Freedom of Expression in Islamic Countries - Essay Example

Freedom of expression and Islam Introduction Freedom of expression is a controversial in many countries. In China like communist countries freedom of expression is limited because of political reasons. Communist administrators in China are afraid of people agitations if freedom of expression granted there. On the other hand in countries like Myanmar because of the military rule freedom of expression is limited. They have kept all the political leaders in custody or house arrest in order to protect their interests. If political reason was the cause for limited freedom in countries mentioned above, Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran are also culprit of allowing limited freedom to their public because of religious reasons. This paper briefly analyses the Islamic views about freedom of expressions. Islamic views about freedom of expression “The main goal of Gods message to humankind is the attainment of justice in all of its fairness. This justice, the foundation of Islam, cannot be achieved unless human rights are secured for every individual and group in a Muslim state. The member of such a state must be free to choose just rulers, to observe these rules as they practice their authority, and to stand firm against any injustice from them. Primary among human rights are the rights to believe, to express ones beliefs and to assemble to defend ones groups beliefs” (Dr.Osman). Islam believes that the attainment of social justice as one of the primary areas of concern. If freedom of expression like liberties is allowed, it is difficult for the administrators to attain social justice. Human rights are equally important for the rich and poor. In most of the democratic countries, the human right like issues are defined based on the requirements of only those people who are wealthy. The human right issues of the poor have not been addressed much in such democratic countries. In order to attain social justice the human right issues of both the rich and the poor should be given equal importance and Islam believe in such principles. The Islamic administrations cannot allow complete freedom to the public since such freedom will be misused by the public. “The Quran repeatedly reports the arguments of atheists and polytheists and replies to them objectively in order to teach Muslims how freedom of expression and information should be maintained to make such a dialogue fruitful. According to Islam, freedom of expression and information is a basic human right. Islam condemns spreading lies and false information as well as passiveness and reluctance when the truth should be spoken” (Dr.Osman). Even though freedom of expression is granted by Quran, it prohibits spreading of lies and false information. So in countries were Islamic administration is existing, any beliefs of information against the teachings of Quran is prohibited. As per the Islamic beliefs, the truth is the teachings of Quran and anything against such teachings cannot be allowed as such false information may misdirect people. For example, Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen tried to spread false information which resulted in their expulsion from their home country. “Providing false information about an event which one has witnessed (22:30, 25:4, 72, 58:2), as well as refraining from providing the facts that one knows (2:146, 283, 3:71, 167) are both considered grave sins that should be avoided and prevented by every possible means” (Dr.Osman). On the other hand, those who are not willing to spread the truths are also sinners as per the Islamic beliefs. The truths need to be conveyed to all the people in order to save them from sins. So it is the duty of each and every person who believes in Islam to spread their beliefs. In other words, those who are spreading false information and those who are reluctant to spread the right information are equally culprits as per Islamic beliefs. “Likewise, one who is reluctant to provide the facts is actually concealing the truth and such a person is described as "evil at heart" in the Quran (2:283), and as "a muted devil" in the tradition of the Prophet. Providing the known facts and cooperating constructively so that truth may prevail are fundamental parts of the Islamic obligation of enjoining the doing of what is right and forbidding the doing of what is wrong” (Dr.Osman). “The rulers are responsible for securing the doing of what is good and preventing the doing of what is evil. (22:41). Their responsibility is not limited only to allowing the people to express themselves as individuals or groups, but they must develop a sound public opinion by also providing correct information to the people” (Dr.Osman). It is the duty of the rulers to spread the truth and in Islamic countries the truth is the teachings of the Quran. It is not possible for the Islamic administrators to follow the paths of others simply because of the so called human right issues. For example, in other countries the dress codes are different from that of the countries like Saudi Arabia. In western countries the women community is allowed to dress as they like whereas in Saudi Arabia such freedom in dress codes is not allowed to the women because of the teachings of Quran. As per the teachings of Quran, women should use dresses to cover their entire body and hence they should even cover their face when they go out in public places. It is impossible for the Islamic states to allow such freedom of dress codes in their country to the women community. “According to Islamic teachings, the Muslim people may not be passive subjects, and the Muslim rulers do not enjoy absolute powers. To use political terminology, Islam establishes an institutional and constitutional authority, not a personalized one” (Dr.Osman). Many people, who watch the rulings of the Muslim rulers in Islamic states, are of the view that these Islamic rulers are functioning like dictators or autocrats. In fact such views are totally incorrect as these rulers can rule their countries strictly in accordance with the teachings of Quran rather than anything else. Islam has well defined views about the administrational fundamentals and the administrators are just following that in their countries. “The Islamic state is an institutional and constitutional one because the divine law, sharia, defines the rights and obligations of the ruled and the rulers” (Dr.Osman). “According to the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, a person may express an opinion, arbitrary or otherwise, and such a one will be free to advance that opinion so long as he does not violate the law concerning blasphemy, sedition and so on. Here, it is absolutely essential to understand that violations of certain laws may be punishable with capital punishment” (Khan). Sharia laws are divine for the believers in Islamic religion. It is possible for a person to believe and spread his beliefs to others as far as his beliefs go in line with the sharia law. In other words, freedom of expression may not come into the picture if the information spread by the believer is in line with the teachings of Quran and sharia law. “Freedom of Expression is a problem bestowed to us by modernist consciousness which makes a pragmatic distinction between public and private. Islam, a doctrine of truth, which transcends the Public-Private divide, does not confront the problem of the freedom of expression in a purely pragmatic spirit. For it, the content and ethic of freedom are more paramount than its form and logistics” (Manzoor ). Islamic administrators give more emphasize to the freedom of expression on a moral or ethical basis rather than a logical basis. Human logics can be true or false because they are just the creations by the creator. The creator knows well about the logics than the creations and hence following the logics of the creator is more important to the creations or the human beings in the world. It is not possible for the human to add something more or something less to the logics of the creator. So in Islamic states, the logics of the creator or the teachings of the Quran have given more prominence than the teachings of the ordinary human being. “Freedom of Expression is a problem that demands attention and resolution within the public realm, but especially within a public realm that does not claim to incarnate any transcendental truth, that makes no effort toward the salvation of its citizens” (Manzoor ). Salvation of the citizen has not been addressed by the advocates of freedom of expression as defined by the westerners or the democratic countries. On the other hand, Islamic states do consider the salvation of their public as one of their fundamental responsibilities and in order to achieve that they need to rule their sates based on the teachings of Quran rather than the teachings of the layman. Conclusions Freedom of expression in Islamic views is different from that of the views of the others. Islam want to ensure social justice to all irrespective of rich or poor and for that purpose the laws of democratic administrations are not enough. Islam gives more importance to the teachings of the God, as Muslims believe that the creator has the authority to shape the beliefs of the creations. In other words, Islam values morals more than the logics. Works Cited 1. Dr. Osman, Fathi. “Freedom Of Expression”. 21 October 2009. 2. Khan,Sirajul Haq. 1981. “In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful”. 21 October 2009. 3. Manzoor, S. Parvez.2009. “Freedom of Expression and Islam”. Read More