I was told by my father, who was a priest, that it was the basic duty of a Muslim to establish peace on earth... I soon came to the conclusion that it was not religion but misuse of religion and politicising of religion, which was the main culprit.

The individual cannot exist on his/her own and the collectivism should respect freedom of conscience. My struggle is about the freedom of thought.

Jihad is nothing but making efforts to realise goodness in life.

Real 'imaan' is faith in humanity, so those who deny goodness are kafirs.

Jihad is misused by fundamentalists. The Quranic meaning is not meant for war at all, in the sense of killing.

History is full of instances of people who challenged the mighty forces of evil and they were not only fighting a lonely battle but were left alone to die.

Times change and we should change and grow, and yet be proud of our legacy.

Potency does not mean being unnecessarily aggressive one has to be wise.

I am not an individualist in the Western sense. Collectivism can become oppressive when it tries to dictate the rights of the two should not clash.

What is religion? I want to remove the chaff from the grain. For me it is not what it is for the common people. If you take away certain social customs, they think you have taken away religion. For me it means purifying it.

I am not taking away the historical legacy, but it should not become a burden.

I believe the minorities need to have a strategy of survival because needless aggression when you cannot change the situation does not help. Wisdom is more important than saving some cultural symbol.

My personal belief is we should not bow to any object. But Islam was aware of this human weakness and fulfilled that need through Haj to kiss a stone. A stone is a stone but the vacuum was filled and it became the holiest object. I have performed Haj and seen the devotion of people braving stampedes only to kiss that stone.

Weapons are less harmful than words.

Religion helps you relate with the universe. Buddha was indifferent to the concept of god yet he gave us values.

Physical wounds heal, but those on the soul are difficult to heal.

Quran says do not abuse others' gods, they will abuse Allah. But most people do not believe in this... they feel their way is the only right one. This is to maintain religious hegemony.