❊ Freedom and the Arab Spring

I was having a discussion with an American friend on Twitter about the meaning of the word “freedom”. I told him that the concept of freedom in the American libertarian sense (freedom from government intrusion and rights of the individual), is foreign to many people in the world, in the same way that the Japanese ideal of “honor”, the French ideal of “solidarité”, or the Chinese ideal of “harmony” are foreign to Americans.

Freedom, honor, solidarity and harmony are all words that exist in the english language. But they mean different things to different people, and to some people these words have deep philosophical undertones that define their culture and identity.

Heavy stuff, but we moved on to more practical issues: What do demonstrators in Syria, Yemen and Egypt mean when they say they want “freedom”? So I wrote this tweet (in two parts):

When Arabs protest for “freedom”, what they mean is freedom from the dictator, not freedom for religious minorities to practice their beliefs. Not freedom to wear bikinis, not the freedom to drink alcohol, not the freedom to be atheist

Sure enough, I got accused of supporting dictators by spreading fear of Islamist rule. But as you can see from the amount of retweets this got, the idea got considerable traction and support.

I think I know why liberals don’t like the rule of Islamists. It’s because they have their own definition of the word freedom. It’s a definition that would-be ruling clerics can’t possibly meet: The freedom to “sin”.

And by “sin” I don’t mean killing other people. I mean those little harmless things, mentioned in the tweet above, that for some reasons drive Islamists (and average conservative Muslims) crazy. The Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, fresh out of a revolution that demanded freedom, has already declared war on bikinis.

So I’ll end this post with a question and an interesting mental exercise: What would a Muslim definition of the word “freedom” be?

Update: I was told by the author of the book “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty” that he has a chapter in his book entitled: “Freedom to Sin”. I’m so looking forward to reading that book.