I believe my religion is the truth, but I am not the truth and the truth doesn't belong to me I'm trying to belong to the truth.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the pursuit of truth in religion while acknowledging personal limitations in possessing it.
Tariq Ramadan expresses a humble perspective on religion and truth, recognizing that while he believes in the validity of his beliefs, he understands that truth is not solely his possession. This sentiment points to the idea that individuals can strive to connect with deeper truths and meanings beyond their own interpretations and beliefs, promoting a quest for understanding that transcends personal biases.
In practice
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of belief and understanding.
If people who cherish freedom, who know the importance of mutual respect and are aware of the imperative necessity to establish a constructive and critical debate, if these people are not ready to speak out, to be more committed and visible, then we can expect sad, painful tomorrows. The choice is ours.
My experience of living with people of diverse religions and cultures taught me that one will never be at peace with the other if one is at war with oneself.
Compelling a woman to wear a headscarf is against Islam, and compelling her to remove it is against human rights.
This simple truth is the essence of my message to Muslims throughout the world: know who you are, who you want to be, and start talking and working with whom you are not. Find common values and build with fellow citizens a society based on diversity and equality.
The great majority of Americans do not know much about Islam but nonetheless fear it as violent, expansionist and alien to their society. The problem to overcome is not hatred, but ignorance.
Instantaneous and mass communication is the mother of mass naivety. Should we then lose hope? Is there any hope? But to lose hope is as dangerous as to nurture false hope. Where then can we find hope that is responsible?
Each of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age.
There is only one way to put an end to evil, and that is to do good for evil.
We've been trained to squint into a legal microscope, hoping that we can judge any dispute against the standard of a perfect society where everyone will agree what's fair, and where accidents will be extinct, and risk will be no more.
And the mind that has conceived a plan of living must never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived. That goes for societies as well as for individuals.
We live in a world that has narrowed into a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood.
Pension: An allowance made to anyone without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.
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