Are We Really Free?

It's a free world, they say. But are we really entitled to a free choice? Can we really do anything without thinking about the consequence that it may have onto others? If we have that kind of freedom, will their be peace? Sometimes, I wonder.



Freedom is the most sought after feeling in the earth. Children want to be free from their parents' lurking eyes. We want to be free to say what we want to say. People want to be free from the kind of government they already have. Then, after gaining such freedom, we all still hold onto the nostalgia of the past. Freedom is one of the broadest sense of feeling. You can't really tell how to exercise it because we are social animals who are interdependent to one another. We affect each other in many hundred ways. Because, for all we know, we will never be free. Otherwise, we would all be killing each other because we are free to do whatever we want. And it is not the sort of freedom that we seek.

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Many say, Islam oppresses its followers. They say, there is no freedom in it. I beg to disagree. For me, freedom is not about doing things you want to do, thinking things you want to think, saying things you want to say. It is the feeling that makes us say, "Alhamdulillah. I am following the right path. This is the best road to take, and I am taking it for the sake and in the will of Allah." I can say that I am free because I know that the road I am walking will take me to great places. Being a Muslim ummah is the freedom I want. And noone can take it away from me.

It is still best to have a path to take, a rule to follow, and an ideal to hold and grip onto, as long as it does not quench us to do bad things.