🕌 Freedom, Equality in Western Civilization and the Islamic Response
◈ Analyzing the Foundations and Values of Any Civilization
Every civilization is built upon a system of values, and to understand its rules and structures, it is crucial to thoroughly examine its core principles. In the modern era, Western civilization dominates, and in order to safeguard Islamic civilization and promote it effectively, a correct understanding of Western values and ideologies is essential.
◈ Foundation of Western Civilization: Human-Centrism
Western civilization is fundamentally humanist, where man is placed at the center. Its ultimate goal is to realize man’s divinity and autonomy in this world.
◈ The Core Value of Western Civilization: Freedom
Freedom is the primary pillar of Western ideology. It seeks to liberate the individual from all external constraints, allowing one to live entirely by personal will.
This concept is elaborated in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who stated that man is an end in himself, not a means to an end.
📖 Kant: “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in yourself or in another, always as an end and never merely as a means.”
◈ Types of Freedom in Western Thought
① Negative Freedom
② Positive Freedom
1. Negative Freedom
This means that despite societal constraints, an individual is granted a personal domain in which they can act freely, without any interference.
❝ The focus is not on how life should be lived or what moral standards should apply; it simply emphasizes non-interference in personal life. ❞
🔻 Consequences:
- Man becomes a slave to personal desires.
- Moral values are negated, as each individual defines their own standards.
- Social disintegration arises due to the diversity and conflict in personal preferences.
2. Positive Freedom
Contrary to negative freedom, positive freedom was proposed by Communitarian thinkers. According to them, freedom is not about following personal desires, but about working towards a collective human purpose.
📚 Thinkers like Rousseau, Hegel, and Marx advanced this concept—yet their ultimate aim was still to elevate humanity to divine status.
◈ Liberalism vs. Positive Freedom
Liberal thinkers reject positive freedom, as they view it as a precursor to fascism and authoritarianism. They argue that only negative freedom should be promoted.
◈ The Concept of Equality in Liberalism
In Western liberalism, equality is intertwined with freedom—all personal goals are considered equally valid, regardless of their nature.
📖 John Rawls illustrated this with an example:
❝ If one person aims to eliminate heroin and another to count blades of grass, liberalism considers both goals equally valuable. ❞
🔻 Social Consequences of Liberal Equality:
- Every vote carries equal weight, whether from a righteous or immoral person.
- Private freedom is legally protected, and no one may interfere.
◈ Islamic Position on Equality
Islam rejects this notion, because Islamic values are based on piety (taqwā) and divine principles.
📖 Qur’an:
❝ Are those who know equal to those who do not know? ❞
(Al-Zumar 39:9)
◈ The Concept of Justice
Liberal View of Justice:
- Every individual may define their own life goals.
- All objectives are given equal importance.
- Preferences are determined by majority vote.
🔻 Results:
- Man is granted the status of God.
- All desires are treated equally, leading to moral decay.
- The liberal system cannot form a moral code, as it is built upon skepticism.
📖 Karl Popper stated:
❝ Truth is that which can be falsified. ❞
◈ Islamic Response
Islam categorically rejects the foundational concepts of liberalism, because:
✔ It makes the individual the central unit of society, denying collective good.
✔ Its concept of freedom leads to moral anarchy.
✔ Its ideas of equality and justice result in injustice and disorder, not real justice.
◈ Necessary Steps
✔ Abandon efforts to “Islamize” liberal democracy and its theories.
✔ Formulate a coherent Islamic revolutionary strategy to reconstruct society on Islamic values.
❀ Conclusion
The Western notions of freedom and equality, rooted in humanism and liberalism, stand in stark contradiction to the Islamic worldview. While Western ideology promotes personal autonomy and relativism, Islam is based on divine guidance, piety, and moral accountability.
The Islamic Ummah must respond with a clear ideological stance, rejecting foreign constructs and advancing a comprehensive Islamic system grounded in Qur’ān, Sunnah, and the wisdom of the righteous scholars.
