Sadullah Khan – Developing a Qur’anic Personality To be and What not to be. #15

The liberation of our country and its people

from a long period of colonialism

and racist minority rule.

And the concept of freedom in itself

is a distinguishing quality of humanity.

Each and every human being has the right

to be free.

And freedom,

when you speak about freedom,

it refers to a situation in which an

individual is able to make a choice

in thought,

in behavior or speech,

or he or she chooses

to avoid doing so,

but without violating

the right or the freedom of others in

the process.

From this, we can deduce 3 important points.

1,

freedom has both the dimension of action

or in action. The choice of action or

in action. In other words, the freedom to

do something

as well as the free choice not to

do something.

Secondly,

there are limits and restraints

to individual freedoms,

such that your freedom

cannot impinge upon the rights and the freedom

of other people.

And thirdly,

because freedom is a choice, the whole notion

of choice. In the absence of choice, there's

no freedom.

Because there's a choice, the individual is then

held accountable

for his or her actions

and for the consequence deriving from their choice

of action or inaction.

Now in Arabic,

the word

freedom,

the word is but whole doesn't only mean

free. It also means noble. It implies nobility.

Also a sense of integrity and dignity

and Freedom does not exist ever in a

vacuum. It never exists in a vacuum

and it can never function without limits. Some

people have the idea freedom is to do

what you want, say what you want, wear

what you want, do what you want, wherever

you want, and there's no limits to it.

No. Freedom does not exist in a vacuum,

and it does not function without limits.

Islam promotes a type of responsible

and dignified freedom,

a type of freedom that respects the other.

For example,

in freedom of expression,

it's not the license to utter falsehood

or to slander or to lie

or to be demeaning or to be rude

Or economic freedom as an example

allows you, allows people to earn and to

own

without indulging in fraud, in deception, and in

cheating.

Islam wants freedom from something

and freedom for something.

Islam wants freedom

for living a happy, a healthy, and prosperous

life, a moral and a dignified life. Islam

wants people to be free to worship, to

express themselves, to earn, to have a family,

and to have a just government of their

choice.

Islam wants people to be free from

economic, political,

and social exploitation

and oppression.

Hence, in the Quran, you'll find particular terms

indicating

the dislike

and the abhorrence of certain categories of people.

For example, the Mutliffin.

Those who are economically excessive.

The Walimin, the oppressors. Tahu,

the exploiters of political and social authority and

power.

Remember that we as people of faith should

always be a voice of conscience

and

always be activists for freedom wherever we find

ourselves

and the call for justice. After all, this

is part of the mission of prophets.

Allah says in Surah Hadid, he send prophets

with clarification and clear guidelines

in order that humanity at large may live

with justice.

So at a personal level,

at the spiritual level,

many people are enslaved

either by wants, by emotions,

by authority,

by position, by possessions. So they're enslaved to

it, enslaved by it. Their lives are dictated

to buy these

things. Their emotions, their wants, their authority, their

position, their possessions.

Possessions. Never satisfied

and never free from wanting more of what

they want.

To free us from such kind of personal,

spiritual, and moral enslavement,

the great spiritual luminary,

Ibrahim bin Shaiban,

he said,

and I'll leave you with this.

Dignity of a human being lies in his

or her humility.

Honor of a person lies

in righteousness

and freedom lies

in being free from want and desire.

Freedom comes from being content, and it comes

from contentment.