Religious Freedom in Islam

 There is No Compulsion in Religion

Allah SWT says in the Qur’an a;-Hakim:

Al-Baqara 2:256

There is no compulsion
In religion: Truth stands out
Clear from Error: whoever
Rejects Evil and believes
In God hath grasped
The most trustworthy
Hand-hold, that never breaks.
And God heareth
And knoweth all things.

This Deen of Islam is built on three qawa’id, three fundamental principles:  Freedom, Equal Dignity and Justice.

And the first of these is Freedom.  What is Freedom?  How do we have freedom, when Allah SWT is all powerful, all knowing, when Allah SWT has Qadaa wa Qadar?  Some feel that because Allah has the ultimate dominion and control over the universe, that we as humans, have no real freedom.  They hold that Allah’s Qadaa and Qadar means that we have no free will and that our entire lives are determined and cannot be changed. 

One must then ask how is this position any different from that of atheists and materialists.  According to the scientific view of causation, everything is determined by the events proceeding.  Nothing is random, but is caused by something else.  Even in Chaos Theory, where it is recognized that conditions at any given moment are so complex as to make it impossible to predict the outcome of events with any certainty, physicist still hold that every minute event is caused – the classic Butterfly Effect, where a butterfly fluttering its wings in India causes weather in North America. 

 Islam and Causation

Certainly, Islam does not deny causation.  Allah SWT is the ultimate cause of everything.  According to the law of finitude, qanun an-nihaaya, there cannot be an infinite regression of causes.  There must be a first cause.  This first cause is Allah.  All things require a cause, except that first cause.  Allah SWT confirms this:

Allahu Samad

Allah is the self sufficient upon which all depends. 

Sayed Muhammad Baqir al Sadr writes;

“So, since every part of it requires a cause, the chain as a whole requires a cause.  The question “Why does it exist?” extends as far as the parts of the chain extend.  No decisive answer to this question is possible, as long as the succession in the chain does not lead to a part that is self-sufficient and not requiring a cause, so that this part can put an end to the succession and give the chain it s first eternal beginning.”   (Falsafatuna p. 235).

“Put differently, if the chain of causes involves a cause not subject to the principle of causality and not in need of a cause, this would be the first cause which constitutes the beginning of the chain, since this cause does not proceed from another cause prior to it.  If every existent in the chain, with no exception, requires a cause in accordance with the principle of causality, then all existents would require a cause.  But the question remains as to why this is so.  This necessary question is concerned with existence in general.  We cannot rid ourselves of it except by supposing a first cause free from the principle of causality.”  Id.

So, this first cause is Allah and must be Allah, for only He is not subject to the law of causation.  And He is the cause of everything, including our actions.  However, one must ask, if our actions are caused, then how can we be responsible for them?  Allah SWT makes it clear in the Qur’an that we are not responsible for the actions of others.

2:286. On no soul doth God
Place a burden greater
Than it can bear.
It gets every good that it earns,
And it suffers every ill that if earns.
(Pray:) "Our Lord!
Condemn us not
If we forget or fall
Into error; our Lord!
Lay not on us a burden
Like that which Thou
Didst lay on those before us;
Our Lord! lay not on us
A burden greater than we
Have strength to bear.
Blot out our sins,
And grant us forgiveness,
Have mercy on us.
Thou art our Protector;
Help us against those
Who stand against Faith"

35:18. Nor can a bearer of burdens
Bear another's burden.
If one heavily laden should
Call another to (bear) his load,
Not the least portion of it
Can be carried (by the other),
Even though he be nearly
Related. Thou canst but
Admonish such as fear
Their Lord unseen
And establish regular Prayer.
And whoever purifies himself
Does so for the benefit
Of his own soul; and
The destination (of all)
Is to God.

---

74: 38. Every soul will be (held)
In pledge for its deeds.

41:46. Whoever works righteousness
Benefits his own soul;
Whoever works evil, it is
Against his own soul:
Nor is thy Lord ever
Unjust (in the least)
To His servants.

As these last ayaat tells us, we are, however, held responsible for our own deeds.  A person can only be held responsible for actions he does of his own free will.  No one can be held accountable for things he is forced to do.  So if Allah SWT is the cause of all, how can we be responsible for our actions?  Allah SWT is clearly telling us we are held to account, and that He is never unjust.  However, we can only be held accountable for something that we ourselves caused, for how can a being be responsible unless he is the cause. 

The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified four types of causes:  the material cause, the formal cause, the efficient or moving cause and the final cause.  For example, a chair’s material cause is the wood it is made of; its formal cause is the basic design of a chair, its efficient cause is the carpenter that made it, and the final cause is the aim or purpose served by the chair, ie to serve as a seat.

These are the causes of things, but causes also have effects. 

In the case of human action, we are the efficient cause of our own actions, but Allah SWT is the one who controls the effect.  So, we can commit evil, but Allah SWT controls the effects, and can turn anything we do to good.

25:70. Unless he repents, believes,
And works righteous deeds,
For God will change
The evil of such persons
Into good, and God is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful,

 Freedom of Intention

Thus we see that Allah SWT has given mankind freedom of intention.  We may not have freedom of action, but we do have freedom of intention.  Imam Bukhaari records as his first hadith:

On the authority of the Commander of the Faithful Abu Hafs Umar ibn al-Khattaab who said: I heard the Messanger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saying,“Surely, all actions are but driven by intentions and, verily, every man shall have but that which he intended. Thus, he whose migration was for Allah and His Messanger, then his migration was for Allah and His Messanger; and he whose migration was to achieve some wordly benefit or to take a woman in marriage, his migration was for that which he migrated.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

May Allah SWT grant us forgiveness for our wrong intentions and guide us to the best of actions.

O believers, have taqwa of Allah and always speak the truth.  He will direct you to do righteous deeds and will forgive you your sins.  And whosoever obeys Allah and His messenger has indeed achieved a great achievement. 

As human beings, we have freedom of intention and we are personally responsible for our actions.  This freedom is essential.  Allah SWT did not give us this freedom so we could hang ourselves.  He gave it to us as a great blessing.  He gave it to us so we could freely, of our own free will, turn to Him in surrender, in Islam.  And so even if the results of our intentions, our actions, are under the dominion of Allah, our freedom of intention remains inviolate.  And this freedom of intention necessarily implies that we have complete freedom of belief.  Religious freedom is essential in an Islamic society.  All human beings have the right to turn to Allah out of their own free will, and all have the right to hear the message of truth brought by Allah’s prophets. 
Freedom of thought and belief are guaranteed in Islam.  They are inviolate.  All must be able to hear the truth, and this also means they have the right to hear the lies as well.  We have the freedom to chose to surrender to Allah, and the freedom not to do so.  The Prophet SAW did not restrict or restrain the speech of any person of other faiths in Medina.  The Dustur of Medina was among all the peoples there, regardless of religion.  What was guaranteed in Medina was the freedom to preach the truth and to follow it.  

Freedom of Belief and Freedom of Speech

One might ask then about freedom of speech.  People do have the right to speak the truth or not to do so.  But there are limits where the speech becomes so disruptive to human society and causes tumult and oppression, then it must be restrained.  To allow people to slander one another, to speak in hateful and demeaning ways to one other, to incite to violence and hatred, to create fitnah in society is not tolerable.  Fitnah akbar min al qatl – fitnah is worse than killing for it kills whole societies.  

If we think of some of the “speech” that has been passed off as art in America that has slandered and denigrated prophets, especially Isa AS, we should be appalled.  First, Isa AS is our prophet too. Secondly, why do we accept slander of a person who is not here to defend himself, just because he was a public person and so is used as a symbol of a religion.  If you do not like a religion, say so and say why, but why is necessary to slander and denigrate a person to do so.  It is not art or speech, it is merely nonsense and disrespect of another human being.  Freedom includes freedom from such disrespect, ridicule and denigration.   







25:63 The (faithful) slaves of the Beneficent are they who walk upon the earth modestly, and when the ignorant ones address them answer: Peace;

64 And who spend the night before their Lord, prostrate and standing,

65 And who say: Our Lord! Avert from us the doom of hell; lo! the doom thereof is anguish;

True freedom comes from surrender to Allah SWT.  This would seem to be a contradiction.  We come to freedom through surrendering.  But we do.  When we freely intend to do His Will, we create a link between ourselves and Allah SWT that is unshakable.  

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "Allah said, 'I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper of Mine. And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing Nawafil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him, so I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him, and if he asks My protection (Refuge), I will protect him; (i.e. give him My Refuge) and I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer, for he hates death, and I hate to disappoint him." (Book #76, Hadith #509) [Bukhari]