Compassion is the key in Islam and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity. They are profoundly similar.
Ironically, the first thing that appealed to me about Islam was its pluralism. The fact that the Koran praises all the great prophets of the past.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the appeal of Islam's inclusive recognition of past prophets, emphasizing its pluralistic nature.
In this quote, Karen Armstrong reflects on her initial attraction to Islam, which she found compelling due to its pluralism. She points out that the Koran honors various prophets from different religious traditions, showcasing Islam's respect for a diversity of spiritual figures and paths. This recognition of pluralism highlights the importance of understanding and respecting different beliefs, fostering a sense of unity and coexistence among various cultures and religions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about interfaith dialogue to illustrate the importance of recognizing shared values.
More from Karen Armstrong
All quotes βYet a personal God can become a grave liability. He can be a mere idol carved in our own image, a projection of our limited needs, fears and desires. We can assume that he loves what we love and hates what we hate, endorsing our prejudices instead of compelling us to transcend them.
When violence becomes imbedded in a region, then this affects everything. It affects your dreams, your fantasies and relationships, and your religion becomes violent, too.
Far from being the father of jihad, [Prophet] Mohammad was a peacemaker, who risked his life and nearly lost the loyalty of his closest companions because he was determined to effect a reconciliation with Mecca
Yes, all fundamentalists feel that in a secular society, God has been relegated to the margin, to the periphery and they are all in different ways seeking to drag him out of that peripheral position, back to center stage.
Religion is a search for transcendence. But transcendence isn't necessarily sited in an external god, which can be a very unspiritual, unreligious concept.
Similar quotes
Blacks were not enslaved because they were black but because they were available. Slavery has existed in the world for thousands of years. Whites enslaved other whites in Europe for centuries before the first black was brought to the Western hemisphere. Asians enslaved Europeans. Asians enslaved other Asians. Africans enslaved other Africans, and indeed even today in North Africa, blacks continue to enslave blacks.
We humans are really good at forming groups to compete, and then dissolving the groups and reforming them along different lines to compete in a different way.
So much of liberalism in its classical sense is taken for granted in the west today and even disrespected. We take freedom for granted, and because of this we don't understand how incredibly vulnerable it is.
Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man.
When the mind soars in pursuit of the things conceived in space...it pursues emptiness; but when man dives deep within himself, he experiences the fullness of existence.
You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.