Freedom and the view of Islam

Freedom and the view of Islam

The meaning of freedom
Freedom should be defined with Islamic principles. First of all the following aspects should be noticed:
1- Freedom means being free in doing what you want or leaving what you do not; whether it is intellectual, political, ethical, individual or social or even non-intellectual.
2- Human being has a strong will and dis able to do what he wants what he does not to do. This is called "genesis freedom".
3- Genesis freedom is not enough, it requires another freedom called "legal freedom"
4- There is a close link between the definition of human and the definition of freedom. The definition of human being includes the definition of freedom, because freedom belongs to human.

The definition of freedom from Islamic viewpoint with its view on human being
Islamic viewpoint on human:
However if you have been wanting to see God and His messengers as well as having a home in the Hereafter, Well God has prepared splendid payment for the kindly women among you (33/29)
Who believe in the Unseen keep up prayer and spend something from whatever We have provided them with (2/3)
We have guided him along the right path whether he is thankful or thankless (76/3)
On that day men will appear in droves to be shown their actions (100/6)
However man acts so arrogant (96/6)

As a result, in Islam human being is not restricted to his natural and physical aspects. Islam wants him to be a perfect creature.

Freedom in Islam
According to Koranic verses, mankind has both genesis freedom and religious freedom. Genesis freedom means human is free to do or not to do an act. This is also called "innate freedom".
Religious freedom considers human's genesis freedom in his life. It mentions that no one is allowed to stop human from doing what he wants to do.

Limitations of freedom
No one is allowed to limit human's religious freedom inasmuch as human is a social creature; naturally he is supposed to share his will with others in the society. It means he should respect the rules which limit the freedom in the society.

Related topics: different sorts of Islamic freedom of thought
The freedom of religion and belief in Islam
Limitations of freedom in Islam

References: al- Mizan exegesis