Bruce Feiler Quotes

I think for most Americans, knowledge of the Islamic world was pretty slight before 9/11, and then it was thrust upon us in one of America's darkest hours.

The greatest preventative to terrorism is Muslim religious literacy.

When I started out, it was around the whole 9/11 - Islamophobia was just sort of hitting a second wind. Obviously that informed a lot of my humor, and it influenced a lot of what I was talking about on stage because it was extremely relevant at the time.

I've not experienced racism from other players. Not once. You experience ignorance but that's not the same at all, and I'm always happy to discuss things. If that helps people learn about Islam, to learn there's nothing to fear, then great, that's all part of my role.

Ever since 9/11, I found myself interested in chronicling the war and the war on terror and the way that this giant machinery was affecting individuals.

Six days after 9/11 George W. Bush visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace."

I think the important thing to remember here is that we haven't been attacked again at home since September of 2001.

Since 9/11, there has been a huge leap in people wanting to get personally involved in public service and international affairs.

My career divides in two: before and after 9/11. In the first part I was trying to show that Islam is relevant to political concerns. If you want to understand Muslims, I argued, you need to understand the role of Islam in their lives. Now that seems obvious.

I was studying International Relations at Columbia when 9/11 happened, and it made me want understand the security dynamics of the world. I had been more focused on soft power issues - understanding different cultures and such - but once 9/11 happened, I felt like I didn't know anything about security problems.

On a bigger level, 9/11 was a crystallizing moment for my generation... the bubble popped. We were like, 'Whoa, this is what the real world is like; it's not all fun and games.'

Are your kids learning the right lessons about 9/11? Ten years after Osama bin Laden's henchmen murdered thousands of innocents on American soil, too many children have been spoon-fed the thin gruel of progressive political correctness over the stiff antidote of truth.

In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now seems clear that the shock of the attacks was exploited in America.

Knowledge of other people's beliefs and ways of thinking must be used to build bridges, not to create conflicts.

On the other hand I have seen several, several top targets for these investigations of these terrorist activities that were allowed to leave the country - I'm not talking about weeks, I'm talking about months after 9/11.

But September 11 marked a big change in the sense that the public was suddenly interested, and as a professor at a public university I felt a responsibility to respond to all of the inquiries about the Islamic world.

Knowledge about religions is not only characteristic of an educated person, but is also absolutely necessary for understanding and living in a world of diversity.

The recent ghastly strife and anger over the Danish cartoons shows the danger that comes from our failure to listen and to respect what is precious and sacred to others.

A large [American] Middle Eastern population makes it easier for Moslem terrorists to obtain cover.

[There must be] recognition of the Other as an interlocutor having rights equal to one’s own. Real dialogue is when you recognize the same dignity in the other. No dialogue is possible between a master and his slave. Dialogue assumes equality…. To understand the Other, first we have to try and know him in his entirety, know his beliefs, his customs, his rites, his civilization.

The truth is that our system of public instruction, which has awakened the Hindus from the sleep of centuries and quickened their inert masses with some of the noble impulses of a nation is opposed to the tradition, unsuited to the requirements, and hateful to the religion of the Musalmans [Moslems]

Jews are the brothers of the monkeys and the swine. Verily behind me is a Jew. Then come and kill him Unfortunately we hear too many people saying we must build bridges with them. No. They understand one language. It is the language of the sword, and it is the only language they understand., In order to establish security on this earth …, the word of Allah will be the superior word.

9/11 was a sort of hinge event in American history, and all jihadi terrorist plots or attacks are kind of filtered through that lens.

One thing that education can do is it can provide us with an opportunity to understand one another better, and so while I've spent a lot of my time in the world of politics, I've always felt that it is really not politics that will solve this for us.

Picture what this country felt like in the weeks and months after 9/11. Can you imagine anyone even beginning to allow an advertising campaign promoting Islam, being endorsed and supported by a man the feds believe to be a terrorist, on New York City subways?