“We must break problems down into small, digestible bits. We must define the concepts that we use and explain what components they consist of. We must tackle small problems.”

We coin concepts and we use them to analyse and explain nature and society. But we seem to forget, midway, that these concepts are our own constructs and start equating them with reality.

If a group of people feels that it has been humiliated and that its honour has been trampled underfoot, it will want to express its identity and this expression of an identity will take different shapes and forms.

In many of the things that people do, they themselves are the centre of attention, but they inscribe some other name on their banner.

As a result of the awareness and consciousness of decline, an awareness and consciousness of a national ethnicity or an Islamic identity also came into being.

Energy is a concept that has been coined by physicists. There is no observable thing known as energy anywhere.

Establishing an equilibrium between the Islam of truth and Islam as an identity is one of the most difficult tasks of religious intellectuals.

Compromise has a negative connotation.

In order for answers to become clear, the questions have to be clear.

People first concern themselves with meeting their basic needs; only afterwards, do they pursue any higher needs.

I do think that sometimes you can invent more palatable or digestible reasons versions or reasons, when perhaps you don’t want to admit the truth to yourself, and sometimes we deceive ourselves – along with others – about our reasons and motives.