“Where there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience.”

European children are educated in a narrative of human tolerance every day, and if you want to be sure to prevent a backlash, you should at least think of bringing Muslim children and teenagers into the fold of that narrative of tolerance.

I do not believe in God, angels and the hereafter.

I was a Muslim once, remember, and it was when I was most devout that I was most full of hate.

The idea that if people are just friendly and demonstrate they want peace, that will be answered with good will – that is really naive.

We have to start with the little babies who are born now, socialize them in freedom and critical thinking. We don’t have to throw away their faith. People confuse the two, thinking if you are enlightened that means apostasy. It doesn’t.

The West is duly terrified. But it should not be surprised.

The demand that Islam makes of women is to not attract attention to yourself, and if you are in a secular society, that attire does exactly that, and it is a political symbol, no longer religious.

The more we oblige, the more we self-censor, the more we appease, the bolder the enemy gets.

There are some mosques with facilities for women; it’s usually a back room with a back-door entrance.

I love life more than I love death.

What we are now doing with the victory, and I agree with you if you condemn that and I condemn whole-heartedly the trivial bullshit it is to go after a man who makes a scientific breakthrough and all that we as women — organized women — do is to fret about his shirt?

In 2010, I suggested that if you are a good Muslim with a good conscience, go and look for a better God, and I think that was juvenile of me.

What I find daunting always is to stand on a stage and talk to people, whether they agree with me or not.

In a sense, my grandmother was living in the Iron Age. There was no system of writing among the nomads. Metal artifacts were rare and precious…. The first time she saw a white person my grandmother was in her thirties: she thought this person’s skin had burned off.

My first experience in the Netherlands was very pleasant, extremely pleasant. I mean, I got my residence permit, refugee status, within four weeks of arrival. People treated me extremely well.

I wanted secular, non-Muslim people to stop kidding themselves that Islam is peace and tolerance.