This paper explores, and ultimately finds no justification for, the idea that it is not possible to root the liberal concept of freedom in the Arab-Islamic cultural context. It examines this supposition from two main angles: First, that the liberal understanding of freedom has a metaphysical basis, which itself has various implications in a range of areas. The paper shows that this basis is also present in ancient philosophical thought—both Greek and Arab-Islamic. In the context of an imposed Arab modernity, there is now (or has been since the period of the Nahda) a chance for this metaphysical conception of freedom to express itself within modern and contemporary Arab political philosophy.