This is a lexicon entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur’s work across his different books, and connects its multiple usages.
This entry belongs to Shahrur’s glossary. For reading by theme, one may refer to Major themes in Shahrur and shared concepts.
Meaning in Shahrur
Freedom is the foundation on which human choice is built, and in this conception it is considered a central value toward which religion directs people, and an essential component of public life and the civil state. It does not mean release from every constraint, but rather safeguarding the human right to choose, express oneself, and embrace plurality, while limiting it only by an agreed-upon general standard, and in a way that prevents tyranny and coercion and makes it inseparable from knowledge, dialogue, and citizenship.
Distinctions
- Here, freedom is not merely an individual license or a break from values, but is linked to responsibility and commitment to broader human values
- It differs from the civil state and pluralism in that it is a value-based foundation upon which they rest, not merely an procedural outcome or an organizational form.
Passages from his books
- Islam and the Human Being: freedom is presented as a pivotal human principle and one of the highest values toward which Islam directs. Within this framework, freedom becomes a criterion for understanding correct religiosity, and a measure for distinguishing value-based allegiance from forms of tyranny and coercion
- State and Society: freedom is the fundamental phenomenon in society, and it may not be restricted except by an agreed-upon constitution. Shahrur sees it as the basis on which the civil state is established, and it is associated for him with knowledge, dialogue, and the human right to choose.
What is adjacent to it and what differs from it
- Islam
- Islam is a human value framework broader than particular confessional belonging
- Human Islam is re-established Qur’anically as a system of values, freedom, and citizenship that transcends closed identity
- Value-based Islam is translated politically and ethically in freedom, citizenship, and resistance to tyranny
- Islam is a universal value-based religion
- Islam is allegiance to human values
- The distinction between sin, wrong, and offense distributes responsibility between forgiveness, reform, and persistence
- Freedom and human values constitute the criterion of Islam and the locus of resistance to tyranny
- Religion directs toward human values
- Combatant doctrine has two different types
- The civil state
- Plurality creates the civil state