We must, I suggest, use every opening available to us to make good the time and learning which we have lost, no matter if we turn to institutions steeped in foreign cultures so long as it is for our own improvement and in the process we do not lose our own identity. Not so long ago, after all, these cultures were turning to us.

But what is the point in undergoing untold of misery for political independence if the result is no better than abject dependence intellectually and economically on one’s old political masters

I hope that those students who came to this University, and that those students who will leave it for further studies, will approach their work with sharp vengeance – vengeance for the torpor and indifference of the past; vengeance for having temporarily lost their rightful position amongst the intellectual elite of the country

During the two Khalifates, the Muslim Universities were producing the best scholars, doctors, astronomers and philosophers. Today where are we? Have we institutions of learning which can compare with the Sorbonne, Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, Oxford, M.I.T.?

Generosity is part of our faith. And.so it is an ethical principle for all of us whether you are Shia or Sunni or whatever it may be. So that's intrinsic in the nature of faith for us..... I mean the basic premise for the wealthy is - you use what you need to live in a dignified manner. What you don't need, you share.

This coming together of people from many backgrounds has been a central theme in the history of Zanzibar for over a thousand years - since the first Arab traders were blown this way by the monsoon winds in the 8th Century