True Freedom

People all around the world seek freedom; some of them struggle for their freedom, others accept being slaves but still they dream of the day to be free, but I believe that freedom is not granted, they say that the only moment that humans are free is when they are born, the moment they get out of the womb, when they cry their first, and breath air for the first time out of that place, may be the womb the prison, to discover later that the womb is better than being out.

Today, I like to talk about slavery and freedom, but it’s not freedom that all people talk about, I’m talking about another kind of freedom, I came up to this concept of freedom when I was 15 years-old, reading a book titled Al-fawa2id (The Benefits*) for one of the most famous Islamic scholars Ibn Qayyem Al-Jawziyyah.

He introduced me to the world of the human being; he was talking about our habits, and how we can be slaves to them, according to him, there are two governments* (symbolic meaning) inside each one of us, the first is Al-Nafs Al-soo2 (the bad desires in us, or may be bad spirit*), and the second is Al-3aql* (the mind), if you let one of them takes the control the other will be slave for the other, so if the mind wins you live happy, and if mind loses it become the slave.

When we lose control to our desires, or when we can’t change habits (at least bad ones), we become slaves, I can give you many examples, we hear people say “I can’t begin my day without coffee!”, “I can’t live without smoking!” who says that?!! It’s only in there minds, who said they can’t live without that thing they used to drink or eat? It is because they are slaves; they don’t have a true freedom.

When the mind takes over, it can manage its government, of course the mind should have some wisdom, since that time I decided always to check if I’m a slave of my habits, desires, or what I think I can’t live without, whether its food, etc.

Look inside you, and check deeply if you are slave of your own habits, say no, challenge yourself, before you discover one day that you lived all your life as a slave, sometimes your mind will lose, but again you should try to help your mind regain its control, freedom is so precious, and will never be granted without your effort, you can’t have other freedoms if you are a slave of your own desires, or habits.

* The terms were translated by the author of his article, if you see there are better translations; please add them to the comments.