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.

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

The right to hope is the most powerful human motivation I know.

We try to avoid the single-building syndrome. You have to look at the big picture. If you try to put social and cultural development ahead of economic development, it doesn’t work. You have to do it all together.

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

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

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. Unless these unfortunates can be touched with the spark which ignites the spirit of individual enterprise and determination, they will only sink back into renewed apathy, degradation and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark.