It is highly unlikely that ‘Free Lover’ looks like this. But you never know.

I came across this on the subject of Liberalism. It is from my favourite/most hated (I just can’t decide) commentator ‘Free Lover’. I think he is trying to explain what different people, Muslim or not, mean by ‘Liberalism’. As always, I am not endorsing his (politically indiscreet) views, they just made me think that’s all, so don’t get your proverbial knickers in a twist.

When we say ‘Liberals’, I suspect we are saying it in a different sense to you:

1. A simple hedonist (in that sense, the Marquis De Sade was a Liberal).

2. Someone who purses personal freedom to an unlimited degree (in that sense, the Nazis were ‘Liberals’)

3. Moral relativist/someone who does not believe in absolute morality (i.e. an atheist or Nihilist)

4. Someone who enforces or insists on Liberal principles (in that sense, Fascists are Liberals)

5. Someone who believes that all things are equally true (and hence equally false) (i.e most of the above).

I think you are conflating thus: Liberal = opposite of an extremist. That is one good definition, and as Islam tells us, we take the ‘Middle Way’. In this sense, we are Liberals.

However, Liberalism today is an extremist ideology that like Fascism is insistence on an idea: In this case it is insistence on the idea of what is the good life and how to achieve human happiness. It becomes extreme because it insists on this idea and will compel people to be ‘free’. For example, France thinks it is a Liberal country, but it compels people to adhere to it’s values and will enforce them on unwilling people, for instance, the headscarf ban. It wants to define women’s dress, and what is modesty or whether modesty is even a good thing or not. It has unilaterally made a value judgement, based on the will of the majority or not and then enforced it in a punitive way. This is called Fascism. Perhaps you like this version of Fascism/totalitarianism, and that is fine, but it yet remains a totalitarian and closed system.

This is exactly the same as done by the Taliban, but whereas you have no trouble recognising one as bad, when the same thing is done by Europeans people fail to recognise it.

I don’t know about you personally, but the fact that there is no-one writing books, making films or generally making a fuss about France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Singapore, Ethiopia, China, Azerbaijan and Turkey telling women what to wear but in the case of Afghanistan their cup overfloweth with indignation, tells me that there is a double standard at play in the European psyche.

Most Europeans seem to think that a kick in the balls only hurts if it is delivered by a Muslim.

This is demonstrably false.