Freedom In The City Part 1

With Allah’s Name The Merciful Benefactor The Merciful Redeemer.




Freedom In The City

Surah 90

Part 1



I swear by this city.

This sura begins with a solid reaffirmation that there is no doubt, separation, or division in the soul as I swear by this city. The Historical translation that would be given to this term “Al-Balad” would be the city of Mecca where the Prophet Muhammed, pbuh, had descended. “Al-Balad” is also, country, state, township, etc., or a geographical space.


This space holds within it a sacredness from its valley to the highest horizon. He who is born in this space is a descendant of this space. As one may say, he is a son of the town. We may also say that the Ummah with its abstract boundaries may be seen as the city from which we may descend regardless of the physical land that we occupy. “Remember Abraham said: "O my Lord! make this city one of peace and security: and preserve me and my sons from worshipping idols.”


You are free by this city.

Being a son of the town gives you the freedom to come and go in the city just as every other citizen who enjoys the rights of the city. This concept of “freedom in the city” is still recognized in a symbolic gesture when a visitor is given the “key to the city.” Thereby, he is recognized by the authorities as a citizen with the right to come and go without restrictions. He is treated like a son. Imam Muhammed once came from a visit from Turkey and he said that they treated him like a son of the country.


This idea of freedom in the city also has its spiritual connotation. The city becomes the soul in which the heart resides. The heart should be free to ascend to the highest horizon without being fettered by societal customs, habits, passions, and desires that have influenced and thereby defined and confined the soul within the limits of strong iron gated fencing or veiling. Thereby the heart becomes imprisoned from within. Muhammad the Prophet’s soul was not defined by the limitations of the influence of the society in which he lived.

We are much aware of the boycotts that were instituted by the residents of Mecca against Muhammed the Prophet and his followers. These boycotts became very strenuous on the lives of the small Muslim community. However, the freedom that is being addressed here goes beyond the idea of political freedom, that is to sit at the same lunch counter, or to ride at the front of the bus, or even attending the same schools. It is addressing this kind of freedom but it goes much beyond this concept of freedom. It is the freedom of ones soul, heart, thinking or intellect – a true freedom.



By a father and what he births.

The original nature (fitr) upon which man, creation, and religion formed maybe be seen as the heavenly father. The English word ‘father’ and the Arabic word ‘fitr’ are similar in terms of the etymological consonantal root letters, f-t-r. Muhammed The Prophet, the Prayers and the Peace of Allah be upon him, said, “Every child is born upon the fitr.” If man was not influenced by anything that would disconnect him from his original nature, or if man would follow the nature he was formed upon, then he would always have the inclinations to be guided right. He would always have in him the innocent heart of the child.

However, the heart becomes a captive, veiled, restricted or imprisoned by the societal influences that thickens the incarcerating walls from the soul. To become liberated from such confined space the heart must turn to the heavenly father, the fitr, and the heavenly father will turn to the heart to break the yokes allowing it to ascend to the highest horizon having contact once again with the sacred spirit of revelation. This Fitr nature is personified in the person of Adam.


Revelation on the mind of man is similar to rain coming down on death earth. The rain drops holds within it substance, G-d tells us this in the Qur’an. We later discover the substance to be nitrates or a natural fertilizer that feeds the captive seed in the ground causing it to burst up through the thick veil of the ground giving it its freedom. Now, we see the plant not only being fed from the material earth but also receiving its nourishment from the heavenly son. These are called signs in scripture. So it is with Adam and the sons of Adam. Revelation can come to the dead mind and bring with it substance that will give life, a new life, a resurrection to the thinking of its recipients. Thus, it will cause man to raise his thinking and spirituality to great heights taking in a fresh breath from the spirit that comes with the word of revelation. “Without doubt he saw it on the clear horizon.”

Surely We created man in struggle.

The sick and weak body, the corrupted heart, the thickness of the veil, ignorance makes the struggle for freedom that more difficult. Allah made man in a natural struggle to achieve or become excellently established. However, moral and intellectual ignorance only makes it that much more difficult. When the baby is born it has to go through toil and struggle stage by stage before it has the ability to stand with excellence, to stand erect and be balanced on his or her two feet. The human being is the only animal that can stand on two feet and keep the balance without bending or falling over. Normally we find in man that walking upright and developing in speech comes together. The baby learns to walk and talk at the same time. So, it is for man in his spiritual and intellectual establishment. Ignorance will cripple the strength to stand and retard the expressions. And Allah says, “We have created man in the most excellent stance.” It is a strong and healthy physical body that enables man’s stance but it is a spirituality that causes the balance. Man has to be upright in his moral, intellectual nature to be established as an individual and to be established as a society. Muhammed the Prophet has said, “Say, I believe, then be upright.”