Michael Parenti
“To attain that supreme goal of life, man is, in Islam, not compelled to renounce the world; no austerities are required to open a secret door to spiritual purification; no pressure is exerted upon the mind to believe incomprehensible dogmas in order that salvation be secured. Such demands are utterly foreign to Islam: for it is neither a mystical doctrine nor a philosophy. It is simply a programme of life in accord with the laws of Nature which God has decreed upon His creation; and its supreme achievement is the complete coordination of the spiritual and the material aspects of human existence. In the teachings of Islam, both these aspects are not only “reconciled” to each other in the sense of leaving no inherent conflict between the bodily and the moral existence of man, but the fact of their coexistence and actual inseparability is insisted upon as the natural basis of life.” - Muhammad Asad, Islam at the Crossroads
"Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behaviour patter and then you go on into some action." --- Malcolm X
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds." --- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" --- C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
"The modern Westerner, persuaded that he has a right to "think for himself" and imagining that he exercises this right, is unwilling to acknowledge that his every thought has been shaped by cultural and historical influences and that his opinions fit, like pieces of jigsaw puzzle, into a pattern which has nothing random about it." --- Gai Eaton, Islam and the Destiny of Man
"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." --- Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, December 23, 1791
“When I hear of people who weary of each other, I believe it is because they have sought virtues in themselves alone, attractions of physical beauty. Have they based their love on each other's thoughts? Who can weary of thoughts which change every day?” --- Anaïs Nin
"You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth." --- Malcolm X
طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم "Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim." --- This Hadith (narration of a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (s)) refers to knowledge which is obligatory to know for anyone who is morally responsible.
سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ "Glory to Thee, of knowledge We have none, save what Thou Hast taught us: In truth it is Thou Who art perfect in knowledge and wisdom." --- The Holy Qur'an (2:32)
Intentions: "Better have failed in the high aim, as I, Than vulgarly in the low aim succeed." --- Robert Browning, The Inn Album
Thinking: Man, Life, and the Universe
"Where is fancy bred - in the heart or in the head?" (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
"Yes to the intellect. No to obscurantism."
