What is irreversible in the Arab world is this intellectual revolution, the awakening that we can get rid of dictators. That is here, and the people have this sentiment and this political power. They feel that they can do it, and it's still there. At the same time, we don't know what is going to happen. So to be very quick by saying, "Oh, revolutions and Arab Spring," and - you know, what I'm advocating is to take a cautious optimism as the starting point of our analysis and to look at what is happening.

If there is a smoke, there is a fire, the saying goes, That is quite true, but one should find what the fire is, and who lit it.

Cherish your tears and their reasons, they will be the light of your smile, your inner peace and reconciliation.

Clarity and consistency are not enough: the quest for truth requires humility and effort.

In fact all the Islamists, that is the reformists not the Salafis, now they all say that they want a civil state, a civil state with Islamic reference points. They are not talking about an Islamic state, or sharia in the way this was once understood in the fight against the colonisers, or just afterwards in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

It is important that the Muslim leaders, scholars, and intellectuals are much more vocal and explain what Islam is.

Our pluralist society must provide its citizens with the tools to understand religions, their symbols and their practices.