Freedom of opinion and expression in Islam: Abdel Rahim Ali (15)

A debate between Dr. Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, and Dr. Mohamed Othman Elkhosht, President of Cairo University, has stirred a wide controversy as the Grand Imam’s replies indicated that renewing the religious discourse in Egypt is only preserved to the Al-Azhar Institution.

The Grand Imam appeared as if he was prohibiting non-Azharite thinkers and intellectuals from practicing independent reasoning at a time the country needs every thoughtful person, and everyone who believes in the necessity of reasoning.

This debate has opened the door for a sincere and honest dialogue that seeks the best outcomes for this nation, as well as intellectual elevation, freedom of thought and human dignity.

I was keen throughout this series of articles to maintain a simple and clear style while having evidences and proofs for each word.

The goal was to take some moments to contemplate and analyze the issue of freedom of opinion and expression in Islam, with an aim of supporting the ideas of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between different religions as well as citizenship.

The aim was also to counter the prevailing negative stereotype where Islam and Muslims are associated with extremism, violence and terror, while in fact Islam calls for respecting other beliefs and prohibits forcing anyone into converting.

This occurred due to several indicators including Islamic heritage itself; In the texts of the Noble Qur’an and the Sunna of the Prophet, people are allowed to practice their freedom of expression without restrictions, allows to say that Islam is higher than the human being and his rights, and allows freedom of expression without restrictions.

Another indicator is that we need to pay attention to the distinction between freedom of expression within the framework of religious commitment, and freedom of expression in its general framework that relates to the world and its political, economic, social and cultural affairs.

Moreover, there is another issue that hinders freedom of expression and opinion in Islam, namely substantive selective reading, which many supporters and opponents of Islam resort to. Each team reads the Quranic verses and the hadiths and explains them accordingly, and each team searches for evidence to prove its point of view alone.

This was the reason why we pointed out to Ijtihad, an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning to find a solution to a legal or religious question, as a solution for current Muslims to keep pace with contemporary history and its issues.

The aim here is to affirm the fact that Islam has considered freedom of expression and opinion as a right for every human being, as well as the right to choose according to his free will.

But the problem with those who read the Qur’an, explain it according to their own understandings, and transform its sublime divine judgments into a state, authority, and policy of interest and benefit.

A deep reading of the Holy Qur’an and the correct prophetic Sunna leads us to a set of general principles that govern the view of Islam to freedom of opinion and expression, which are principles that can be derived from the fact that every human being is free, and that he cannot be governed by force.

We should also stress that limiting ijtihad has led the Muslim world to blind intolerance and extremism that afflicted the Islamic nation with an intellectual inertia, which also led to acceptance of political tyranny, the sanctification of historical figures, and ideas that call for the oppression of others and force them to convert to a particular thought.

Faith does not eliminate the role of reason and the inclusion of Islam does not mean that the texts deal with every small and large matters and the immortality of Islam does not mean "the stagnation of its law", but rather means its ability to renew and creativity to meet the movement of life and change its forms and the originality of Muslims does not mean isolating them from people, but rather means contacting people and living with them.