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Freedom of speech is an idea we all naturally gravitate towards. Who would want to live in a society where certain types of speech were outlawed or regulated? Or where we had to watch what we say at every turn. Yet liberals would readily admit that free speech is not absolute and they have recognised the need to police and censure some speech that could undermine the virtues they want society to embrace. It is not uncommon to find within western societies libel laws, the censure of the press and moral boundaries that all contribute to the narrowing of speech, whether through law or through society.

Recently, freedom of speech has been subject to intense debate. Here in Britain, a freedom warrior Toby Young has established a free speech union that rails against the shutdown of opinions in society and specifically university campuses. He and others like him on both sides of the Atlantic believe progressivism has ignited a new puritan assault on freedom, ready to ban speakers on campus and take offence. What they call a new ‘cancel culture’ has narrowed discussion at the detriment progress. Certainly, modern liberal societies are plagued with these culture wars that are likely to intensify in years to come.

But of course, Muslims also have a conundrum when it comes to free speech. On the one hand, we suffer from the constant barrage of abuse that comes our way - the repulsive cartoons against the Prophet (saw) were disguised with the caveat that we are the problem, and we must learn to tolerate others. But on the other hand, we also see our own speech curtailed in our masjids and communities and we often call upon the wider society to respect our freedoms. So how do we understand this idea and where does Islam stand on free speech?

To understand this subject further, I have invited Hamza Tzortzis to the Thinking Muslim to break down the idea and to give us an Islamic perspective. Hamza Andreas Tzortzis is the author of The Divine Reality: God, Islam & The Mirage of Atheism. He is a public speaker, instructor and essayist and a founding member of the Sapience Institute.

My conversation with Hamza is extensive and we cover a lot of ground, we ended up speaking for over two hours and it was a real ordeal editing this down as his words are rich with content.  

As always, you can comment your thoughts below. Some of you have been asking about our more detailed course on liberalism, inshallah sign up to our mailing list found in the description of this programme.