Freedom Is Like Light, The Higher Up The Source, the Wider Its Scope

[Nur]

NGONGE bro.

 

I dedicate this write-up to you at these turbulent times, true freedom is precious, so is its costs!

 

 

Nur

[NGONGE]

With all due respect, that article is stuff and nonsense. I've got to admit, you are as slippery as an eel, saaxib.

 

ps

The Matrix is on TV tonight. I shall watch it and think of you.

[Nur]

Ngonge bro.

 

You seem to be challenged with depth and insights, saaxib, it happens though to Nomads who use western lenses to understand Islam, the Arabs say, " man Jaalasa qawman, Jaanasa !" Enjoy your Western TV!

 

 

Nur

[Nur]

A Must See Video on Freedom and Resistance

 

 

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=bDe65-nF3FQ

[Nur]

John Quincy Adams on U.S. Foreign Policy (1821)

 

By John Quincy

 

July 4, 1821

 

 

"And now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of the elder world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed to inquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind?

 

Let our answer be this: America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government. America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity.

 

She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights.

 

She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own.

 

She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart.

 

She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right.

 

Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.

 

But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.

 

She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.

 

She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.

 

She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example.

 

She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.

 

The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force....

 

She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit....

 

[America's] glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice."

 

John Quincy Adams served was U. S. Secretary of State, he delivered this speech to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 4, 1821, in celebration of American Independence Day.

[Nur]

Salam and Peace to All Nomads

 

 

 

A question I like to pose today:

 

As Humans, We measure things;

 

Distance is measured in Meters, it tells us extent of our displacement in space

Temperature in Kelvins, Fahrenheit or Celsius, it tells us how hot or cool our environment is, these days our activities are melting the mountain caps of the arctic and the Himalayas.

Noise in Decibel, it tells us how loud it is ( A Jumbo Jet and a Snake score different in this measure )

 

In Business Schools they teach that " If You Can't Measure, you can't manage"

 

Freedom is valuable, We need to manage it, in order to attain it. And if if we have it, to protect it.

 

How do we MEASURE FREEDOM? How Do we know the extent of freedom we have today as Somalis, and the benchmark to measure current levels against the real standard, if any ?

 

 

 

 

Nur

[BiLaaL]

Br. Nur

 

It is easier to define freedom or free will than to measure it. The extent of the freedom we have today as Somalis I think largely depends on what type of freedom you're referring to (e.g. personal or political freedom, freedom pertaining to belief, opinion, ownership, travel, work). In measuring it, I would divide freedom between those Somalis enjoy individually as opposed to collectively as a nation. Individually we exude an unyielding attachment to our sense of free will, even when its absent, (in part due to the teachings of our deen and culturally going back in antiquity) - as outsiders such as British explorer Richard Burton attested to by describing Somalis as ' a ‘fierce and turbulent race of republicans’.

 

Collectively though (at least for those residing back home and in other parts of the developing world), our freedom as Somalis and as a nation is quite weak in many areas and non-exist in others. It appears that we have subconsciously allowed ourselves to trade away our collective freedom as a nation (Somalia's sovereignty is a classic example, barring some recent improvements) but don't feel the same way when itcomes to our individual freedoms. Our collective freedoms started to recede when we started to prefer our tribal links above our shared roots as Somalis and things went downhill from there - until it reached the stage where some began to betray their closest family members to theenemy in return for preserving their own individual freedoms.

[Nur]

Akhi Bilaal

 

By "Freedom" I mean, ALL FREEDOMS. By, " Somali" I mean, COLLECTIVE FREEDOM of those residing what used to be The Somali republic prior to the collapse of that nation state.

 

Based on the topic, the highest level of freedom is when Somalis are empowered by the Light of Allah SWT to experience maximum freedom, the lowest level of freedom being when Somalis have lost their self determination as a nation to the lowest in the universal power structure.

 

If we can define what freedom is, it follows that we should be able to have a way to measure the extent of the freedom we have ( Collectively, at Home country).

 

Mercury rises in a tube as temperature rise, so we assign corresponding numbers to measure comfort level, 50C being very hot summer in Djibouti, and 25C being a pleasant afternoon in Mogadishu,

 

Likewise, can you think of a measure that will be analogous to Freedom , I mean all of freedoms in what used to be the Republic of Somalia?

 

Nur

[sharma-arke451]

Freedom can be measured, not in the comfort levels of material gains, rather on pro rata to poor citizens inner feelings.

[BiLaaL]

Nur;895683 wrote:

Mercury rises in a tube as temperature rise, so we assign corresponding numbers to measure comfort level, 50C being very hot summer in Djibouti, and 25C being a pleasant afternoon in Mogadishu,

 

Likewise, can you think of a measure that will be analogous to Freedom , I mean all of freedoms in what used to be the Republic of Somalia?

For something to be measurable, its underlying laws ought to be consistent, conform to a set of principles and these laws ought to be resistant to change overtime. The power to create and order such components belongs to Allah alone. The laws of Mercury you describe above meet this standard, hence why we're able to measure it.

 

I would argue that absolute freedom (highest level of freedom, as you put it - which comes from submitting to the will of Allah SWT) is measurable, whereas other definitions of freedom (lets call them imperfect freedoms for now) are not measurable.

 

The measure for absolute freedom is what ones attains afterwards - i.e. following submission to the will of Allah. Some of these attainments include a contented heart, a liberated mind free of psychological complexes and excessive material cravings etc.. The reason we can measure this form of freedom is because it is free of the imbalances and inconsistencies inherent/found in imperfect freedoms - since these emanate not from the perfect hikmah of Allah's deen but are the product of imperfect human beings.

 

In a nutshell, I don't believe it is possible to measure a type of freedom which deviates from the one I've just outlined because something imperfect (and therefore susceptible to external forces) is by nature not measurable - at least not in a reliable manner. It is not measurable because it is by design flawed and is never free of discrepancies of one form or another - meeting one aspect of such imperfect freedoms often violates another - however small such violations might turn out to be. It is never going to be perfectly measurable since it was, by its very nature, imperfectly conceived.

 

A measure cannot be derived from a matter which itself is not sound and is full of inconsistencies. It would be like grounding ones argument on mere conjecture. As Allah SWT says in the Noble Qur'an, following conjecture is akin to having no certain knowledge (An-Nisa, 157). .

 

And in another Ayah (Yunus, 36), Allah SWT says:

 

"And most of them follow nothing but conjecture. Certainly, conjecture can be of no avail against the truth".