‘COULD I GO at 100mph?’ I asked my son as we drove up the M1 motorway.
‘I suppose you could but then you’d get in trouble with the law.’
‘But am I not free?’
So started a conversation exploring the idea of freedom. An idea that forms the basis of this society and one that particularly worries Muslim parents raising their children in the West.
We are told that we are free: free to believe, to express, to own and to have personal freedom.
Obviously, there can’t be absolute freedom on any of these- that would lead to complete chaos. So, we are only free within the limits of the law.
Who determines those limits and the law? People do. It may be an absolute monarch or a dictator or a group of people sitting in Parliament. Regardless of the number, those limits come from the minds of men. Because it comes from the minds of men, these limits inevitably suffer from all the limitations, inconsistencies, contradictions, short-sightedness, selfishness and prejudices that characterize human minds.
Importantly, God has no part to play in setting those limits. In fact, “freedom” in the Western secular liberal context is specifically the freedom from God.
This opposition to God has a history. It arose from the European Church’s oppression of the people during the Dark Ages. Through the Enlightenment, the Church was separated from the state and the four freedoms were established.
People freed themselves from the rules of God to live on Earth according to what they chose. However, they only ended up enslaving themselves to other people!
What we thus have is not actually freedom but permission from the state to do certain actions.
For example, we are not free to drive at any speed or without a seat belt or a license, but we are permitted to drive if we get a license, wear a seatbelt and obey the traffic laws. We are not free to evade taxes, but we are permitted to spend what remains after taxes. Parents are not free to neglect their children but are free to neglect their elderly parents and so on.
Furthermore, looking around us, it is only too clear where this freedom is leading to. Social breakdown, unprecedented levels of economic inequity, political crises, identity crises, rising division and hatred, environmental disasters, etc. This freedom has allowed the few to oppress the many and cause untold misery.
The Islamic view is different.
It is Allah ﷻ who has given man intellect and with that the freedom to choose the thoughts that he carries and the actions that he does.
Allah ﷻ has sent down the Guidance and He alone will account in the Hereafter based on that Guidance.
إِنَّا هَدَيْنَـٰهُ ٱلسَّبِيلَ إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا
‘Indeed, We showed him the way, whether he be grateful or ungrateful.’ (al Insan 3)
لَآ إِكْرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ ۖ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ ٱلرُّشْدُ مِنَ ٱلْغَىِّ
‘There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong.’ (al Baqarah 256)
Islam is thus realizing that Allah ﷻ is the Master and that we are the subject. It is about giving up our freedom and submitting to the will of Allah ﷻ. That is the meaning of the word ‘Islam’.
Islam realizes that the most liberated (i.e. free from oppression) a man can be is when he submits not to man but to the Creator of man. Similarly, the most liberated a society can be is when it is built upon the commandments of the Creator. This is because Allah ﷻ knows man’s needs intimately (as He created man). But as He is also independent of man, the Divine Guidance is free from all of man’s shortcomings.
If we look at history, we see the sahaba understood this point clearly. Rabi ibn Amr (ra), an ordinary soldier in the Muslim army at the Persian front line, clearly explains to Rustam, the Persian general, his mission:
‘Allah ﷻ has sent us to deliver you from worshipping the creation to worshipping the Creator of the creation and to deliver you from the constriction of this world to the vastness of this world and the Afterlife and from the oppression of the religions to the justice of Islam. Allah ﷻ has sent us to save you from worshipping each other.”
Muslims do not share Europe’s history. When they had the Dark Ages, we had the Golden Age. Our decline wasn’t because of religion. Rather we declined when we became complacent regards Islamic thinking and its practical application.
Freedom as an idea is highly attractive, especially to our youth, as it appeals to the lowest nafs of the individual. It allows people to give in to their desires instead of striving for a higher purpose. Crucially, it removes accountability.
As parents, we need to understand both freedom and the Islamic viewpoint. Understanding freedom allows us to recognize its manifestations (which often are very subtle) and protect ourselves from it. Understanding the Islamic viewpoint, allows us to build confidence in Islam and inspires us to follow that higher purpose in submission to Allah ﷻ.
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