“Islam is probably the one that places the greatest emphasis on knowledge. The purpose is to understand God’s creation.”

Nor do these two involve any contradiction, provided man remembers that his own mind is itself the creation of God. Without this humility, no balance is possible. With it, there are no barriers.

There appears to be momentum towards more and more misunderstandings between religions, a degradation of relations.

We cannot make the world safe for democracy unless we also make the world safe for diversity.

One of the central lessons I have learned after a half century of working in the developing world is that the replacement of fear by hope is probably the single most powerful trampoline of progress.

Canada has an experience of governance of which much of the world stands in dire need.

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.