Abu Bakar Bashir

“This is why I have always said that it would be better if Muslims were poor.”

“Arab leaders worry more about making money from the profits they get from oil and gas that they turn the other way when Lebanon is being destroyed right next to them. Their neighbours are being murdered, but they only make calculations for their own benefit.”

“But the leaders of the OIC could not even accept Mahathir's proposal, yet they talk about respect and honour.”

“The Muslim leaders swallow the advice of the Western powers and bodies like the IMF and World Bank, even when it is bad for their countries and they know this.”

“The only model to follow is pure Islam.”

“Why should we use the Dollar even when we trade among ourselves?”

“They are scared that the BBC or CNN may call them radicals, so they remain soft instead. The problem lies there, with the Muslim leaders, not the Muslim masses.”

“Islam is perfect, there is nothing to be added or changed.”

“But the West is trying to weaken Islam from outside and inside. They attack our people and invade our countries from outside, and they weaken us from within with ideas like secularism, liberalism and democracy. This is all designed to contaminate our pure Islam.”

“Islam is fixed, stable, ordered and disciplined, and so are Muslims.”

“Our Prophet was a radical too- he fought against the injustices of his community and challenged the feudal order of his society, so they called him a radical. So what? We should be proud of that!”

“You are right, but the weakness does not come from the millions of Muslims in the world. They do not mind being radical, they have no fear to speak out and to protest and to jihad.”

“What use is revelation or religion if it doesnt change anything?”

“Likewise the leader of any state has to do the same, he has to enforce Shariah firmly, for he will be held in account later in the afterlife if he fails.”

“Look at the Afghans, during the time of the Soviet invasion. They were among the poorest Muslims in the world, yet they were sustained by their faith in God, and God alone.”

“Today the Western powers and media want to domesticate us like sheep, to keep us tame and domesticated.”

“Because Islam in its original form was tough and hard, not weak and pliable.”

“So we want an Islamic state where Islamic law is not just in the books but enforced, and enforced with determination. There is no space and no room for democratic consultation. The Shariah is set and fixed, so why do we need to discuss it anymore? Just implement it!”

“Oil wealth has been a curse on us, made us weak and docile.”

“As long as Muslims were confident they could not be defeated, but now we are just puppets.”