Summary of Londoniyyah - Part 6 - Political Liberalism | Mohammad Hijab

00:00:00 - 00:55:00

In this video, Mohammad Hijab discusses the principles of liberalism, including the social contract, the idea that humans are born equal, and the importance of religious language in liberalism. He also addresses the criticism that individualism within liberalism can lead to a culture of freeloading.

• 00:00:00 Today's lesson is focused on liberalism, specifically the political strand of the ideology. Mohammad Hijab discusses the principles that underpin the liberal framework, including the energy principle and the hedonistic principle. He also covers the social contract, the idea that humans are born equal, and the importance of religious language in liberalism. John Locke is often cited as the founder of liberalism, and Mohammad Hijab discusses his arguments in favor of the ideology.
• 00:05:00 This video discusses the history and development of liberalism, focusing on John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Emmanuel Kant. It explains that liberalism as a political philosophy is based on the idea of human rights and the idea of "world peace through liberalism."
• 00:10:00 Mohammad Hijab discusses the concept of human rights and why they are significant. He also addresses the criticism that individualism within liberalism can lead to a culture of freeloading. He recommends the lecture series "Theories of Justice" by Michael Sandell as a high-quality resource for increasing one's knowledge on the topic.
• 00:15:00 The video discusses the continuities and discontinuities of human rights in relation to the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It points out that one of the rights is the right to democracy, and that this right is often at odds with the other 29 articles.
• 00:20:00 The video discusses the tension between human rights and democracy, and how liberals must endure contradictions in order to protect individual rights.
• 00:25:00 Thomas Hobbes argues in Leviathan that the state of nature is a state of war where everyone is attacking each other. To stop the chaos, government is needed to establish order.
• 00:30:00 In this video, Mohammad Hijab discusses liberalism and its principles of free-will and individualism. He points out that liberalism is based on a myth - that of everyone fighting each other - and that in the real world, a 'big strong man' is needed to stop the war. He goes on to say that, in truth, the social contract does not actually happen in the real world, and that children are given passports at birth in order to enforce laws and obey them.
• 00:35:00 In this video, Mohammad Hijab discusses the difficulties of justifying liberalism through the social contract. He points out that, on the one hand, liberalism requires that people give up some of their freedom in order to gain protection; but, on the other hand, people also benefit from the state in other ways. He goes on to say that, even though different liberals define the state of nature differently, they all come to the same conclusion that someone needs to take control of society in order to protect everyone's freedom.
• 00:40:00 In this video, Mohammad Hijab discusses the contradictory aspects of liberalism, particularly social contractarianism. He says that as a result, liberalism can justify the death penalty for people who apostasize from the worship of God. John Locke also discusses apostasy in his book, "The Second Treatise of Civil Government". He says that apostasy is treasonous and can lead to someone's death.
• 00:45:00 In this video, Mohammad Hijab discusses liberalism and islam. He points out that while Islam does not condone certain actions, such as murder, it does have a social contract in which individuals are obligated to obey the laws of the state. He goes on to say that while liberalism does have some similarities with islam, there are significant differences in how the laws are implemented. He cites the example of William Mumford, who was executed for treason because he burned the American flag. He concludes by saying that while there may be some differences in how the laws of islam and liberalism are implemented, at their core, the two ideologies share a common structure.
• 00:50:00 In this video, Mohammad Hijab discusses the possibility that both liberalism and Islam allow for the implementation of riddha and treason, and the self-refuting nature of a liberal critique of Islam. He notes that while some people may not agree with these principles, they are nonetheless conceivable. He also points out that historically, treason and riddha have been implemented in America under social contractarianism, without the need for a military operation.
• 00:55:00 Today's session discussed how to govern human beings, with Mohammad Hijab arguing that more than most people, Hobbs believes in the need for punishment in order to maintain order. Despite this, the discussion touched on a variety of issues relating to governance, and ended with a short break.