In our modern age – in the age of free information – I don’t think there is any place for dictatorships. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
Tunisia will continue to be a source of influence, not through its size but through the ideas and the models that it represents. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
No one in al-Nahda believes that jihad is a way to impose Islam on the world. But we believe that jihad is self-control, is social and political struggle, and even military jihad is only a way to defend oneself in the case of aggression. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
Just like in medicine, when the normal medicine no longer works, one resorts to surgery. And the revolutions is like the surgery: It’s painful, and it’s the last resort for nations. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
We in Tunisia have no problem with respecting other people’s religion, and we have a long tradition of that. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
French laicite is probably aggressive and antagonistic to the religion, but there are other models of secularism in the world where there could be reconciliation between religion and secularism. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
I dream of a free, democratic, peaceful Tunisia, a country that can protect its developing identity. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
There is no one in al-Nahda that is ‘violence is a means of change or to keep power.’ Everyone in al-Nahda believes that democracy is the only way to reach power and to stay in power. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
I hope that with the success of the transition to democracy in Tunisia that we will export to Egypt a working democratic model. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
There are common denominators that unite all members of al-Nahda: There is no one in al-Nahda who doubts about Islam There is no one in al-Nahda that believes in extremist views of Islam. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
I believe democracy will succeed in Tunisia, but I also believe that it will succeed in the other Arab Spring countries. – Rashid al-Ghannushi
