On the Islamic Conception of Freedom:

Liberty versus Liberalism

By Cyril Anderson

Part One of Two

 One of the most commonly abused words in this day and age is “freedom.”  Closely associated with this in usage is the word “liberty.”  Many different groups throw the word around in support of their respective causes without really defining what they mean.  It is one of those words that are so common that we sort of assume that when we hear it, we know what is being talked about.  But what exactly is meant by freedom?  What is the common understanding?  And is this compatible with or contradictory to the Islamic or in general religious understanding of freedom?  The purpose of this brief article is to examine this question.

The general understanding of the word “freedom” is a lack of restriction, a lack of constraint.  The modern liberal conception of freedom is the unhindered ability to do whatever one wants.  This is in line with the philosophy of Liberalism.  This is a philosophical system, taking many different forms, which originated in its modern form in Britain and France (through the French Enlightenment) of the 18^th century, with roots going back to 17^th century Britain and influential through to the present day.  In its social form, it sought the easing or removal of social mores, usually morally based, on behavior, arguing to let people do as they please, regardless of the sentiments of the majority of the population.  This has included attempts, largely successful in recent years, to ease social attitudes toward sex, particularly premarital sex and adultery, drug and intoxicant use, gambling, prostitution, standards of dress and conduct, and homosexuality and other fringe sexual behavior.  The political consequence of this focus has been a push to ease “prudish” laws forbidding such behavior (de jure legalization), to decriminalize such behaviors (de facto legalization), or in the case of merely socially unaccepted but technically legal behaviors, a relaxing of common attitudes.  

In economics, Liberalist ideologies have expressed themselves through the push for deregulation of markets within countries, deregulation of international trade through free trade agreements and easing or removal of tariffs, calls for lower taxes or abolition of taxes, calls for the reduction of size of government, hard emphasis on property rights, including intellectual property, and the reduction of government involvement in economies.  The common refrain of liberal economics is “let the markets decide.”  Laissez faire theories of capitalism, including the belief in the unseen hand, are good examples of liberal economics. 

The common call, in whatever sphere in which liberalism acts, is for a removal of all or most external restraints on individuals, groups, or businesses, with the minimum restriction that restraints should only be imposed if what one is doing directly harms someone else or restricts another’s freedom.  A general call is for the reduction of the size and power of government over its citizens and organizations within it the society to whatever is needed to fulfill the role of protector of individual rights.  To be fair, some of these political ideas were in response to genuinely tyrannous governments that excessively constrained the people.  In response to such situations, the general idea of liberalism has some reasonable benefit.  However, many applications of liberalism go toward advocating the other extreme, leading, as a result to a similar control by private interests under the banner of “nobly fighting government tyranny.”

A number of well-known Western philosophers fit squarely into the Liberalist camp, including: Adam Smith, Bernard Mandeville, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, François Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, etc.  Clearly, from the familiarity of such individuals to most educated people these days, these individuals have clearly been extremely influential in Western civilization.  In modern days, economic liberals such as Milton Friedman of the Chicago School of Economics, and Friedrich von Hayek, Murray Rothbard, and Ludwig von Mises of the Austrian School of Economics have been influential.

 Liberalism is not a monolithic creature; different forms of liberalism have appeared as different interpretations of the central concepts have developed.  Some of these forms are: classical liberalism, political liberalism, cultural liberalism, economic liberalism, and social liberalism.  While it is often believed (erroneously) that the founders of the United States were all generally influenced primarily by Liberalism, one of the major debates within the early United States was between the Liberal faction led by Thomas Jefferson and that led by Alexander Hamilton and his American School of Economics.  This is seen on the debate over the preamble to the Constitution, with Jefferson advocating “life, liberty, and the pursuit of property,” while Hamilton’s camp advocated the eventually triumphant “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” along with the idea of struggling prevent despotism and the striving to form a government with the power to protect the people from external threats and to promote the best interests of the people within. 

                               Part One                    Part Two