Freedom of Speech or Exploitation Of Freedom?

Religion is the ultimate foundation of every one’s life. It teaches you the philosophy of your existence on this earth. Karl Marx once said “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.” The world hasn’t seen any philosopher like Karl Marx who would brief you the ideology of life in simple words. These golden words uttered by him, clarify how much is religion important for any human being. It gives you the light, the ideology and the technique to spend a pleasant and constructive life.

Importance of Religious Books:

The population of the world enjoys freedom in practicing their respective religion. It is the democratic and the rebellious thinking of a man that has divided the humankind into different categories depending on their religions. Every religion has been preserved by its followers in religious books. Major religions and their books are

• Islam: Quran
• Christianity: Bible
• Mormonism: The Book of Mormon
• Buddhism: Tripiṭaka
• Sikhism: Guru Granth Sahib
• Hinduism: Bhagavad Gita
• Judaism: The Talmud

All these holy books are equally important and they all deserve respect being religious scriptures. A famous saying that is applicable in most of the genera of the world summarizes the whole concept of respecting other religions and religious scriptures. “Respect others as you want to be respected”. Simply if you give respect to others, you will get respect in return. The concept is very simple in Islamic faith. Allah (SWT) says in quran Sura Al Kafiroon ” …You will not believe in what I believe, I will not believe in what you believe, hence, your faith is with you and my faith is with me.”

Religions and the world Politics:

The religious tussles have always been the part of the history. No matter it was the Hitler- Jew clash or it was Hindu-Muslim tussle, but unfortunately man has never learned to live in peace. Same is the case in this present era.  Shakespeare once said, “All the world is a stage “, he was correct but stage has become a more politicized arena. Everything has become the victim of politics after the development of the global village and international society.

Recent issues have made the things even more complex and alarming for the people of the world. Religion, being the sensitive nerve of the people, has been targeted many times, mostly by the political forces. Unfortunately it is Muslim-Christian clash after Jew- Christian tussle. More than Muslim- Christian it is Muslim- West tussle. As far as the Christian stance is concerned it is very clear from the following quote, [ I Corinthians 10:23-24 says, "Everything is permissible-but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible-but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others."].

Reaction to Action:

According to Newton, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” This law is applicable beyond physics as well. The same law applies in the daily life. Now that the tussle ended up in a Quran burning incident, it ultimately would have reactions.

There are always two ways to react. Create a win-lose situation or end up on a win-win situation. In this case Muslims have the legal right to react, since the incident took place in the world’s biggest democracy. Democracy confirms the freedom of expression, but is this freedom of expression or the exploitation of freedom of expression? Think about it.

As far as reaction of Muslims is concerned, Muslims should opt a decent way to react in this situation. The easiest and effective way would be to practice a learn quran day. Through this you not only bring self-control in yourself, but you will also make a good impression on the world by erasing the tag of extremism from Muslims.

As far as Freedom of speech is concerned, the line between freedom and liberty needs to be cleared and always remember that “complete liberty is no liberty”. “Freedom of speech” has been given for your betterment, do not exploit it for harming or harassing others. Utilize it in extreme positive way and let the humankind live in compete peace.