Tag: FREEDOM
Education: The Difference Between Freedom & Slavery
Frederick Douglass, the infamous runaway slave who became a strong orator of the abolitionist movement, highlights in his autobiography a moment during his youth when he lived with his master’s brother’s family. Frederick approached the mother of the house, Sophia Auld, and expressed his curiosity of “this mystery of reading,”…
Manufacturing Islamophobia
As someone who lived in London during part of the IRA bombing campaign I remember the “Keep Calm and Carry On” attitude. I came out of a building on Regents Street one evening, not realising I was in the middle of an area that had been cordoned off by the…
How many extremists does it take to change a light bulb?
How many extremists does it take to change a light bulb? If the Home Secretary, Theresa May were asked for the punchline, she would struggle, not because she doesn’t possess a sense of humour, I’ve heard she has a cracking sense of humour, but because she isn’t able to clarify…
I was wrong; the government’s definition of ‘Extremism’ is genius
Reflections on yet another Counter-Extremism Strategy – Part 1 The government’s new Counter-Extremism Strategy released in a report yesterday has already provoked a barrage of criticism and ridicule. Again. As expected, numerous rational people have been criticising not only its paradoxical and draconian nature, but the increasingly embarrassing lack of…
“Extremism” Disruption Orders: Protecting freedom by removing it
Introduction That those who wish to do you harm lack the competence to carry out their wishes is something that you might pray for. Recently we have noticed an astonishing lack of sophistication among some neoconservative ideologues and politicians, as if a gift from Allāh (subhānahu wa ta’ālā), suggesting that…
Freedom of Speech Must Go Hand in Hand with the Spirit of Tolerance
The recent attack that took place outside an event hosted by an anti-Islām movement in Garland, Texas featuring the cartoons of the Prophet Muḥammad should be condemned in the strongest terms possible. However, so too should the deliberately provocative actions taken by anti-Islām extremists that were the catalyst. This incident…
Introduction to Islamic Political Theory
Introduction to Islamic Political Theory For many Muslims, politics always has a negative stigma attached to it. The reasons for this vary from the abuse of political power from those in authority to the misunderstandings surrounding the nature of politics and the position of Islām towards it. The lack of…
Freedom of speech is an ideological construct
The recent events in Paris have engendered a series of questions relating to “freedom of speech” and the role of the Muslim communities in the West. Subsequently, the responses resonating across the Muslim world have failed to engage with the underlying assumptions which inform the debates. Notions of “freedom of…
