays, political Islam is going through a crisis, however this crisis is necessary, for it will lead to a changing way of thinking. In order to make it out of this dead-end, reviewing political Islam becomes mandatory.” PeopleThinkingWayEndsStatesFactsPoliticalOrderPartyCrisisIslamIraqDeeperIslamicEgyptWay Of ThinkingOrganisationRepresentingDead EndsIslamistsIslamic StateTunisia Author:Tariq Ramadan
“We have to be very cautious not to accept the scam of polarization we see in the media. It is not in fact between secularists and Islamists, it is a battle within the Islamic reference.” FactsAcceptingMediaBattleIslamicCautiousIslamistsScamsPolarization Author:Tariq Ramadan
“I wouldn't call it naive but silly. History does not work like this. If you look at the dynamics of Eastern Europe or even Germany post reunification, you realize that change takes time. No one can deny the fact that we are still not there - I am advocating something which has to go from uprisings to revolutions. It is not coming straight away that it is not going to come but what we have to advocate is that the democratization process is always better than state dictatorship.” IfsLooksDoeStillsStatesFactsProcessRealizingRevolutionEuropeDenySillyPostsGermanyTake TimeDictatorshipEasternDynamicsAdvocatingUprisingEastern EuropeDemocratizationReunification Author:Tariq Ramadan
“In fact all the Islamists, that is the reformists not the Salafis, now they all say that they want a civil state, a civil state with Islamic reference points. They are not talking about an Islamic state, or sharia in the way this was once understood in the fight against the colonisers, or just afterwards in the 70's, 80's and 90's.” WayWantStatesFactsFightingTalkingUnderstoodIslamicNot TalkingIslamistsIslamic StateSharia Author:Tariq Ramadan
“Salafi is a very broad concept in Islam. What we have now is, like, for example, the Nour Party in Egypt or the Salafi in Tunisia are people who, in fact, we call very often Wahhabi, following the Saudi school of thought and law. And they are literalists in the way where it's black and white, there's a very narrow interpretation of the scriptural sources. For decades, we knew that they were there, but they were not involved in politics. What is completely new for all of us over the last years is that they are now within the political arena and playing the democratic game.” PeopleWayYearsFactsSchoolLastsLawPoliticalGamesBlackWhitePartyExampleSourceInvolvedConceptsDemocraticIslamFollowingDecadesInterpretationBroadsBlack And WhiteLast YearEgyptArenaSaudisTunisia Author:Tariq Ramadan
“Unsettled Middle East, in these times where the people are trying to find their way towards democracy, could be interesting for many reasons - for weapons to be sold, for new geostrategic interests to be protected, and something that we are not talking about, which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The people who are lost in the whole discussion here are the Palestinians. We have demonstrations in Palestine in West Bank. Nobody is covering this. It's as if they don't exist anymore. And this is, in fact, central. And Israel is silent.” PeopleIfsWayTryingReasonWholeFactsLostInterestInterestingTalkingDemocracyMiddleConflictWeaponsSilentWestIsraelEastDiscussionMiddle EastProtectedPalestinianPalestineIsraeliDemonstrationCoveringNot TalkingIsraeli Palestinian Conflict Author:Tariq Ramadan
“Sometimes people confuse silence as wisdom when in fact it is compromise.” PeopleSometimesFactsSilenceCompromise Author:Tariq Ramadan
