On 26 September 2017, Saudi Arabia allowed women to obtain a driver’s license (NYT, Wiki). Saudi Arabia was the last country to ban women from driving. Some decades ago, a schoolmate had done an internship in Saudi Arabia. He was amazed seeing women, together with goats, in the back of pickup trucks. The rights of women are slowly improving in Saudi Arabia.
Individual freedom and citizens’ rights are the cornerstone of Western Liberalism. Both collide with the current interpretation of Islam, and in particular the Political Islam. Religion and State are often intertwined in Islam. In the Political Islam, Religion and State are overlapping. Individual freedom and citizens’ rights would weaken the collective power of Islam.
Still there’s a difference as Religion rules the State in Shia Iran, while Politics rules Religion in Sunni Turkey and Sunni Saudi Arabia. This is a key difference between Shia and Sunni Islam (my blog). Hence, Iran considers itself more pure than others. Given the extravagance in Turkey (eg, Presidential Palace) and Saudi Arabia (eg, alcoholic parties), the Shia criticism has a point. Catholicism used to receive similar criticism from other Christian religions.
Liberalism and Islam conflict in all of the 7 Belief systems, being: Love, Money, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science and the Truth. This observation explains why the many conflicts between Islam and Liberalism are so difficult to explain and grasp.
My recent blogs on Love (# 1, # 2) concluded that Love is the only selfless Belief system compared to the 6 selfish other Belief systems. According to the ancient Greeks there are 4 types of love: éros (romantic), philía (brotherly/sisterly), storgē (parental) and agápe (divine/spiritual love). Nowadays, there’s also self-love or narcissism following Individualism. Hence, Islam blames Liberalism for promoting self-love and ignoring divine/spiritual love.
The Bible already states: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (Bible, my blog). The Quran blames egotism (source). Both concepts are closely as money is a common yardstick for egotism and greed.
Islam and Liberalism have different philosophical views: collective duties versus individual rights (yesterday’s blog). Liberalism’s key principles conflict with the Political Islam: (1) a 1st separation between Religion and State, (2) a 2nd separation between legislature, executive, and the judiciary branch of government (trias politica).
Religion, Science and the Truth have a difficult relationship as the Holy Books (eg, Bible, Quran) are often read literally. Hence, Creationism and Science have different truths. Science was however still important during the Golden Age of Islam (786-1258). Religion and Science can however be reconciled if the holy texts are read like a metaphor (my blog). The religious concept of Intelligent Design (the successor of Creationism) and Science are still converging.
Restrain (1972) by Poco – artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
Note 1: restraint relates to self-control, a personal virtue (Wiki)
Note 2: the song is my reference to the concept of “freedom in restraint”
0 Comments