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Abdikadir Ibrahim

Humans are the vicegerents of God on earth for all its inhabitants. Humans are expected to carry this responsibility for themselves and for other creatures as well. Freedom, justice, and equality are rights for everyone. When it comes to freedom, it does not matter who you are in terms of religion, ethnicity, and socio-economic background. Everyone loves to have and knows that these are essential for human dignity and honor. Even those who don’t believe in God, the creator of the universe, believe that every person is born as a free individual. The freedom we all seeking and fighting for originated longer than we know. The essence of freedom is equality where you are doing for your fellow human beings what you love for yourself. This is a universal golden rule, which all religions promote. According to Longman’s Dictionary, freedom takes three prepositions; freedom to something- for example freedom to vote. Freedom of something- for example freedom of expression or choice, and freedom from something- for example freedom from not being affected by something that makes you worried, unhappy, afraid etc.

If we look at closely, we will find each one of these types of freedom come under equality. If you are denied freedom to do something such as vote or express yourself, you are denied a right to have equal opportunity with others. Therefore, you are belittled and looked down upon, as you are not equal to those who denied you your freedom. However, if this freedom is granted to you, you are required to stay within your need. Once you exceed the limits, you are passing your territory, which means you are occupying the space of others. That means, if you were complaining about your rights of freedom being denied and you got them. However, once you pass your limits, you are denying the rights of others.  This is where responsibility comes in.

Let’s look at this scenario. A man threw his hands around while he was walking, and he hit another man’s nose with his uncontrolled hands. The other man asked, “Why did you hit me?” He then replied, “it is my freedom, I can do whatever I want with my hands.  I do not care about your freedom?” The offended man said, “but you cannot hit my nose again.” The two men then began to fight.

Responsibility is accepting the consequences of your actions. If you are in charge of something or someone and if things don’t go the intended way, then you will face the consequences of why it did not go the intended direction.   Freedom comes with responsibility. You are in charge of your own freedom, but when you violate that, you have to accept the ending result, which for sure will not come in your way. The man did not realize the responsibility of his hands and misused the freedom of his hands by hitting them with other people.

Any sound law or rule grantees its individuals the inter-connected three essentials of everyone’s life – the freedom, the equality and the responsibility. Losing or misusing one of them grantees the loss of the other two. The Islamic texts, Qur’an and Sunnah (Islamic sacred book and prophetic traditions) expound and emphasized all these three important practices. The Qur’an granted to all people the freedom that we are born with.   Within the frame of freedom, Islam provides every individual the rights and protection of five essentials – protection of religion, life, property, intellect and dignity. The primary source of Islam is the Qur’an, and we find rights and protections of the five essentials of life. Freedom, equality and responsibility must be maintained for each one of the five essentials The American constitution also provides the rights and protections of individuals, groups and people. The Bill of Rights’ First Amendment is freedom of religion and expression, which grantees everyone in America to practice their religion freely.

Unfortunately, the actions and behaviors of some people these days are far from the scope of our understanding.  The latest issue of the threat of Qur’an burning is a form of blinded extremism and deviation from the right and common path.  Extremism is defined as actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claim to violate common moral standards.  The assertion that extremism is related to Islam has no basis. There are extremists among people of all religions.  More than 1.5 billion of the world’s population is Muslim and less than 1% of that may exhibit extremism. In the United States alone, there are more than 7 million decent, productive, responsible Muslim citizens. In many cases when we hear a Christian or Jewish individual commit an act of terrorism, their religion is not mentioned, but is described as a crazy person committing violence. However, for Muslims, Islam is connected to the act right away as “Islamic Terrorist”, or “Islamic Fundamentalist”. Why this double standard?

Islam is peaceful religion that creates peace, tranquility and value.  It preserves principles, and ethics of the society. It is a religion of moderation, it is not and has never been nor will it be too far and extreme to the right nor too far and extreme to the left.

The issue of Qur’an burning or similar senseless actions will create new violence. First of all, the one who wants to burn the Qur’an will gain nothing except creating enemies for himself or herself. There are countless copies of the Qur’an and millions of Muslims who are hufaz (memorizers of the entire Qur’an). It really will not cause any harm to the Qur’an but is extremely offensive to a fifth of the world’s population. In addition, the Qur’an is protected by the Creator Who said, “Verily, We have sent down the Reminder [Quran], and, verily, We will guard it” (Qur’an 15:9).

Humanity desperately needs harmony, cooperation, coexistence, and mutual respect.  Burning a Holy Scripture, flag, image, or refusing to build a religious center makes America lose its image. It will add fuel the already burring fires around the world.  People of faith and good hearts need to stand shoulder to shoulder and be one force against the extremism whatever type it maybe.  The extremist ideologies do not serve anyone well – neither Muslims nor others. Muslims in particular, need to learn their Islam and need to differentiate the correct Islamic teachings from the extremists’ world view.  Similarly, as Americans we need to understand our own constitution, in which the founders for this country laid down its foundation. There is no question that Muslims are going through tough times. However, extremist and terrorist actions will never be justified. We need to do good all the time, whether we are in a good time or tough time. Muslims have the right to self-defense, but it must be proportionate and within lawful means. Islam does not permit the end justifies the means to reach one’s objective. There should be ethical standards even in combat setting. If Muslims are mistreated, they still need to treat with justice those who mistreated them – and that is Islam. Allah said, “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah and be just witnesses and let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Well-Acquainted with what you do” (Qur’an 5:8).

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