Intellectual modesty is humility as to what I know; intellectual humility is modesty as to what I do not know.
Compelling a woman to wear a headscarf is against Islam, and compelling her to remove it is against human rights.
Fasting is, first and foremost, an exercise for identifying and managing adversity in all its forms. With faith, in full conscience, fasting calls women and men to an extra degree of self-awareness.
Your country needs religious leaders and religious politicians.
A good Muslim is not one who is strictest in his judgment, but who is most patient in listening.
Malaysia is a country unlike any other: Full of promise and fragility. Its history, cultural and religious diversity make it a rich, compelling and surprising land.
I am not a politician. I have often been approached in this regard, but I have always declined these sorts of offers. I view myself as an independent, critical intellectual, as someone who tries to stimulate thought on the left and the right, to encourage intellectual evolution.
Proud to be a Muslim isn’t a stamp you have on your heart, it’s a light you have in your heart.
A Muslim should be sincerely religious AND politically aware.
If you want to have a good life, never forget that you are going to die.
We need to challenge the dominant culture: by ethics, principles and values.
Our emotions are often beautiful, but they can also be dangerous. They represent our spontaneity, and seem to speak to us of our freedom.
To be courageous is to be a voice for the voiceless.
Advertising, music, atmospheres, subliminal messages and films can have an impact on our emotional life, and we cannot control it because we are not even conscious of it.
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.
Cultures are never merely intellectual constructs. They take form through the collective intelligence and memory, through a commonly held psychology and emotions, through spiritual and artistic communion.
The most dangerous prisons are those with invisible bars.
If you are not at peace with yourself then you cannot spread peace.
Religious symbols should be visible in public space, in a dignified and non-provocative manner. Christmas trees here, Jewish menorahs there and, further along, a minaret – these symbols represent human life in all its diversity.
The diversity is the risk of war, the necessity of diversity is mutual respect.