An Overview of Freedom Which Is a Core Islamic Principle and a Prerequisite for Human Dignity – Concluding Part
By Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam
2 June 2023
Political Freedom and Islam
Main Points:
1.
Rousseau
and Rawls argued that political freedom means everyone should have the chance
to participate in all decisions up to the formation, operation, and dissolution
of the government.
2.
Moral
Freedom requires respect for society, ethics, and the rule of law.
3.
Freedom
is essential for human dignity and Islam, but there are three fundamental
requirements to achieve it.
4.
Muslims
are immigrating to Europe from Muslim-majority nations to seek freedom and
respect for human rights, not for atheism.
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According to Rousseau and Rawls, political
freedom means that everyone should have the chance to fully participate in all
decisions up to the formation, operation, and dissolution of the government. No
one person or group should attempt to determine the fate of everyone else.
Additionally, everyone should be free to participate in the creation of the
government; rather than only some members of a particular family or class being
eligible for positions in government, everyone should have equal opportunity to
do so.
Everyone should have complete freedom to
evaluate the government when it is established and to accept responsibility.
Practically and philosophically, this idea of political freedom has gained
prominence in the modern era thanks to the Western world. But the truth is that
Islam had not only fully explained the tenets and rules governing this
connection from the very beginning, but it had also demonstrably done so
through the Khilafat-e-Raashida. Shura, albeit only a word, encompasses the
entire idea of political freedom as it was discovered by the West, but the idea
goes far deeper than that. It is a key term in the Islamic concept of political
freedom. Khilafat-e-Rashida also provided a distinctive and alluring practical
representation of this word.
Moral Freedom and Islam
Moral Freedom suggests that in order to use
freedom morally, society must be taken into account. Therefore, it is crucial
that legislation be used to consistently enforce it. As a result, freedom
necessitates that the ethics of freedom be established. And freedom demands
that the rule of law be acknowledged as dominant. Islam has given its followers
some very good teachings in this regard. The Qur'an's warning to believers not
to insult the gods of other religions that they worship besides Allah serves as
an excellent illustration of this. Similar to this, all national symbols and
objects should not offend anyone's opinions about them in the name of freedom;
as a result, people should be held to certain ethical standards and society
should be subject to legal restraints.
Essential Requirements for Freedom
Freedom is a fundamental requirement of
both human dignity and Islam. But there are also some prerequisites to meet in
order to begin the voyage of freedom, to set out on the path of introspection,
and to analyse one's function in relation to society and politics with freedom,
without which freedom becomes a meaningless word. In this context, there are
three fundamental requirements that are of utmost importance.
The satisfaction of fundamental human needs
is the first prerequisite. Any human being's freedom is meaningless if they
lack a roof over their heads, food to satiate their hunger, and water to slake
their thirst. As a result, overseeing the satisfaction of fundamental human
needs is crucial for any society's overall order. In a similar vein, what use
is the freedom guaranteed by a country's constitution if the government fails
to take care of the most fundamental citizens of its citizens?
Management of education is another crucial
requirement. Without education, freedom loses its meaning. The third most
crucial prerequisite is a fair and just society. For Rousseau, only when a
society is founded on justice can freedom be constrained by moral and legal
principles; otherwise, freedom will inevitably lose its significance and
dignity.
Freedom is a prerequisite for human
progress and a fundamental human right. In the human race's quest for freedom,
two significant turning points are readily apparent. The first significant
event occurred at the dawn of Islam when the Creator of the Universe gave explicit
and comprehensive instructions about the fulfilment of all the needs of
humanity as well as freedom through the last revelation.
The second turning point occurred during
the French Revolution or the Enlightenment in modern times when people chose their
own paths to freedom by following the logic of reason. In essence, the two
routes converge in considerable part.
However, the negative behaviour is seen in
relation to the fundamental purpose of freedom, its requirements, as well as
the essential ethical values, and then the moderate attitude between individual
and collective freedom in the case of freedom, etc., because the light of
revelation in the West is not clear.
In other words, there remains a big gap at
the moral, spiritual, and philosophical levels in the Western world despite the
significant accomplishments made at the academic and practical levels of
freedom. On the other hand, despite the presence of all teachings, the Islamic
world is very far behind in terms of both the theoretical and practical needs
for freedom.
Even Rached Ghannouchi, one of the greatest
thinkers in the Islamic world, acknowledged that this freedom is now lacking in
the Islamic world. Because of their desire for freedom, some Muslims immigrate
to Europe from Muslim-majority nations. Muslims are not leaving Islam for
atheism in this immigration, but rather from oppression to freedom and respect
for human rights (Rached Ghannouchi, Democracy and Human Rights in Islam).
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Kaniz Fatma is a classic Islamic scholar and a regular columnist for New
Age Islam.
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