"Religion is a candle inside a multicolored lantern. Everyone looks through a particular color, but the candle is always there"
About this Quote
The subtext is a warning about certainty. If everyone sees the candle through their own color, then absolute claims about what the light "really" is start to look like a category error. The line quietly shifts the argument from "Which religion is true?" to "What happens when we mistake our tint for the flame?" It's an elegant way to defend religious conviction while puncturing the impulse to turn it into domination.
Context matters: Naguib helped lead Egypt out of monarchy and into a turbulent republic, a moment when national identity, Islam, secular governance, and competing ideologies were in constant negotiation. The lantern image reads like a governing philosophy for a fragile coalition: affirm unity without erasing difference; honor tradition without letting sectarianism become state policy. It's persuasive because it offers humility without humiliation, a politics of shared light rather than enforced color.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: The Sacred Ego (Jalaja Bonheim, Ph.D., 2015) modern compilationISBN: 9781583949443 · ID: q4QkBQAAQBAJ
Evidence:
... Religion is a candle inside a multicolored lantern . Everyone looks through a particular color , but the candle is always there . -MOHAMMED NAGUIB , Egypt's first president If religion is to serve as agent of global peace and healing ... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Naguib, Mohammed. (2026, February 13). Religion is a candle inside a multicolored lantern. Everyone looks through a particular color, but the candle is always there. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/religion-is-a-candle-inside-a-multicolored-155825/
Chicago Style
Naguib, Mohammed. "Religion is a candle inside a multicolored lantern. Everyone looks through a particular color, but the candle is always there." FixQuotes. February 13, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/religion-is-a-candle-inside-a-multicolored-155825/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Religion is a candle inside a multicolored lantern. Everyone looks through a particular color, but the candle is always there." FixQuotes, 13 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/religion-is-a-candle-inside-a-multicolored-155825/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.











