I was talking to an American friend of mine who asked me about the Arab and Islamic concept of freedom. The general feeling in the West these days is that freedom of expression and thought are alien to our way of life. Day in and day out the media there is bombarding them with claims that we hate freedom, we despise their values of life, we are for the oppression of women and we are against anything that projects gentleness and humanity. Even my friend, who is a liberal, told me that the constant barrage of anti-Muslim propaganda has affected him. I replied that Islam gave freedom to men over 1,400 years ago and that the rights of men, women, children and even animals were clearly stipulated. Long before the Geneva Convention the Islamic concept of rules of engagement were made clear and non-combatants were not to be touched. Over 800 years ago a book on animal rights was written by an Arab. In Damascus there was a Wakf whose earnings were to be spent on animals. So we have freedom. But why don't you people have your scholars, poets, actors and others express their views about freedom. Well, I will try to get it for you, I said. However, on researching, I found very few utterances on freedom by Arab intellectuals. Long years of suppression by Arab military dictators snuffed out the voice of the Arabs. Oppression and fear threw a big blanket of silence across the Arab world. Now that silence is being broken. And I do hope that all will give their views of how their lives should be run. Freedom is a universal trait and God-given. No one has the right to deprive us of it. The Second Caliph of Islam Omar said, “Since when did you enslave people when they were born free?” Anyway, for an orthodox view of freedom I am noting some views from different members of Western society. I hope you will get an insight into their mindset. “Freedom means being able to count on how other people will behave” — George Bernard Shaw, author of The Road to Equality. “Freedom is education — it gives you the potential to get what you want from life” —Demi Moore, versatile American actress. “It has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head — it has a purity and fragility like nothing else” — Bono U2's legendary rocker. “Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus” — Aneurin Bevan, the godfather of the NHS. “Freedom isn't something you're given, it's something you take” — Malcolm X, civil-rights activist. “It's not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end” — William Pitt, the youngest British Prime Minister. “It is a responsibility. That's why most folks dread it” — Bob Dylan, gravel-voiced American folk singer. “Liberty is the right to choose. Freedom is the result of the right choice” — Lech Walesa, founder of the anti-communist trade union Solidarnosc, former Polish president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. “Freedom is art” — Andy Warhol, the definitive pop artist. “It's often less about what you're free to do than what you're free not to do — it's freedom to refrain, withdraw and abstain that makes a totalitarian regime impossible” — Rageh Omar, international correspondent. “Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery” — Martin Luther King, civil-rights activist who had a dream. “Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you” — Jean-Paul Sartre, French egghead and novelist. “Freedom's something you can only appreciate if you've ever lost it” — Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. “Freedom is the encapsulation of everything that's worth fighting for” — Winston Churchill, cigar-chomping British Prime Minister and water colorist.
— The writer can be reached at [email protected] and followed at Twitter: @KhaledAlmaeena
