Human Rights & Islam: The Divine And The Mundane In Human Rights Law

Even though there has been a number of works dealing with human rights and religion already, this work is different in that it avoids being a commentary or an interpreter of what the religious communities think or don’t think when it comes to human rights. It allows the documents and the adherents to speak for themselves. It will be left to the reader to comment and process the information. The author’s role in this work is merely to establish a context when needed and bridge the gaps when necessary. It is only at the end of the presentation of the religious and secular documents on human rights that this author will provide a critique that is intended to engage other interested parties into a debate. There is a wealth of information and I trust that this authentic information can only enhance our perspective on this matter. All views were introduced the Qur’ánic discourse, the Prophetic tradition, the Muslim scholars’ interpretation, modern humanism perspectives, international law documents, independent scholars’ findings, and the official and non-official declarations by the UN and other organizations are all presented herein. In order to avoid stereotyping and reacting to stereotypes about Islamic stance on human rights, we have included a variety of from the views of the Shi’ite Muttaheri, to the opinions of the influential Sunni lawyer al-Mawdudi, to the conclusions of an independent working group of Muslims scholar who produced the Universal Islamic declaration of Human Rights; every opinion that has some traction in the Muslim streets has been included here for examination. Although this work was produced primarily as a textbook for students and interested individuals from the public, there is a challenging theory that ought to stimulate further discussion of human rights schemes, organs, and implementation mechanism.