Quotes by Feisal Abdul Rauf - Page 1

I am a supporter of the state of Israel.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Israel
States
Supporter
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My life has been devoted to peacemaking.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Devoted
Has Beens
Peacemaking
Life My Life Been
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Fanaticism and terrorism have no place in Islam.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Fanaticism
Islam
Terrorism
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The sources of human problems have to do with egotism, ‘I.’
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Egotism
Problem
Source
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'Jihad' can mean holy war to extremists, but it means struggle to the average Muslim.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
War
Average
Holy
Jihad
Mean
Struggle
Extremists
Muslim
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Yusuf Qaradawi is probably the most well-known legal authority in the whole Muslim world today.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Legal
Authority
Muslim World
Today
Well Known
World
Muslim
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Bigotry toward any faith community cannot have any place in civilized society anywhere in the world.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Civilized
Civilized Society
Community
World
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I condemn everyone and anyone who commits acts of terrorism. And Hamas has committed acts of terrorism.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Commit
Committed
Hamas
Terrorism
Acts
Condemn
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In spite of the polls, the fact is that American Muslims are very happy and they thrive in this country.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Country
Facts
Polls
Spite
Thrive
Muslims
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I'm not an agent from any government, even if some of you may not believe it. I'm not. I'm a peacemaker.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Government
Agents
Believe
Peacemaker
Agent
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You take the best of our tradition as a start, and I'll take the best of Christianity ... From there we can build.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Christianity
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Any organization or any individual that targets civilians and kills them for political agenda is a terrorist organization.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Civilians
Individual
Organization
Political
Target
Terrorist
Agenda
Political Agenda
Targets
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Islamic law is clearly against terrorism, against any kind of deliberate killing of civilians or similar 'collateral damage.'
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Civilians
Collateral
Damage
Deliberate
Islamic
Law
Terrorism
Similar
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There are always people who will - who will do peculiar things and think that they are doing things in the name of their religion.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Names
Peculiar
People
Thinking
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Our enemy is not Islam. Islam is not the enemy of America; Americans are not the enemy of Islam. Our real enemy is extremism and radicalism.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
America
Enemy
Extremism
Islam
Real
Real Enemy
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We tend to forget in the West that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Blood
Hands
Innocent
United States
Al
Muslim
Qaeda
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We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Hands
Harmony
Toys
Build
Barter
Extend
Nor
Toy
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Religion is defined by the relationship between God and man. And Islam is the submission and the acknowledgment of the human being to the creator.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Men
Acknowledgment
Creator
Defined
Islam
Submission
God Relationship Religion
Human Being
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If Muslims curse the Christians, then the Christians will curse the Muslims. And people will curse Allah, and Allah will hold us responsible for that.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Christian
Curse
People
Responsible
Allah
Christians
Hold
Muslims
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God says in the Quran that there is only one true religion, God's religion. It's the same theme that God revealed to all of the prophets, even before Muhammad.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Religion
Muhammad
Prophet
Quran
Theme
True Religion
Prophets
Revealed
Says
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The battleground has been moderates of all faith traditions in all the countries of the world against the radicals of all faith traditions in all parts of the world.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Faith
Battleground
Countries Of The World
Country
Moderates
Radicals
Traditions
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I am an American citizen born in Kuwait of Egyptian parents. I grew up in Great Britain, Malaysia, and Egypt and have lived in the United States since 1965, when I was seventeen.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Britain
Egypt
Great Britain
Kuwait
Malaysia
Parent
Seventeen
United States
American Citizen
Citizen
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The ultimate vision is to instate in the Muslim world the notion of multiculturalism, which is part of our heritage and history, part of the fundamental, mainstream ideals of Islam.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Heritage
Ideals
Islam
Mainstream
Multiculturalism
Muslim World
Notion
Ultimate
Vision
Fundamental
Muslim
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I have never made a threat. I've never made a threat, never expressed a threat, never - I've never - I would never threaten violence ever, because I am a man of peace, dedicated to peace.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Men
Dedicated
Made
Violence
Expressed
Threaten
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The American principles of democracy expresses the deepest values of the Sharia both structurally and in the government... Sharia requires us Muslims anywhere to abide by the law of the land.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Government
Land
Law
Principles
Abide
Expresses
Muslims
Requires
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The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians, but it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
War
Christian
Military
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A kind of racism still exists in the United States, and Islamophobia is a more convenient way to express that sentiment. There has also been an attempt to paint Muslims as enemies of the United States.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Convenient
Enemy
Paint
Racism
United States
Attempt
Enemies
Exists
Express
Sentiment
Muslims
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In the Muslim world, there are many people who have been vocal and we have been very vocal against extremists. But how to win this battle is an ongoing battle. And we must continue to wage the battle for peace.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Battle
Muslim World
Ongoing
Vocal
Peace World Must
Extremists
Muslim
Wage
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In the 20th century, the Muslim world created a vision of religious nationalism. Turkey, for example, had to be ethnically Turkish. Kurds, Armenians, other minorities didn't have a place in such a vision of a nation-state.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Armenians
Minorities
Muslim World
Nationalism
Religious
Turkeys
Vision
For Example
Muslim
Turkey
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Sufis teach that we first must battle and destroy the evil within ourselves by shining upon it the good within, and then we learn to battle the evil in others by helping their higher selves gain control of their lower selves.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Battle
Evil Within
Helping
Self
Shining
Destroy
Gain
Selves
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I as a Muslim want you, as a Christian, to really be a perfect Christian. I want my Jewish friends to be perfect Jews, to live according to the highest principles of what it means to be a Jew, to be a Christian, to be a Muslim.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Christian
Mean
Perfect
Principles
Jewish
According
Jews
Muslim
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The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians, but it was Christians in World War II who bombed innocent civilians in Dresden and dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Civilians
Hiroshima
Innocent
Islamic
Method
Military
Nuclear
Nuclear Bomb
World War Ii
Bomb
Christians
Dropped
Innocent Civilians
Neither
Targets
Waging
World War
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Staying chaste until marriage, a commandment of my faith, was one of the most difficult challenges of my young life. I had a powerful sense that if I did not get a grip on my identity, my ethics, and my religion, I would go off the rails.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Challenges
Chaste
Ethics
Identity
Powerful
Staying
Life Faith Religion
Commandment
Grip
Rails
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What's right with America and what's right with Islam have a lot in common. At their highest levels, both worldviews reflect an enlightened recognition that all of humankind shares a common Creator - that we are, indeed, brothers and sisters.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
America
Brother
Brothers And Sisters
Creator
Enlightened
Humankind
Islam
Levels
Recognition
Brothers
Sisters
Highest Levels
Indeed
Reflect
Shares
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I've spoken with friends who are rabbis and priests and we've agreed that most people have an emotional attachment to their faith, a desire to fulfill their spiritual longings, but they are not experts in understanding the history of their religion.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Attachment
Emotional
Experts
Priests
Spiritual
Faith History Religion
Agreed
Fulfill
Spoken
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The thing about the Islamic situation is we don't have a church. We don't have an ordained priesthood, which makes it a little complicated. But we do have a tradition of scholarship, and rules of scholarship. It's very much like any field of knowledge.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Church
Islamic
Littles
Priesthood
Scholarship
Ordained
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What's brilliant about the United States system of government is separation of power. Not only the executive, legislative, judicial branches, but also the independence of the military from civilians, an independent media and press, an independent central bank.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Independence
Branches
Brilliant
Civilians
Independent
Judicial
Media
Military
Separation
Bank
Central
Central Bank
Executive
Legislative
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I worked as a teacher in the public school system in New York City for several years, and I was a victim of the layoffs, you know, in the mid-'70s. And then I worked as a sales engineer for a company in New Jersey that was selling industrial filtration equipment.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
New York
Teacher
Equipment
Jersey
New Jersey
New York City
Public School
School
Selling
Victim
Years
City New Know
Public
Engineer
Industrial
Layoffs
Sales
Several
System
Worked
York
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It is part of my responsibility as a bridge builder to speak the truth about what's great about America, what we've done right, and what our less glorious moments. And many people feel that the Iraq adventure, for example, has been one of our less glorious moments.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Adventure
Builder
Glorious
Iraq
Responsibility
Bridge
For Example
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Koran says whoever believes in God in the last day shall be saved. It is a religion whose very name, Islam, comes from the word Shalom, which means peace. It's about establishing peace. We greet each other with peace be upon you, which the Jews do in greeting each other.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Religion
Believe
Islam
Mean
Names
Saved
Believes
Each
Establishing
Greet
Word
Jews
Last
Says
Shall
Whoever
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I read, read enormously on all different fields of Islamic thought, from philosophy to Islamic literature, poetry, exegeses, knowledge of the Hadith, the teachings of the prophet. That's how I trained myself. And then I was appointed imam by a Sufi master from Istanbul, Turkey.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Fields
Islamic
Philosophy
Prophet
Sufi
Teaching
Appointed
Master
Teachings
Trained
Turkey
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We've got to be fair. You can't say a place that has strip joints is sacred ground. We've got to be just. We've got to speak the truth. We've got to have justice for everybody. We're a country of justice for all, not justice for non-Muslims only or some groups and not for others.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Groups
Joints
Sacred
Fair
Strip
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There are individuals who are working very hard to promote fear and antagonism towards Islam and Muslims in this country. It's fueled, in part, by the first African-American president that we have. Obama's father was a Muslim and people have used this to arouse hostility against him.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
African American
Antagonism
Country
Father
Hostility
Islam
Working Very Hard
Arouse
Fueled
Individuals
Muslim
Muslims
Promote
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I was completely surrounded by religion from a young time. I was taught by my father. I engaged in discussions with him and many of these scholars who visited and came around the dining table, the lunch table, and attended many lectures with my dad. And so I learned the apprentice way.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Dad
Apprentice
Dining
Engaged
Father
Lectures
Lunch
Attended
Discussions
Scholars
Surrounded
Table
Visited
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We are Americans. We - we - we are - we are doctors. We are investment bankers. We are taxi drivers. We are store keepers. We are lawyers. We are - we are part of the fabric of America. And the way that America today treats its Muslims is being watched by over a billion Muslims worldwide.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
America
Bankers
Doctors
Drivers
Fabric
Investment
Taxi
Treats
Billion
Watched
Muslims
Store
Worldwide
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The truth is that killing innocent people is always wrong - and no argument or excuse, no matter how deeply believed, can ever make it right. No religion on earth condones the killing of innocent people; no faith tradition tolerates the random killing of our brothers and sisters on this earth.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Religion
Faith
Truth
Argument
Brother
Brothers And Sisters
Earth
Excuse
Innocent
Matter
People
Tradition
Truth Is
Always
Make
Believed
Brothers
Sisters
Deeply
How
Wrong
Ever
Innocent People
Right
Random
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Americans must outgrow the unbecoming arrogance that leads us to assert that America somehow owns a monopoly on goodness and truth - a belief that leads some to view the world as but a stage on which to play out the great historical drama: the United States of America versus the Powers of Evil.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Arrogance
Belief
Drama
Goodness
Monopoly
Play
United States Of America
Versus
Views
Truth Great World
Assert
Leads
Outgrow
Owns
Powers
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In Malaysia, where Western culture was extremely influential, I'd grown up listening to Elvis and the Beatles and watching American movies. People wanted to be like Americans. In contrast, when I got here, I saw prosperous middle-class American college students wanting to somehow join the Third World.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Class
College
College Students
Contrast
Influential
Malaysia
People
Prosperous
Third World
Western
Western Culture
American Movies
Elvis
Extremely
Grown
Join
Third
Wanting
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The fundamental idea which defines a human being as a Muslim is the declaration of faith: that there is a creator, whom we call God - or Allah, in Arabic - and that the creator is one and single. And we declare this faith by the declaration of faith, where we... bear witness that there is no God but God.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Bears
Creator
Declaration
Fundamentals
Ideas
Witness
Allah
Arabic
Bear
Defines
Fundamental
Human Being
Muslim
Whom
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When I arrived in America, I experienced serious culture shock. For someone with a religious upbringing, the 1960s were an extremely difficult time. Even though religion was a big part of the civil rights and peace movements, in my college religion was treated as irrelevant, hopelessly stodgy, and behind the times.
Feisal Abdul Rauf / Imam
Civil Rights
College
Irrelevant
Religious
Rights
Shock
Upbringing
Big Part
Civil
Difficult Time
Experienced
Extremely
Hopelessly
Movements
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Feisal Abdul Rauf Quotes - Page 1

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