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| Choice: Right and
Responsibility Uzma Mazhar One of the goals of Allah's message to
humankind is the attainment of justice in our personal lives and society
in general. Justice, the
foundation of Islam, cannot be achieved without securing the rights
of every individual and group. The
most basic human right is the right to believe and the freedom to live
with one's beliefs. Freedom of choice cannot be separated from
the right to think and believe. The
ability to think, to believe and to express one's beliefs is a special
gift to humankind from Allah.... this is what separates us from His
other creations. One cannot
restrict choice without restricting one's ability to think and believe. Is it possible to have a belief without
having the freedom to think? Is it possible to have the freedom to think
without having the freedom to choose? Thought is defined as:
the act or process of thinking; the power of reasoning; an idea,
opinion, plan, etc.; the
ideas prevalent to a certain group, period, etc.; attention,
consideration; and intention
or expectation. The process of thinking involves giving consideration to
an idea or thought, to evaluate, to reason, to work out, to believe,
to view from all possible angles before reaching a decision The initial revelation gives the command to
'read/recite'... I doubt if it meant to do so without comprehension,
without understanding or thinking. Comprehension
requires reasoning, evaluating, and considering.
We cannot reason without the freedom to think and to draw
conclusions from the process. Freedom
of choice is inherent in the repeated injunctions to 'think,
consider, ponder.... ' in the Qur'ân. Freedom of thought and belief is repeatedly
emphasized in the Qur'ân, but the underlying freedom of choice is
overlooked. Without the
freedom to choose would there be a freedom of thought or belief?
Take away the freedom to choose and you take away the freedom
of thought and belief. The
following ayaat make it quite clear that we can guide or direct
another person, but we cannot and should not take it on ourselves to
compel them to choose a certain way... this was not the role of the
prophet (saaw) and it is definitely not our place either.
The fact that we cannot compel or coerce is enough to
understand the significance of choice in Islam. "And had your Lord so willed, all those who live on earth would have attained to faith - all of them, do you then think that you could compel people to believe?" (10:99) "And so (O Prophet) exhort them; your task is only to exhort; you cannot compel" (88:21-22). "There shall be no coercion in matters of
faith" (2:256) We
can look at all the stories in the Qur'ân
of the previous generations of
people and the Prophets (aas), their trials and tribulations.... and
we see a common thread emerge... choice... they were given the guidelines
by Allah Ta'ala, and then they were allowed to make the choice, based
on their understanding, level of faith, belief and desire to follow
the right path. None were
compelled to make a choice. Coercion
and force are used only when we are unable to convince with reasoning.
Force is the method used by the uninformed as a tool for intimidation.
It is always a power play.
It is demeaning and insulting to humanity.
And it is definitely not Islamic. Explore
the profundity of the statement: 'We are accountable for our actions'...
not our thoughts... why? Because
our actions are based on an active choice we make.
Our thoughts stray at times, but as long as we don't act on them we
are not accountable for them. The
stress is on our choice of action. Making
right choices is learned through the process of thinking, evaluating,
questioning and exploring. Our
problem today is two-fold. One:
we are not educating ourselves about Islam. Can
the blind and seeing be deemed equal? Will you not, then, take thought?
(6.50) Our
responsibility is to educate ourselves about Islam, to question, consider
and to evaluate before we believe anything.
We need to understand the difference between Islam and man-made
cultural traditions. We need
to recognize and separate Islam from the misinterpretations of Islam that
are passed off as Islamic values in most countries.
We cannot afford to be complacent, nor can we expect Islam to
flourish when Muslims remain uninformed about it.
We cannot divorce Islam from rational thinking and inquiry.
Uzma Mazhar © 1999 |