The key ideas in Liberalism emerged and developed in Britain from the 17th Century to the 19th Century CE. In these centuries, the ideas of Liberalism were used to defend important vested interests against their opponents. Locke used Liberal ideas to support the English mercantile elite against the monarchy; and the Utilitarian philosophers used Liberalism to support British Capitalists against entrenched country lords. Meanwhile, Liberalism was used by radical French revolutionaries, presumably with covert British support, to destabilise their own state leading also to the destabilisation of other states of continental Europe. It was also used by a faction of Capitalists in America in their struggle against another faction in Britain. Liberalism was used internationally against the Uthmani Khilafah, and after its demise against the new ideological enemies of Fascism and Communism. Finally, in the 21st Century, Liberalism is being again used against the Islamic ideological revival. Consequently it is important for sincere Muslims to correctly understand the philosophy of Liberalism and its use as an ideological weapon by the West.
Liberalism sanctifies liberty, or freedom (Latin: ‘Liber’ = free, ‘Liberalis’ = freedom), which is a highly attractive slogan, particularly for those who are oppressed; but its meaning in Liberalism is different from its usage in ordinary language. The conventional meaning of freedom is similar to liberation, i.e. to be free of some particular constraint, such as freedom from slavery or from military occupation. However, the political meaning of freedom, as given to it by Liberalism, is that man is to be allowed to do as he pleases. Thus freedom, politically, has become a label for the idea of sovereignty for man.
It is important to comprehend the implications of the idea of sovereignty for man as distinct from the simpler conventional idea of freedom. Sovereignty for man means that man himself must determine his own path in life – he is not permitted to submit to the sovereignty of another, even if he does so of his own choice. A man who freely chooses to live under absolute monarchy, for example, has abandoned his sovereignty and so contradicted the meaning of freedom in Liberalism. It is the idea of sovereignty for man, under the popular label of freedom, that is the cornerstone of Western civilisation and a founding principle in its various systems of life, in particular its Liberal Democratic ruling system and its laissez-faire Capitalist economic system.
Freedom means man’s enslavement to the powerful
Liberalism, with its enchanting but misleading idea of freedom, is a highly potent tool in the hands of the powerful. In reality, individual man does not have the capacity to devise his own solutions to every problem that he faces in life; therefore, he ends up following solutions devised by others. In Liberal societies, the powerful have patronised the development and propagation of solutions that favour their own interests at the expense of the ordinary man: Capitalist economics favours the business elite; and ‘representative’ democracy favours the political elite. The freedom of Liberalism is thus simply a facade for man’s enslavement to the powerful.
In truth, man is not qualified to be his own sovereign. Sovereignty can only rest with the one who has created man, as He alone knows the purpose for which He has created man, and He alone has perfect knowledge of man’s nature. By illegitimately acquiring sovereignty, man seized for himself the right that belonged to the Creator of man alone; man made himself god.
Man did not create himself but discovered himself already created; man does not innately know the purpose of his existence, and man has imperfect knowledge of his own nature. Man is incapable of being sovereign over himself just as any other created or manufactured object is incapable of being sovereign over itself. Even the atheist, who disbelieves in the existence of the Creator, does not claim that he created himself; therefore it is false to claim sovereignty for man. Just as man discovered his own creation, it is necessary for him to discover who created him, in order to acknowledge his Creator as his true sovereign.
Liberalism is the enemy of religion
After living under Christianity for more than a thousand years, the West separated religion from life, adopting Liberalism as the spirit of their new civilisation. Liberalism was made attractive to Christians by deceiving them into thinking that, under the idea of religious freedom, they would be able to practise their own religion as they please. In fact, Liberalism is an anti-religious idea that is an enemy to all religion. This is because religion, by its nature, calls for man to submit himself to a higher authority. No religion can sanction sovereignty for man, leaving man to act according to his own whims and desires. Religion, by definition, binds man to a specific code in life, whether this code extends to the entirety of his life or is limited to spiritual or ethical matters alone.
Liberalism directly contradicts religion because Liberalism requires that man submit to himself alone; Liberalism makes man sovereign instead of God. This is why France’s rejection of the veil is in accordance with Liberalism: the veil manifests man’s submission to God and is hated throughout the liberal West even if all its countries have not legally prohibited it. A truly liberal man cannot be sincere to religion; the liberal man may choose to follow particular aspects of religion but he undertakes these or abstains from these under his own will and desire.
The worship of a Liberal man is in fact worship of himself not of God. It is the worship of a sovereign who chooses for himself how he is to think and act according to his own pleasure. If he worships, it is because he desires this, and not because he considers himself under any external obligation. The Liberal is happy when he sees a Muslim who prays and also, for example, drinks alcohol; the Liberal considers such a Muslim to be ‘moderate’, by which he means he follows his own desires in religion. The truly Liberal man abhors the one who submits himself fully to his Creator.
Responsibility not freedom
Perhaps most damaging of all, the concept of freedom undermines man’s personal sense of responsibility.
The Creator of man has honoured man above all other creation by endowing man with the faculty of thinking and a mind that is capable of choosing between the path of good and the path of evil. In Islam, every adult, sane individual is considered responsible and accountable over what he has been obligated with regarding his affairs in life (in the terminology of usool al-fiqh, man is ‘mukallaf’); he must thus assume the responsibility that he has been charged with and not freedom. Man is responsible for choosing between the two paths, and is accountable for this on the day of judgement.
Responsibility and accountability are manifestly different from freedom. Freedom is a destructive, anarchic, hedonistic idea that leaves man to act according to his own transient wishes and desires, no matter how harmful to himself or to others. Responsibility requires that man be aware of the potential consequences of his actions for himself and others. Every sane and mature individual is capable of being responsible for his own actions in life because he is capable of comprehending the consequences of his actions for himself and for others. Indeed, all religions make the individual conscious of his responsibility for his actions in life; no religion offers man freedom.
Liberalism is a false philosophy that has misled generations and created the conditions for tyranny and oppression in the world by surrendering practical sovereignty to the powerful. It has already been used to destroy the Christian and Islamic civilisations that dominated the world for more than a thousand years. Now it is being used to obstruct and prevent the resurgence of Islam. Liberalism is invalid in its basic and core idea. Modifications and amendments to the philosophy of Liberalism cannot salvage its error and falsehood. Liberalism must be rejected in its entirety, along with the entire edifice of thinking that has been constructed upon this faulty foundation. Western civilisation must be dismantled and reconstructed anew upon a religious basis, so that man, in worshipping his Creator, can be freed from the worship of his fellow man.
By Ibn Nusrah, Pakistan