Ramadan Quotes

Saying that Islam is in heart, is similar to giving back the exam's paper completely white and saying : knowledge is in brain.

Intellect is a part of a good faith. Intellect is the light, the heart is the direction.

In one word, Queequeg, said I, rather digressively; hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by Ramadans.

Humility is my table, respect is my garment, empathy is my food and curiosity is my drink. As for love, it has a thousand names and is by my side at every window.

Like the sun that sets at the end of the day, so too will Ramadan come and go, leaving only it's mark on our heart's sky.

If there is a smoke, there is a fire, the saying goes, That is quite true, but one should find what the fire is, and who lit it.

Behind every great man is not a woman, she is beside him, she is with him, not behind him

In Ramadan, you should eat less and think more.

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.

The more you look into and understand yourself, the less judgmental you become towards others.

In His infinite mercy, Allah has sent the light of Ramadan to erase the night. He has sent the month of the Qur’an so that He might elevate us and bring us from our isolation to His nearness.

الإسلام لايقيم عالما مغلقا للمرجعية بل يعتمدعلى مجموعة من المبادئ الشمولية التي يمكن أن تتطابق مع أسس وقيم معتقدات وتقاليد دينية

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.

لا تكن مسلما صالحا في المسجد ومسلما طالحا في المجتمع، ولكن كن مسلما صالحا في المسجد ومسلما فاعلا في المجتمع.

الوحي يفصح عن نفسه بأنه نذير خير وأمر أخلاقي شديد الحزم ينشر الإلهام الروحي بقدر ماينظم الشكل الواضح للطقوس الدينية

Jack," I said, "why don't you go check on Sam?" Maybe you can advise her on getting through those doors. OR you could sing to her. I know she'd love that." "Yeah? Cool!" Jack zoomed off to serenade Sam, which meant Sam would want to hit me later, except it was Ramadan so she had to be nice to me. Wow, I was a bad person. At the doors, Jack was trying to help by suggesting songs he could sing to inspire new ideas for getting inside: 'Knockin'on Heaven's Door', 'I Got the Keys' or 'Break on Through (to the Other Side)'. "How about none of the above?" Sam said. "'None of the Above' ..." Jack mused. "Is that by Stevie Wonder?" "How's it going guys?" I asked. I didn't know if it was physically possible to strangle a magic sword, but I didn't want to see Sam try.

I am too old to think that numbers are creating change

إن شاء الله;تعبر عن الحدود,عن شعور التواضع من جانب الذي يتصرف وهويعلم أن الله وحده بيده كل مايحدث,بما يتجاوز مابإستطاعة المرء قوله أو فعله

هذا إعتراف أن عملية وضع هذه المبادئ سابقة للإسلام وتتجاوزه,لأن الإسلام ورسالته تأكيد لجوهر معاهدةسبق للضميرالإنساني صياغتهابمعزل عن دين

No one must ever let power or social, economic, or political interest turn him or her away from other human beings, from the attention they deserve and the respect they are entitled to. nothing must ever lead to a person to compromise this principle or faith in favor of a political strategy aimed at saving or protecting a community from some peril. The freely offered, sincere heart of a poor, powerless individual is worth a thousand times more in the sight of God than the assiduously courted, self-interested heart of a rich one.

Mornings are like almost clean slates. I say almost clean because the residue of yesterdays is sometimes stuck on them.

القراءة المتعصبة للنصوص لا علاقة لها بالنصوص البتة بل بعقلية قارئ النصوص

Acknowledged differences may create mutual respect, but hazy misunderstandings bring forth nothing but prejudice and rejection.

Fasting men and fasting women, God has prepared forgiveness and a splendid wage. Quran-AlAhzab(35)

We are all born with spiritual wings, Islam simply reminds us how to fly.

Deeply, simply: he who cannot love cannot understand.

Islam has been built on five pillars: testifying that there is no god but God, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God; saying prayers; paying the prescribed charity (zakat); making the pilgrimage to the House of God in Makkah and fasting in the month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is a BOOT CAMP for the Muslim body and soul. In this Holy month, make everyday count.

hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by Ramadans.

When Ali was killed by a Kharijite wielding a poisoned sword during Ramadan in A.H. 40 (A.D. 661), he became one of the earliest victims of Islamic terrorism.

The 'fires'n that produce thick, rarely innocent, often strategic smoke should therefore be scrutinized. they should be known and identified; and when they involve dishonesty, lies, or manipulation, they they should be ignored.

In His infinite mercy, Allah has sent the light of Ramadan to erase the night. He has sent the month of the Qur’an so that He might elevate us and bring us from our isolation to His nearness.

Intellectual modesty is humility as to what I know; intellectual humility is modesty as to what I do not know

Jack floated over, his blade shuddering and warbling like a hand saw. "Frigg? Oh, man, I don't like Frigg. She's too quiet. Too devious. Too--" "She's my ma," Mallory grumbled. "Oh, that Frigg!" Jack said. "Yeah, she's great." "I hate her," Mallory said. "Gods, me too!" Jack commiserated. "Jack," I said, "why don't you go check on Sam? Maybe you can advise her on getting through those doors. Or you could sing to her. I know she'd love that." "Yeah? Cool!" Jack zoomed off to serenade Sam, which meant Sam would want to hit me later, except it was Ramadan, so she had to be nice to me. Wow, I was a bad person.

Let our religions unite us for human kindness rather than dividing us on what we believe. Eid Mubarak

Ramadan was over. We celebrated, we exchanged gifts, and Navid devoured the contents of our entire kitchen.

Praise belongs to God who appointed among those roads His month, the month of Ramadan, the month of fasting, the month of submission, the month of purity, the month of putting to test, the month of standing in prayer, in which the Quran was sent down as guidance to the people, and as clear signs of the Guidance and the Separator.

As long as your heart is beating, you have a purpose. God is intentional, so He does not keep anyone on Earth that doesn’t have to be here; if we are blessed with more life, it is because someone in the world needs us. If we are alive, it means that what we were sent to this Earth to create has not yet been accomplished.

active acceptance” of God’s will: to question with one’s mind, to understand with one’s intelligence, and to submit with one’s heart.

The desert is often the locus of prophecies because it naturally offers to the human gaze the horizons of the infinite.

Meaning is created when many people weave together a common network of stories. Why does a particular action – such as getting married in church, fasting on Ramadan or voting on election day – seem meaningful to me? Because my parents also think it is meaningful, as do my brothers, my neighbours, people in nearby cities and even the residents of far-off countries. And why do all these people think it is meaningful? Because their friends and neighbours also share the same view. People constantly reinforce each other’s beliefs in a self-perpetuating loop. Each round of mutual confirmation tightens the web of meaning further, until you have little choice but to believe what everyone else believes.

Just as it takes a baby nine months in the belly of its mother to develop, the moon many nights to become full, and a caterpillar weeks in a cocoon to become a butterfly, through entering the womb of Ramadan and fasting the entire month, our faith transforms.

وليس يُعجبها في الكون غيره، ذلك الفلسطيني، أسمر لفحتهُ شمسٌ تشرقُ على وطن من الحنيــن، برجولته يمحو كل اسم غيره، وفي حضرته لا معنى للوجود كله

Always walking along despite the dangers and adversities, despite the injustices and horrors, trusting in God so as not to despair of men and events.

Your enemy is not the refugee. Your enemy is the one who made him a refugee.

No more Christmas, no more Hanukkah, no more Ramadan and Diwali.

Ramadan is not only to stay thirsty and hungry; it is also to realize the real thirsty and hungry ones to help; it is true worship.

Joy is the anticipation of joy. Reading a fine book for the first time is as sumptuous as the first sip of orange juice that breaks the fast in Ramadan.

Festivals and fasts are unhinged, traveling backward at a rate of ten days per year, attached to no season. Even Laylat ul Qadr, the holiest night in Ramadan, drifts--its precise date is unknown. The iconclasm laid down by Muhammed was absolute: you must resist attachment not only to painted images, but to natural ones. Ramadan, Muharram, the Eids; you associate no religious event with the tang of snow in the air, or spring thaw, or the advent of summer. God permeates these things--as the saying goes, Allah is beautiful, and He loves beauty--but they are transient. Forced to concentrate on the eternal, you begin to see, or think you see, the bones and sinews of the world beneath its seasonal flesh. The sun and moon become formidable clockwork. They are transient also, but hint at the dark planes that stretch beyond the earth in every direction, full of stars and dust, toward a retreating, incomprehensible edge

المفارقة في جروحنا هي أنها تولّد آلامنا وتساعدنا على أن نكبر في آن، فلا بدّ أن نتعلم كيف نعيش معها؛ حيث إننا ما نصنع بمعاناتنا. بعض الناس تحرر أنفسها من هذه المعاناة، وبعضهم مكبّل بسلاسلها، وبعضهم غارق فيها... قل لي ماذا أنت فاعل بآلامك، أقول لك مَن تكون.

Eid happens twice a year—Eid ul-Fitr or “Small Eid” marks the end of the Ramadan fasting month, and Eid ul-Azha or “Big Eid” commemorates the Prophet Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son Ismail to God.

In Arabic, the word fitna, meaning “hardship,” stems from the word fatanah, which means “to test gold, burn with fire.” Just as gold is heated to extract valuable elements from the useless surrounding material, it is through the fire of our trials that our golden essence is unearthed.

Je voulais vous faire sourire, et mes larmes ont coulé. Je voulais vous faire oublier, et la mort m'a rattrapé. Je voulais vous offrir ce que vous m'avez donné. On ne sait jamais n'est-ce pas ? Il se peut qu'un bien soit notre mal, et qu'un mal soit notre bien. Sait-on jamais ? Je vous offre donc ce sourire, louange à l'Unique de toutes les façons, et que la Paix vous accompagne, et Sa lumière, et Sa chaleur.

REMEMBER: Prayer is not about punishment or reward; it is about cultivating a genuine connection with God. The deep purpose of prayer is not to obtain a certain outcome; rather, it is about having an intimate conversation with your Lord.

Duboko i jednostavno: onaj ko ne može voljeti, ne može ni razumjeti.

the failures are a feature, not a bug.

We have to watch the world, and watch ourselves, with the humility of those who know, in the very depths of their being, that learning to become human is a process that never ends.

Nothing is ever final” is a lesson in humility; “no final judgment should be passed” is a promise of hope. The

Every action of the son of Adam is for himself except fasting. It is done for My sake, and I will give a reward for it and the reward of good deeds is multiplied 10 times”.

Tomorrow is the start of Ramadan, a month of daily fasting, broken by an iftar, a special meal after sunset and a bite before sunrise. Han has told her that the idea behind the fast of Ramadan is to remind everyone of the poor and less fortunate, a time of charity, compassion, abstinence, and forgiveness. And even though Um-Nadia claims to have no religion and many of their customers are Christians, they all like to eat the traditional foods prepared throughout the Middle East to celebrate the nightly fast-breaking during Ramadan. There are dishes like sweet qatayif crepes and cookies and creamy drinks and thick apricot nectar.

Shams of Tabriz Befuddled believer! If every Ramadan one fasts in the name of God and every Eid one sacrifices a sheep or a goat as an atonement for his sins, if all his life one strives to make pilgrimage to Mecca and five times a day kneels on a prayer rug but at the same time has no room for love in his heart, what is the use of all this trouble? Faith is only a word if there is no love at its center, so flaccid and lifeless, vague and hollow -- not anything you could truly feel. Pity the fool who thinks the boundaries of his mortal mind are the boundaries of God the Almighty. Pity the ignorant who assume they can negotiate and settle debts with God. Do such people think God is a grocer who attempts to weigh our virtues and wrongdoings on two separate scales? Is He a clerk meticulously writing down our sins in His accounting book so as to make us pay Him back someday? Is this their notion of Oneness?

Our problem is one of spirituality. If a man comes to speak to me about the reforms to be undertaken in the Muslim world, about political strategies and of great geo-strategic plans, my first question to him would be whether he performed the dawn prayer in its time.

Je suis ravi pour ces révoltes qui se font entendre un peu partout dans le monde. Une chaine s’est brisée. En revanche, je reste très vigilant car nous avons vu comment les américains étaient impliqués en Tunisie et comment ils le sont avec l’armée de l’administration de Moubarak. En réalité nous avons deux dictateurs qui sont partis mais deux systèmes restent à réformer. Nous devrions tendre vers une démocratie transparente et incorruptible. Or, qui souhaite cela aujourd’hui ? Surement pas le gouvernement américain et encore moins les européens qui n’ont cessé de cautionner et de profiter des avantages des dictateurs. Et les Etats-Unis ne voudraient pas d’une vraie démocratie « transparente ». Même si Barack Obama clame le contraire, son administration a un tout autre programme.

Emak merasa gembira ketika ia memasak untuk banyak orang. Ada rasa bahagia yang tak terbeli dan bisa menawarkan rasa lelah. (Sangu Cangkedong, Rima RL)

[Human] wisdom is the believer’s lost belonging; he is the most worthy of it wherever he finds it.

Muhammad particularly loved cats, but, more generally, he constantly made his Companions aware of the need to respect all animal species. He

The question is not whether God is lovingly speaking to us, the question is, are we open enough to listen?

Prayer, then is a means of undressing the ego of its superficiality and coming to the Divine presence with all of our neediness and humility.

The greatest iftar is to break the fast of apathy, with the feast of affection.

Spirituality means both accepting and mastering one’s instincts: living one’s natural desires in the light of one’s principles is a prayer. It is never a misdeed, nor is it hypocrisy.

REMEMBER: No matter what happens in your life, if it turns you towards Allah, it is a blessing. Whether Allah is testing you to strengthen you or holding you accountable for a sin you may have committed, the response is the same: turn to Allah and ask for His help and guidance.

The different religions confused me. Which was the right one? I tried to figure it out but had no success. It worried me. The different Gods - Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Mohammedan - seemed very particular in the way in which they expected me to keep on good terms with them. I couldn't please one without offending the others. One kind soul solved my problem by taking me on my first trip to the planetarium. I contemplated the insignificant flyspeck called Earth, the millions of suns and solar systems, and concluded that whoever was in charge of all this would not throw a fit if I ate ham, or meat on Friday, or did not fast in the daytime during Ramadan. I felt much better after this and was, for a while, keenly interested in astronomy.

Mental ghettos are not mirages; they actually exist in palpable reality: being "open" inside one's mental or intellectual ghetto does not open its door but simply allows one to harbour the illusion that there is no ghetto and no door. The most dangerous prisons are those with invisible bars.

Fasting makes the body cave in; hence the spirit caves in; and all thoughts born of a fast must necessarily be half-starved. This is the reason why most dyspeptic religionists cherish such melancholy notions about their hereafters. In one word, Queequeg; hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by Ramadans.

Oh Allah, open my heart to receive the light of Your guidance and all-encompassing love. My Lord, guide me to the inner truths of my own being and help me to walk the spiritual path with gratitude and humility.

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.

There was Queequeg, now, certainly entertaining the most absurd notions about Yojo and his Ramadan;— but what of that? Queequeg thought he knew what he was about, I suppose; he seemed to be content; and there let him rest. All our arguing with him would not avail; let him be, I say: and Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans alike— for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.

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.

It is impossible to live in autarchy, to make the testimony of faith, pray and fast and go to pilgrimage only, far from men and worrying about no one except oneself. It is worth repeating that to be with God is tantamount to being with men; to carry faith is tantamount to carrying the responsibility of a continuous social commitment. The teaching that we should extract from zakat is explicit: to posses is tantamount to having to share.

North-South imbalances and the exploitation of men and raw materials, combined with the resignation of the peoples of the North, produce a much more devastating violence than that of armed groups, even if the latter are spectacular.

Ghettos have their own characteristics and consequences : be they physical. social, intellectual or mental, those who live in them always nurture projection of themselves or world around them that are more imaginary than true. In the ghettos of the intellect and idealistic theories, there are a lot of intertolerant and racist people who do not realize that they are.

أزمة روحانية الأزمة الحقيقية بين المسلمين هي -في الأساس- أزمة روحانية. بيد أنّ الأمر لا يتعلق بكون الروحانية أكثر أو أقل، ولكن بالمكانة التي نمنحها إياها في حياتنا. بعضنا منغمس بشدة في القضايا الاجتماعية والسياسية حتى أنه ينسى قلبه ومعنى حياته، وبعضنا متقد في النواحي الوجدانية حتى أنه ينسى الإنسانية و العالم وتحدياته. أزمة الروحانية هي إذن الفهم الخاطئ لجوهرها وعملها ومكانتها. الإيمان هو إصلاح النفس والكون، والروحانية هي إبقاء النور في قلوبنا والمعنى في عقولنا مما يقربنا من الواحد الأحد، هي تصلح سلوكياتنا وتذكرنا بالموت. أن نحيا حياة سوية هو ببساطة أن لا ننسى الموت وحتمية أن نموت على الخير، ذلك نور الروحانية.

I can see myself sitting all day in my chair, immersed in lives, plots, and sentences, intoxicated by words and chimeras, paralyzed by satisfaction and contentment, reading until the deepening twilight, until I can no longer make out the words, until my mind begins to wander, until my aching muscles are no longer able to keep the book aloft. Joy is the anticipation of joy. Reading a fine book for the first time is as sumptuous as the first sip of orange juice that breaks the fast in Ramadan.

the network of stories they tell one another. Meaning is created when many people weave together a common network of stories. Why does a particular action – such as getting married in church, fasting on Ramadan or voting on election day – seem meaningful to me? Because my parents also think it is meaningful, as do my brothers, my neighbours, people in nearby cities and even the residents of far-off countries. And why do all these people think it is meaningful? Because their friends and neighbours also share the same view. People constantly reinforce each other’s beliefs in a self-perpetuating loop. Each round of mutual confirmation tightens the web of meaning further, until you have little choice but to believe what everyone else believes.

Before God and in conscience, Muslims cannot satisfy themselves by repeating what the texts say and then snap their fingers at daily social realities: that would be to speak of an ideal while at the same time blind themselves as to their daily betrayal.

One day a Muslim friend and I were out for the day together. I had forgotten that the Fast of Ramadan had just begun and suggested that we step into a restaurant for a cup of coffee. “I will spend years in jail for that cup of coffee,” he said, so of course I apologized for the suggestion. Then in low tones he admitted that his fast was restricted to public view and that he did not practice it in private. “I cannot work ten hours a day without eating,” he said. There was an awkward silence, and he muttered these words: “I don’t think God is the enforcer of these rules.” As anyone knows who has asked any Muslim, they will admit with a smile upon their faces that during the month of the Fast of Ramadan more food is sold than during any other month of the year. But its consumption takes place from dusk to dawn rather than from dawn to dusk. Legalism always breeds compliance over purpose. In

The first verses establish an immediate correspondence with what Revelation was later to recount about the creation of humankind: “He [God] taught Adam the names of all things.”8 Reason, intelligence, language, and writing will grant people the qualities required to enable them to be God’s khalifahs (vicegerents) on earth, and from the very beginning, Quranic Revelation allies recognition of the Creator to knowledge and science, thus echoing the origin of creation itself.9

كل نفس ذائقة الموت !.. إطلاق لا قيد فيه، و عموم لا مخصص له، وشمول ليس للدنيا كلها أن تجعل له حداً. فليأت دعاة العلم الجديد، والرقي الحديث ومتوثبو الغزو الفضائي فليجمعوا أمرهم، و ليضفروا جميع إمكاناتهم المختلفة، وليحشدوا كل أقمارهم المصنوعة ومراكبهم المشروعة، فليستعينوا بذلك كله على أن يزيحوا عن أنفسهم شيئاً من سلطان هذا الموت الذي قهرهم واستذلهم، وليبطلوا بذلك ولو جزءاً من هذا التحدي الإلهي : كل نفس ذائقة الموت. فإن فعلوا ذلك فإن لهم حينئذ أن يشيدوا لأنفسهم صروحاً عالية من الجبروت و الطغيان و التأله والكفران، وإلا فأحرى بهم أن يتفرغوا للتأمل في تلك القبور التي سيغيبون في أحشائها و التربة التي سيمتدون تحتها، وفي القبضة التي لن ينجوا من حكمها .

Ramadan is not fasting. Ramadan is an Islamic feast where one stuffs oneself twice a day with food, and in between lets ones intestines dry out. To describe that process as 'fasting' seems rather ubiquitous to me. The amount of food transported into the body is probably exactly the same, but because of the dehydration the food is processed less effectively. As customs go, most customs are typically silly and Ramadan is no exception. I can accept such silliness when people keep it to themselves, but unfortunately one sees such a sharp rise in 'policing' others that even non Muslims are now experiencing violence because they are eating at daytime in the Ramadan period.

1 SHA’BAN Did you know that 6 month prior to Ramadan the Sahaba’s used to make du’a to Allah that He would let them reach Ramadan. After Ramadan they used to make du’a for 6 month that Allah would accept their fasting and good deeds. Today is the first day of Sha’ban and Ramadan is not too far off. You might be wondering where the time has gone, and might feel a bit overwhelmed or even afraid of the long hours of fasting. You might also be asking yourself, “what have I done so far to prepare myself for this blessed month?” Many times we focus too much on the aspect of planning our meals for this month, but Ramadan is not the month of cooking, it is the month when the Quran was sent down, a month of worship. So let’s put the menu planning on the side, and prioritize on how we can prepare our hearts for this glorious month. Something you can start right now is to follow the Sahaba’s example and make that same du’a until we reach Ramadan. “Allahumma Balighna Ramadan” “Oh Allah let us reach Ramadan

دعني أخبرك أتحدث إليك وكأنك مرآتي وطريقي. أسألك أن لا تحاكمني، أن تدعو لي أينما تكون.. أن تحب وأن تكون حرا.. فهو الحبيب، فكن أنت القلب، وهو الكريم، فكن أنت الغفران على طريق القلب، الآفاق الإنسانية محيرة جدا.. الإنسان لا يعجبه أي شيء أكثر من أن تقول له كلمات مودة وصداقة وأخوة وحب... لا يحب شيئا أكثر من تعبيرات المسامحة والغفران.. كلماتنا وكلماتهم كلمات، بها تعلقات ولمسات وجروح.. أخشى أن نصبح حكاما بلا رحمات: أن تتجسّد أكدارنا وانخداعاتنا الخاصة في إدانة غيرنا... على المرء أن ينظر إلى أبعد من ذلك، أليس كذلك؟ أن يغفر لهؤلاء الذين لا يغفرون.

We are then content with some well-intended speeches, and as far as the rest is concerned we would have to rely on God. As if "reliance on God" means a lack of intelligence or competence in action; as if the Qur'anic Revelation has not distinguished between orientation and state, between where we should be and where we are; between the actualised foundation of a social project and the well-intended expression of its form.

[…] Les interdits dans notre religion – c'est pourquoi elle est extrêmement souple et simple – ne sont pas épais comme le Larousse. Ils portent uniquement sur les critères de bonnes mœurs. Par exemple, durant le ramadan, personne ne peut savoir si vous jeûnez ou pas, vous pouvez parfaitement manger chez vous ; en revanche, un musulman qui déjeune dans un restaurant porte atteinte à l'ordre public. Dans certains pays, on était arrivé à une véritable provocation, comme en Tunisie. Bourguiba, qui n'était pourtant pas un anarchiste, dans un attachement excessif à la laïcité que je ne m'explique pas, a demandé aux gens de ne plus faire le ramadan. C'était incroyable. Il invitait, durant cette période, des gens à déjeuner chez lui, ou encore il forçait ses soldats à aller prendre des verres de jus d'orange à midi. Voilà des atteintes à l'ordre public et aux bonnes mœurs.

All of us should show humility, respect, and consistency. Humility, by admitting that nobody, no civilization or nation, holds a monopoly on universals and on the good, and that our political and social systems are not perfect; respect toward others because we should be convinced that their richness and achievements can be beneficial to us; and last consistency, because the other’s presence acts like a mirror in which we should confront our own contradictions and inconsistency in the concrete, day-to-day implementation of our noblest values.

It must be admitted that the West has reached a level of scientific mastery and outstanding specialisation. In its points of reference, this evolution commands admiration and all civilisations have to benefit from the dynamic of this rationality, as they can derive lessons from the progress achieved. "Benefiting", "deriving lessons" do not, nevertheless, mean submission. In the same way, it must be acknowledged that other civilisations and cultures propose a rich vision of the world, and that some of these have managed to preserve the basic values of life, and glimpses of their fundamental shape are beginning to be seen in the West. It is not a question of suggesting a new wave of "love for exoticism and folklore". On the contrary, it is a question of engaging in an exigent reflection about cultural specificities and possible enrichment starting from within cultures and not at their peripherals.

La Voie à l'horizon et la voix intérieure A l’Orient comme à l’Occident, notre époque donne naissance à la plus grande famine jamais constatée sur la terre. La torture des corps fait écho à la souffrance des âmes: les corps et les cœurs ont faim d’humanité. La pauvreté, l’errance, les dictatures, les guerres bafouent chaque jour la dignité de plusieurs milliards de femmes et d’hommes. La solitude, l’individualisme, la misère morale, le manque d’amour rongent l’être de tous ceux que le confort devait contenter. Où est la voie? Où allons-nous? Comment être une femme, comment être un homme aujourd’hui?

في أحداث هذا القسم الأخير من سيرة المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، تلوح قصة الحقيقة الكبرى في هذا الوجود !.. الحقيقة التي يسقط عندها جبروت المتجبرين وعناد الملحدين، وطغيان البغاة و المتألهين. إنها الحقيقة التي تمد صفحة هذا الوجود المائج كله بغاشية الانتهاء و الفناء، وتصبغ الحياة البشرية بصبغة العبودية و الذل لقهار السموات والأرض. حقيقة تسربل بها ( طوعاً أو كرها ) العصاة و الطائعون، والرؤساء و المتألهون، والرسل و الأنبياء، و المقربون و الأصفياء، والأغنياء والفقراء، ودعاة العلم و الاختراع !.. إنها الحقيقة التي تعلن على مدى الزمان و المكان وفي أذن كل سامع وعقل كل مفكر : أن لا ألوهية إلا لله وحده، وأن لا حاكمية إلا لذاك الذى تفرد بالبقاء، فهو الذي لا مرد لقضائه، ولا حدود لسلطانه، ولا مخرج عن حكمه، ولا غالب على أمره . أي حقيقة تنطق بهذه الدلالة نطقاً لا لبس فيه ولا غموض أعظم من حقيقة الموت وسكرة الموت إذ قهر الله بهما سكان الدنيا كلها منذ فجر الوجود إلى أن تغيب شمسه؟!.. لقد مر في معبر هذه الدنيا كثير من أولئك المغترين الذين غرقوا في شبر من القوة التي أوتوها، أو العلوم التي فهموها، أو المخترعات التي اكتشفوها، ولكن هذه الحقيقة الكبرى سرعان ما انتشلتهم وألقت بهم في بيداء العبودية وأيقظتهم إلى صحو التذلل لقيوم السموات و الأرض، مالك الملك كله، فقدموا إلى الله عبيداً أذلاء خاضعين. كل نفس ذائقة الموت !...

Slow down. The Taliban were religious, in the sense that in their opinion a being called Allah really designed and created the world and everything in it, including them. They were also a cultus in that they believed that you should pray five times a day, study the Koran, fast during Ramadan, give a tenth of your income to the poor and visit Mecca at least once in your lifetime. It is a matter of record that they had the ancient statues at Bamyan destroyed. But Professor, who put up the statues? Buddhist monks, that's who. Possibly the monks were not religious, in the sense that they didn't believe in a designer-God but they were certainly part of a cultus and they had lots and lots of supernatural beliefs which you would think were Bad Things. So what you should have said is "Imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues. Imagine no ancient statues for the Taliban to blow up." This is absolutely emblematic of your confused attitude. When a religious organisation does something which annoys you, you take it for granted that it was Caused By Religion. But when a religious organisation does something which you quite like you don't think that "religion" had anything to do with it. You hardly spot that there was any religion involved at all.

ولقد كان من اليسير على الله عز وجل أن يجعل مرتبة رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم فوق مستوى الموت وآلامه، ولكن الحكمة الإلهية شاءت أن يكون قضاء الله تعالى في تجرع هذا الكأس بشدتها وآلامها عاماً لكل أحد مهما كانت درجة قربه من الله جل جلاله، حتى يعيش الناس في معنى التوحيد وحقيقته، وحتى يدركوا جيداً أن كل من في السموات والأرض إلا آتي الرحمن عبدا، فليس لأحد أن يتمطى ليعلو بنفسه على مستوى العبودية بعد أن عاش رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم خاضعاً لحكمها ونزل به قضاؤها، وليس لأحد أن لا يكثر من ذكر الموت وسكرته بعد أن عانى حبيب الله تعالى من برحائها و غشيته آلامها، وهذا المعنى هو ما أوضحه كلام الله جل جلاله :( إنك ميت وإنهم ميتون ) وقوله تعالى :( وما جعلنا لبشر من قبلك الخلد أفإن مت فهم الخالدون ؟! كل نفس ذائقةالموت ونبلوكم بالشر و الخير فتنة وإلينا ترجعون ) وإذن فنحن في هذا القسم الأخير من سيرته عليه الصلاة و السلام أمام مشهد لحقيقتين هما دعامتا الإيمان بالله عز وجل، بل هما دعامتا الحقيقة الكونية كلها : حقيقة توحيد الله عز وجل، وحقيقة العبودية الشاملة التي فطر الله الناس كلهم عليها ولا تبديل لحكم الله وأمره .

It is relatively easy to accept that money is an intersubjective reality. Most people are also happy to acknowledge that ancient Greek gods, evil empires and the values of alien cultures exist only in the imagination. Yet we don’t want to accept that our God, our nation or our values are mere fictions, because these are the things that give meaning to our lives. We want to believe that our lives have some objective meaning, and that our sacrifices matter to something beyond the stories in our head. Yet in truth the lives of most people have meaning only within the network of stories they tell one another. Meaning is created when many people weave together a common network of stories. Why does a particular action – such as getting married in church, fasting on Ramadan or voting on election day – seem meaningful to me? Because my parents also think it is meaningful, as do my brothers, my neighbours, people in nearby cities and even the residents of far-off countries. And why do all these people think it is meaningful? Because their friends and neighbours also share the same view. People constantly reinforce each other’s beliefs in a self-perpetuating loop. Each round of mutual confirmation tightens the web of meaning further, until you have little choice but to believe what everyone else believes. Yet over decades and centuries the web of meaning unravels and a new web is spun in its place. To study history means to watch the spinning and unravelling of these webs, and to realise that what seems to people in one age the most important thing in life becomes utterly meaningless to their descendants.