The Muslim Society Celebrates Freedom

There is no human society that celebrates freedom as much as the Muslim society that implements the Shari'ah of Allah in its life. Man has never known freedom in the highest sense as it it known to the Muslim who understands the teachings of his religion.

                 That is because Islam, which shapes the personality of the Muslim and builds the Muslim Society, has defined the concept of freedom and has established values and standards for it that make it the freedom that is best suited for man who has been honoured by Allah and appointed as His trustee (Khaleefah) on earth, to develop and populate it with goodness, virtue and happiness for mankind.

Islam has given man the freedom that enables him to develop a balanced and upright personality, that guarantees his rights as prescribed in shariah, and allows him to do anything that is good and beneficial with no limits or obstacles. 

Aspects of Freedom

Man in the Muslim society has the freedom to express whatever constructive thought she has through whatever media he wishes, be it written or audio-visual.

                   He has the right to criticize unfair or deviant situations, so long as he bases his arguments or criticism on facts, proof and evidence. This includes enjoining what is good and forbid what is evil, which is required of men and women equally, as Allah (Exalted is He) says:

The believers, men and women, are Awliya [helpers, supporters, friends, protectors] of one another; they enjoin [on the people] al-Maroof [i.e. Islamic Monotheism  and all that Islam orders one to do], and forbid [people] from al-Munkar [i.e. polytheism and disbelief of all kinds, and all that Islam has forbidden]... [Quran (9):71]

He has the freedom to meet with others in order to form an opinion or to establish an organization that is based on a sound intellectual foundation and on respect for the ummah's aqeedah and way of life as prescribed in shari'ah. This is an example of the cooperation that is encouraged in the Quran where it says:

Help you one another in al-Birr and at-Taqwa [virtue, righteousness and piety]; but do not help one another in sin and transgression. [Quran (5):2]

He has the freedom to choose the kind of work he will do and how will earn a living, so that he will have no need to ask of people and will be able to support his family. It is not permissible to prevent him from working in his own field or to force him to do work other than that which he is specialised in.

            He has complete freedom with regard to choosing  a place to live. It is not permissible for anyone, no matter who he is, to invade the privacy of his home or to spy on him and seek out his faults, or to violate those things which are sacred, namely his religion, his life, his physical well-being, his honour, his family or his wealth.

Non-Muslim minorities have the right to live in the Muslim society in freedom, adhering to their own beliefs and ways of worship, because

"there is no compulsion in religion." [Quran (2):256]

Saturday, February 22, 2014