Interview
But there is
something bold and fierce about all of these voices. One of the common threads
is the realization that if you claim to love God, you have to love humanity. If
you claim to love God, you cannot stand silent when you see humanity suffer....
“Being a Muslim
and following the holy book, the Quran, in almost every volume of the holy
Quran, it says, “Why don’t you ponder? Why don’t you think? Why don’t you
explore?” It says, “Why don’t you explore the world?”” The emphasis being on
questioning rather than blindly following. He believes, whether humanist,
Muslim, or another belief system, that the point is to not be a “blind
follower.”...
Qanta A. Ahmed
I’m sure if you
spoke to any of the preachers at these mosques, they would say, “We did not
personally coach an ISIS fighter, we did not personally sent or financed
jihadists out to Syria or Iraq.” But their language and their words are
actually pure Islamism, which is casually known as radical Islam, masquerading
as the true religion of Islam. What you just described, the enmity, not just mortal,
but cosmic, towards Judaism or the barbaric punishments that they think are
deemed for LBGTQ people, are classic central tenants of a political
totalitarianism known as Islamism....
Ziya Us Salam
If the husband and wife want to be husband and wife again, who can stop them? In my case, I had filed a case under Section 498 [of the Indian Penal Code], but when my husband promised to be good to me in future, and swore by the Quran, I took back the case. I even paid for his bail. But what did I get in return...
Listen; regarding the possibility of war, it is real. As for the degree of probability, we cannot rule it out, not even for a moment. Because with such a mentality, such an administration... And whatever they say, it's not just Trump, but the Vice-President, the whole of this administration, their vision... You see how some approached the cause of Al-Quds. He approached it with a religious point of view! These things are related to.......
Vidya Ram
There are many
voices in Pakistan and of Pakistanis living in the diaspora that can only be
raised effectively outside Pakistan and we hope that these voices will start
having a resonance back home. It is important that the discourse on Pakistan
that has been streamlined and subject to specific parameters defined by the
Pakistani establishment opens up. That people start asking questions that they
are not allowed to ask....
Thus, Islam's
position is that self-knowledge and knowledge of the other are interwoven and
complementary, being integrated in an overarching knowledge of God. In that
regard, the goal of dialogue in Islam is not to assert one worldview over the
other, but, instead, to see the process of dialogue, like all forms of
relationship, as a Mirror of Consciousness pointing towards the Divine,
eventually allowing for the means of self-realization and in an ultimate sense realization of God....
Tony Badran
Hezbollah has
vastly upgraded its capabilities. It has tripled the size of its rocket arsenal
and increased the accuracy of its missiles (i.e.: the Fateh-110), and will
inflict significant damage on Israeli cities and civilian infrastructure in any
future war....
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....
On Da'wah and Dialogue
Yusuf Jha, New Age Islam
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....
.jpg "AR Rahman: At Medina, an Imam Said To Me, Music Is the Language to Reach God")
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....