Freedom in Islam

الحرية في الإسلام

Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn starts from the lexical sense of freedom as release and manumission, then from its purpose: a community living in security, where each person knows his rights and duties and is neither wronged nor deprived (pp. 44-45). He describes freedom as a mean between excess and deprivation, resting on four qualities: knowing one's rights and duties, a noble soul that refrains from aggression, submission to fair law, and a dignity that refuses wrong (pp. 45-46). Education is the base, so government must refine morals and enlighten minds first (pp. 46-47). He rejects reading freedom as following desire or force, and sets consultation and equality as its two pillars (pp. 47-48). This is the author's reading, offered as an Islamic account of freedom.