Islam is, to be sure, a big tent, and the one and a half billion Muslims in the world run the gamut from mystical, moderate, pacific Sufis to Salafists.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas - it's always related to culture, to music, to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal.
I think I came to see Islam, or at least one part of Islam, as an important defense mechanism against the commercialization of the world.
Among Muslims, I think there are some who are very good and some hoodlums, like everywhere.
Islam will be what Muslims make of it. And it is the sum total of the interpretation that Muslims give to it.
Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers.
Islam is not a religion. It's a political system. It has a different set of rules.
Early Islam was a time of great creativity. Scholars excelled in sciences and literature. Our religion should not be a shield behind which we hide from the world but a driving force that inspires us to innovate and contribute to our surroundings. This is the true spirit of Islam.
Islam, the third in historical sequence of the ethical monotheistic religions of the Near East, was very successful in establishing its monotheism, but had only very moderate success in spreading its version of Jewish and Christian ethics to the Arabs.
Traditional Islam is a mixture of all obedience to Allah, and if that requires militancy, so be it.
Islam is fixed, stable, ordered and disciplined, and so are Muslims.