UN General Assembly
1984

92. The fact is that there is a resurgence of faith in the Islamic world as well as among other religions. Do not allow yourselves to be manipulated so as to fear this resurgence or even the word "fundamentalist", which has triggered so many ancient suspicions and prejudices. Yes, we are the Islamic "fundamentalists", because we believe in the fundamentals of Islam—in peace, tolerance and justice—and, yes, there are extremists just as there are extremists everywhere in every religion and in every phase of history. Surely no one can deny that, historically, there have been aberrations in all religions and it is plain prejudice or deliberate distortion to allow these aberrations to determine our perception and our judgement. Let us ask ourselves: would it be fair to judge Christianity by the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, or by the obscenity of apartheid, or of Nazism? Would it be fair to judge Judaism by the perversities that political Zionism represents?