Islam Museum Islam Museum islam.museum
Search ⌕ ARENUR
Accessibility
Text size 100%

Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.

Individual liberty (critique)

الحرية الفردية

Al-Bahi presents individual liberty in thought, politics and wealth as a product of the European Renaissance and a reaction against the Middle Ages (p. 144). He then criticises what he calls its excess: a freedom of thought used to justify colonial tutelage, the economic and political ties of democracy, and the concentration of wealth that marks capitalism (pp. 145, 148, 150). This is the author's critique of the Western model, offered from his own Islamic frame; the book does not survey the debate.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Modern Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Dissent, heresy and freethought

Overview

Muhammad al-Bahi presents individual liberty as a product of the European Renaissance in thought, politics and money — a reaction against the Middle Ages 1. He then criticizes what he sees as its excesses: colonialism and tutelage justified in the name of independence; the interlocking of money, politics and thought in the democratic order; and capital concentrated in a few hands that stamp capitalism's character 2 3 4. This is the author's own reading and critique of the Western model, attributed to him rather than stated as the museum's judgment.

People and things also explored

Blind imitation (taqlid)· Hadr (blood and value wasted: no retaliation, no compensation)· Hajr (abandonment and shunning: its rules for a believer, a sinner, an innovator and a wife)· Hamm (resolve or intention of the heart, and its legal effect)· Hawa (desire, and the duty to resist it)· Hazl (jest in speech, and its effect on contracts, acts and belief)· Hija' (satire and insult in verse: its rules)· Ilhad (deviation from religion, and related terms)

Sources

  1. Islam, God's Fitra — Muhammad al-Bahi , p. 144
  2. Islam, God's Fitra — Muhammad al-Bahi , p. 145
  3. Islam, God's Fitra — Muhammad al-Bahi , p. 148
  4. Islam, God's Fitra — Muhammad al-Bahi , p. 150
  • Safir al-Islam ila Sa'ir al-Aqwam (The Ambassador of Islam to All Peoples) — Muhammad Farid Wajdi
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Individual liberty (critique)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/individual-liberty/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Blind imitation (taqlid)

Wajdi reports, without naming them, that scholars of Islam held the faith of a mere imitator unacceptable, because imitation can be of falsehood as well as truth. He reads Islam as calling each responsible person to use reason in inference and deduction, as protection against the rigidity that the ill-intentioned exploit. The statement is attributed to the author's report.