Al-Raysuni, Ahmad. “Freedom in Islam: Its Authenticity and Foundations,” Year 8, Issues 31-32 (Winter 1424 AH/ 2003 CE), Pp. 9-22.

Abstract

Ahmad al-Raysuni’s article focuses on the concept of freedom in terms of its origins, intellectual foundations, and methodological dimensions. It explains the notion that the Islamic message is one that aims to liberate human beings on the level of thought, understanding, knowledge, and religiosity. Al-Raysuni deems freedom to be one of the fundamental and necessary underpinnings of society, highlighting, in support of this, the views of Ibn ʿĀshūr on freedom in his work Maqasid al-Sharīʿah. Al-Raysuni compares Ibn ʿĀshūr’s thought on freedom to how it is understood in the West, wherein freedom includes following whims and various ideas and trends in Western thought. He discusses, moreover, the concept of freedom through the presentation of the story of the creation of Adam and his vicegerency on earth. He then addresses how uṣūlī's dealt with the issue of judging actions in the absence of law. Al-Raysuni favors the principle that stipulates actions being, by default, generally permissible (i.e., as long as there is no moral-legal constraint from the Shariʿah), citing the views of Ibn ʿĀshūr and his interpretation of the meaning of the word ṭayyibāt (good/pure things of delight).