“he two worlds, Muslim and non-Muslim, Eastern and Western, must, as a matter of urgency, make a real effort to get to know one another, for I fear that what we have is not a clash of civilisations, but a clash of ignorance on both sides.”

While the past was a book he had read and re-read may times, the future was just one more literary work of art into which he used to pour himself with deep thought and concentration.

There are those… who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot.

Canada has for many years been a beacon to the rest of the world for its commitment to pluralism and for its support for the multicultural richness and diversity of its peoples.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture seeks to make a better place in physical terms.

The Islamic ethic is that if God has given you the capacity or good fortune to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility to society.

The Muslim world, with its history and cultures, and indeed its different interpretations of Islam, is still little known in the West.

They are all different, in terms of history, and the religious compositions of the populations involved.

A proper home can provide the bridge across that terrible gulf between poverty and a better future.

None of these situations are identical. You cannot take one set of issues from one country and apply it to another.

The search for justice and security, the struggle for equality of opportunity, the quest for tolerance and harmony, the pursuit of human dignity.

If our animosities are born out of fear, then confident generosity is born out of hope.

There is nothing wrong with being well off as long as money has a social and ethical value and is not the object of one’s own greed.

A secure pluralistic society requires communities that are educated and confident both in the identity and depth of their own traditions and in those of their neighbours.

This means trying to bring values into environments, buildings, and contexts that improve the quality of life for future generations.

In Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) and that which man discovers by virtue of his own intellect.

These are moral imperatives which we must work towards and think about on a daily basis.