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Faith: Freedom and Islam: Muslims need liberalism, not just democracy (Mustafa Akyol, August 7, 2011, The Daily)

Despite all the assumptions to the contrary, there were proto-liberal schools of thought in classical Islam, which valued individual rights, rationality and pluralism. These schools were eclipsed by the more communalist, dogmatic and intolerant interpretations of the faith. Things got even worse in the 20th century, as European colonialism triggered an anti-colonial reaction and an anti-liberal mood throughout the Muslim world. Soon, an even more definitive curse befell the Middle East, with the vicious cycle between secular dictators and their Islamist enemies.

Today, in order to go beyond those extremes, and to rediscover Islamic liberalism, I call on my fellow Muslims to embrace three basic freedoms:

First, "freedom from the state," or the acceptance of secular (not secularist) governments. Yes, Prophet Muhammad happened to be the head of a state, but none of us mortals are divinely guided as we believe that he was. Thus, none of us should impose our own limited understanding of Islam, via the state, as "the real Islam."

Second, there is the need to accept "the freedom to sin." Not because we endorse sin, but because when we try to ban it with authoritarian means, all we create is hypocrisy, not genuine piety.

Third, we Muslims should recognize "freedom from Islam." If any of our coreligionists choose another religion, in other words, we should just respect that choice. That would be a much bigger service to our faith, rather than depicting it as a club with a free entry but no free exit.

Muslims do not need to abandon the core of their faith in order to accept these freedoms. But they certainly need to recognize them, if they wish to build truly liberating democracies.

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