Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Radical Islamists are promoting a global world view which is destabilising us. Look at all the civil wars which radical Muslims have started. Bangladesh is well in the frame to become a serious democracy. There are established madrasas in Dhaka where a lot of money is coming from Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries. These seminaries produce people who hack people to death simply because they don’t agree with them....

Yaya J. Fanusie

If we did see more terrorist interest in using virtual currency for the dark web, I’m not sure this would create any major developments. For example, in 2014, a Virginia teenager who was an Islamic State supporter posted a white paper he wrote encouraging others to fund IS through bitcoin payments. So, this idea of using virtual currencies as a way to support terrorism has been out there for a few years, without it seeming to play a significant role in inspiring others. ....

Frank F Islam

I recognise that many Muslims ~ too many ~ still need to improve their socio-economic life and may be experiencing hostility, prejudice and discrimination. I think the starting point for changing that situation must be with education for those Muslims. Here are some sad facts related to the educational circumstances of Muslims in India: The 2001 Census Report showed that the literacy rate of Indian Muslims was 59.1 per cent. The rate for Muslim males in urban areas was much higher than in rural areas. The rate for females was substantially lower in both areas....

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

They often conflate Islam with Muslims. I repeatedly stress that Islam and Muslims are two very different things. The foremost source of knowledge about Islam is the Quran. The next source is the Hadith, from which we learn about aspects of the Prophet’s life. Now, according to my study, people generally refer to some battles that the Prophet fought, and on that basis say that Islam is a religion of war, of violence. …

Faizan Mustafa

Opinions of Abu Hanifa (who established one of the five schools of Islamic jurisprudence, Hanafi) and other jurists given over 1,000 years ago cannot be struck down as unconstitutional. Can we, for instance, ask the Supreme Court to declare (19th century legal philosopher) John Austin’s opinion on sovereignty or, for that matter, the Hindu law-giver Manu’s view as unconstitutional? This cannot and should not be done....

Sheema Kermani

Kermani contends that no religion asks women not to stand straight or be ashamed of their bodies. “The minute a woman stands straight, she feels strong and no male can harass her.” What dress a woman wears does not matter; what matters is “her stance, physical being, presence and aura”.....

A dialogue between communities and interacting with one another helps break down myths and creates understanding. It is always good to be open-minded and honest. Apart from the indigenous people of Australia, we are all migrants and share this land. Being isolated is harmful, as it leads to distrust from both sides....

In the above verse the Qur'an instructs Muslims that as a concomitant to believing in a similar historicity of revelation as the People of the Book they also believe in the same God and accordingly should tell them: ‘Our God (Iilāhunā) and your God (ilāhukum) is One’. The fact that Muslims are instructed to state this as a matter of fact and not as a postulate that needs to be proven is consistent with the Qur'anic world-view that regards Abraham, the patriarch of the Judeo-Christian tradition, alongside other Prophets such as Noah, Moses and Jesus, as being Muslim, i.e. those who submitted themselves to God....

M J Akbar

I am asking the Qazis opposing triple Talaq to go research the holy Quran. Look for the future in your holy book. Those Muslim clerics who become obstacles to women's emancipation are against the spirit of the Quran. How can anyone go by triple Talaq which is instant, when it is clearly mentioned in the holy book that one must have consultations?...

Dada J P Vaswani

The teaching we have been given is that there are no enemies, there are either friends or friends-to-be. Now that should be our guiding principle. Either the person who meets you is a friend or a friend-to-be....

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan for New Age Islam

A basic difference between the two kinds of work—Dawah work and social work—is that in Dawah work, the Dai develops a close relationship with God. While engaged in his work, he remembers God often. He prays to God. He seeks guidance from God. In contrast to this, in social work, the enthusiasm is for bonding with people....

There is no support for ISIL in Mosul. They are left only with weapons that they will use to kill themselves once the liberating forces make the decision to raid the city....

AR Rahman

The Imam instantly had a smile on his face, and said, oh, music is, in a way, the language to reach God. And he is from Medina; he's an Imam in Medina. I was stunned, I was expecting him to frown, to change his expression or... (but) nothing like that happened. So when people look at things like that in black and white, they are perhaps just being safe in analysing something that is very complex. It is very complex, but it is also very beautiful...

Cathy Russell

But the legitimacy behind female Imams is of course the same as male Imams.  The one who has knowledge should be able to speak.  The one who’s good in recitation and who knows the rules behind such should be able to lead the prayer.  I think it’s important to understand that the Quran, our sources, are seeing men and women as equal spiritual partners.  And there’s nothing in the religious tradition or in the Quran that does not allow a woman to become an Imam.  Women have the same possibilities as men....

Farahnaz Ispahani

The process of ‘purifying’ the population did not end there. Pakistan’s Christians and Parsis have gradually emigrated from the country and the exodus continues to this day. Ahmadis were deemed Muslim by the state until 1974 when they were declared non-Muslims for legal purposes through a constitutional amendment....

Matthew S. Erie

The vacuum created by the end of Maoism has led to a commercialization of Chinese society that is in its own way spiritually void. There’s no question that people are searching for meaning. What’s really important is that some people are doing it through Islam....

Daniel Pipes

I see it as only one of several important Islamist movements. The most important is the Wahhabi (or Salafi) doctrine espoused by the Saudi government with all its vast resources, then the Khomeinist line of the Islamic Republic of Iran, then the Muslim Brotherhood, then the Deobandi School in India....

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, New Age Islam

Through my study of the Quran, I have found that Islam’s concept of life is that a person should intellectually develop himself to such an extent that he is able to turn a minus into a plus. I had learnt this principle through my study of Islam. Later, I came to know of an incident of the famous Indian monk Swami Vivekananda. ...

Husain Haqqani

I am a pragmatic moderate and I think that hard-line ideology of all sorts actually hurts human beings. The subcontinent is mired in ideological politics. So, my assessment is very different from my desire. My desire is that people should resolve issues in a pragmatic manner, but at the moment, ideological and emotional politics prevails, that creates the difficulties that you and I are discussing....

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan for New Age Islam

Spread of peaceful literature and dissemination of peaceful ideas on the Internet alone can counter the radicalization that is seen among Muslims today. De-radicalization will take place in the same manner as radicalization has taken place, that is, through the spread of ideas. There can be no other way. Misleading interpretations of Islam have been uploaded on websites on a large scale....

Ebrahim Moosa

...all Muslim parents must adopt a sophisticated Islamic education and procure the same for their children. This do-it-yourself Islam that people get from self-help manuals is most toxic and dangerous. You need qualified scholars to educate your children. Reading the Qur’an unsupervised or reading the Hadith unsupervised can create the most toxic misunderstanding and result in dangerous practices....

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan for New Age Islam

The atmosphere of the house should be totally in control of the parents. The parents should make an effort to turn their homes into spiritual places. For example, instead of their discussions centring on food, clothes, furniture and other such material things, there should be discussion on spiritual issues. In Muslim homes, there is often a lot of negative conversation. ....

Chris Hedges

Well, Wahhabism goes back as a sect, a fanatical sect, to the Ottoman Empire. And the common kind of wisdom in the Middle East is that the British secret service used Wahhabism as a way to create divisions and unrest within the Ottoman Empire. And one of the things that's often not understood about these Wahhabi religious leaders made an alliance with the House of Saud, basically just bandits at the time, giving them religious legitimacy which they needed in order to control Mecca and Medina....

Mustafa Akyol

Moderate Islam is possible. We should welcome that. We have reformist views within Islam. It’s not impossible to revive that tradition....

Tabish Khair

Yes, the idea of an inclusive India and our democracy have definitely staved off the threat of IS and its ilk – but this may change in a few years, if more Hindutva voices keep complaining about Akbar, Kabir, etc., and talking of Muslims as ‘outsiders’, if democratic institutions are hobbled, and if the insidious influence of petro-dollars on Muslims is not faced up to.  Let us not be complacent.  India is many ideas – not all of them are peaceful or cohesive....