When I say education, I mean more than acquisition of knowledge, more than mere facts, figures and book work. Education is a life-long experience in which qualities such as integrity, mental discipline, humility and honesty should be formed, particularly during the early years.

But wealth is not all that matters. Our religion teaches us that a spirit of humility and devotion is of first importance. You must work together with mutual forbearance and with respect for each other. Only thus shall we achieve the harmony and happiness which is necessary for the true advancement of our faith.

Never before in the history of man has there been such an age of technical progress. Only thirty years ago, it was an adventure to fly in an aeroplane. Today, there are machines that travel faster than sound.

The faith by which we live is the only sure guarantee that our problems will be surmounted. The younger people among you must be especially aware of this. Only the faith of your fathers will enable you to live in peace.

He (Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah) achieved in His life, for our community, that which could only have been accomplished normally in a period of many generations. The tributes that the world has paid him, bear honest testimony to his real life and work.

I have been amazed and thrilled frankly, at the capacities of even the completely illiterate populations, to express themselves about the correct priority that should be addressed. And if you follow their agenda, nine times out of ten, you'll get it right!

The basic problem is the enormous lack of knowledge of the Islamic world in the general world-culture. It's a rather remarkable thing and a very sad thing to me, that over a billion people, their 1400 year history, of civilizations, are simply not part of general education in the general Western world. It's a remarkable knowledge gap.

You cannot deal with a world like the Islamic world by rejecting the notion of pluralism. Historically, it is part of that world. The faith of Islam recognizes and sustains the right of people to be their own masters of the judgments that they make.

Generally you will see as much diversity in the Islam as you do in the Christian world today. But the West does not really understand the pluralism of the Islamic world.

What does it (the West) know about the Islamic world? Is anything taught in secondary education? Does anybody know the names of the great philosophers, the scientists, the great theologians? Do they even know the names of the great civilizations?