“Even a little knowledge of Islam will show that its religion is not only tolerant of other Faiths, but most respectful, and indeed, fully accepts the divine inspiration of all theistic Faiths that came before Islam.”

—  Aga Khan III

In response to an article in the TIMES, London, which had labelled Islam as an "intolerant" religion, and held it responsible for some of the problems of the Middle East.
Context: Even a little knowledge of Islam will show that its religion is not only tolerant of other Faiths, but most respectful, and indeed, fully accepts the divine inspiration of all theistic Faiths that came before Islam. It does not only teach tolerance to its followers, but goes a step further and enjoins on them all to create the godly quality of "Hilm" that is, tolerance, forbearance, patience, calmness, and forgiveness. It is due to the spirit of tolerance of Islam that even the smallest Christian and Jewish minorities survived and kept all their doctrines during the thousand years of Muslim rule. Nothing like what happened to Muslims in Spain after the Christian conquest has ever happened to a non-Muslim Faith in any Islamic dominion. How, can Europeans be so ignorant as to have forgotten that in the first century of Islam the Khalifs ordered that all that was best in Greek and Roman cultures should be assimilated; that not only the philosophy, medicine and science of Greece, but its poetry and drama, were carefully translated into Arabic and were generally sought not only by the learned but also by the pious! The Muslim attitude towards the absorption of ideas was based on the principle of Islam which enjoins to acquire knowledge wherever available, and there is a well-known and authentic saying of the Prophet that "his followers should seek learning even if they have to go to China."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Even a little knowledge of Islam will show that its religion is not only tolerant of other Faiths, but most respectful,…" by Aga Khan III?
Aga Khan III photo
Aga Khan III 12
48th Imam of the Nizari Ismaili community 1877–1957

Related quotes

Muammar Gaddafi photo
Seyyed Hossein Nasr photo
Ali Meshkini photo

“Islam is a religion that wants to run the world. It has done so before and eventually, will run it (again)…. Islam came and abrogated all (other religions)…. Its high time Iraq established a Just Islamic regime under the supervision of the Grand Ayatollah Sistani and God willing, they will get somewhere.”

Ali Meshkini (1922–2007) Iranian ayatollah

Ayatollah Meshkini In A Friday Sermon in Qom: An Islamic Rule Under Ayatollah Sistani Is Required in Iraq http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/148.htm July 2004.
2004

Jalal Talabani photo

“Some Shi'ites are asking that Islam be the only source of laws, which means turning Iraq into an Islamic regime, and that is unacceptable. We accept that the religion of Iraq is Islam, and we must respect Islam and the Islamic identity of Iraqi people. But we think Islam should only be one source of the Iraqi laws.”

Jalal Talabani (1933–2017) Iraqi politician

Jim Muir (February 10, 2005) "Shia demands 'risk turning Iraq into an Islamic regime' into Islamic regime constitution will be fierce, says Talabani", The Daily Telegraph.

Jim Butcher photo
Geert Wilders photo
Maajid Nawaz photo

“Islamism is not Islam. Islamism is the politicisation of Islam, the desire to impose a version of this ancient faith over society.”

Maajid Nawaz (1977) British activist

'I watched a man stabbed in a London street - and felt nothing' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2331021/I-watched-man-stabbed-London-street--felt-nothing.html (25 May, 2013)

Bernard Lewis photo
Mahatma Gandhi photo

“Tolerance gives us spiritual insight, which is as far from fanaticism as the north pole is from the south. True knowledge of religion breaks down the barriers between faith and faith and gives rise to tolerance. Cultivation of tolerance for other faiths will impart to us a truer understanding of our own.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

Young India, (Bulletin), 2-10-1930, p. 2 In: My God (1962), Chapter 13. Pathways of God http://www.mkgandhi.org/god/mygod/pathwaystogod.html, Printed and Published by: Jitendra T. Desai, Navajivan Mudranalaya, Ahemadabad-380014 India
Posthumous publications (1950s and later)
Context: All faiths are a gift of God, but partake of human imperfection, as they pass through the medium of humanity. God-given religion is beyond all speech. Imperfect men put it into such language as they can command, and their words are interpreted by other men equally imperfect. Whose interpretation must be held to be the right one? Every one is right from his own standpoint, but it is not impossible that every one is wrong. Hence the necessity for tolerance, which does not mean indifference towards one’s own faith, but a more intelligent and purer love for it. Tolerance gives us spiritual insight, which is as far from fanaticism as the north pole is from the south. True knowledge of religion breaks down the barriers between faith and faith and gives rise to tolerance. Cultivation of tolerance for other faiths will impart to us a truer understanding of our own.

Related topics