human rights in Islam

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Introduction:
The subject of human rights in Islam are based on the teaching of Allah as contained in the Holly Qur’an and as explained in the Ahadiss of Prophet (ص (and Messengers(ع (. The law of human rights is based on revelation and it therefore is not subject to repeal or amendment but only to interpretation and application.
Analytically, there are three distinct levels at which one can discuss the issue of human rights in Islam: Normative structure; historical experience; and the contemporary scene. The normative level refers to the teaching of the holy Qur’an , traditions (hadiss) and the norm.

The second level deals with the historical experience of Muslim societies: how did the Muslim rulers fare in treating their own people and religious minorities?
The third level refers to the contemporary situation of human rights in Islamic societies.
These three levels may or may not necessarily coincide a certain gap the ideal and the actual, the norm and behavior, theory and practice is always there.
Since rights in Islam have been divinely ordained and are not man-made, they cannot be suspended, curtailed or abrogated.
But human rights in the West, was raised by the thinkers of the post-Renaissance period, it is only since the last two hundred years or so that it became an issue of prominence among the political and social issues of the Western society and an issue of fundamental significance. Perhaps, when we examine the causes of many social changes and political upheavals, we will find the marks of its presence and its principal ideals.
Human rights (http://www.elasoft.net/%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%B1/) in the modern nation state are based on three principles established by the westphalian peace treaty of 1648: sovereignty of state, legitimacy, duty, and national interest.
Definition of Human Rights
Human rights refers to the concept of human beings as having universal natural rights, or status, regardless of legal jurisdiction or other localizing factors, such as ethnicity, nationality, and sex.
The idea of human rights descended from that of natural rights; some recognize no difference between the two and regard both as labels for the same thing while others choose to keep the terms separate to eliminate association with some features traditionally associated with natural rights.
History of Human Rights
Ur-Nammu, the king of Ur created what was arguably the first legal codex in ca. 2050 BC. Several other sets of laws were created in Mesopotamia including the Code of Hammurabi, (ca. 1780 BC) which is one of the best preserved examples of this type of document. It shows rules and punishments if those rules are broken on a variety of matters including women's rights, children's rights and slave rights.
The Persian Empire (Iran) established unprecedented principles of human rights in the 6th century BC under the reign of Cyrus the Great. After his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, the king issued the Cyrus Cylinder, discovered in 1879 and recognized by many today as the first human rights document. The cylinder declared that citizens of the empire would be allowed to practice their religious beliefs freely. It also abolished slavery, so all the palaces of the kings of Persia were built by paid workers in an era where slaves typically did such work. These two reforms were reflected in the biblical books of Chronicles and Ezra, which state that Cyrus released the followers of Judaism from slavery and allowed them to migrate back to their land.
Three centuries later, the Mauryan Empire of ancient India established unprecedented principles of civil rights in the 3rd century BC under the reign of Ashoka the Great. After his brutal conquest of Kalinga in circa 265 BC, he felt remorse for what he had done, and as a result, adopted Buddhism. From then, Ashoka, who had been described as "the cruel Ashoka" eventually came to be known as "the pious Ashoka". During his reign, he pursued an official policy of nonviolence (ahimsa). The unnecessary slaughter or mutilation of animals was immediately abolished, such as sport hunting and branding. Ashoka also showed mercy to those imprisoned, allowing them outside one day each year, and offered common citizens free education at universities. He treated his subjects as equals regardless of their religion, politics or caste, and constructed free hospitals for both humans and animals. Ashoka defined the main principles of nonviolence, tolerance of all sects and opinions, obedience to parents, respect for teachers and priests, being liberal towards friends, humane treatment of servants (slavery was non-existent in India at the time), and generosity towards all. These reforms are described in the Edicts of Ashoka.
Elsewhere societies have located the beginnings of human rights in religious documents. The Avesta, the Vedas, the Bible, the Qur'an and the Analects of Confucius are some of the oldest written sources which address questions of people’s duties, rights, and responsibilities.
In 1215 King John of England issued the Magna Carta, a document forced upon him by the Pope and English barons, which required him to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. Although the document did not itself limit the power of the king in the Middle Ages, its later reinterpretation in the Elizabethean and Stuart periods established it as a powerful document on which constitutional law was founded in Britain and elsewhere.
In 1222, the Manden Charter in Mali was a declaration of essential human rights, including the right to life, and opposed the practice of slavery.
Several 17th and 18th century European philosophers, most notably John Locke, developed the concept of natural rights, the notion that people possess certain rights by virtue of being human. Though Locke believed natural rights were derived from divinity since humans were creations of God, his ideas were important in the development of the modern notion of rights. Lockean natural rights did not rely on citizenship nor any law of the state, nor were they necessarily limited to one particular ethnic, cultural or religious group.

Two major revolutions occurred that century in the United States (1776) and in France (1789). The United States Declaration of Independence includes concepts of natural rights and famously states "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Similarly, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen defines a set of individual and collective rights of the people. These are held to be universal – not only to French citizens but to all men without exception.

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Philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill and Hegel expanded on the theme of universality during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1831 William Lloyd Garrison wrote in a newspaper called The Liberator that he was trying to enlist his readers in "the great cause of human rights" so the term human rights probably came into use sometime between Paine's The Rights of Man and Garrison's publication. In 1849 a contemporary, Henry David Thoreau, wrote about human rights in his treatise On the Duty of Civil Disobedience which was later influential on human rights and civil rights thinkers. United States Supreme Court Justice Davis Davis, in his 1867 opinion for Ex Parte Milligan, wrote "By the protection of the law, human rights are secured; withdraw that protection and they are at the mercy of wicked rulers or the clamor of an excited people.
Many groups and movements have managed to achieve profound social changes over the course of the 20th century in the name of human rights. In Western Europe and North America, labour unions brought about laws granting workers the right to strike, establishing minimum work conditions and forbidding or regulating child labour. The women's rights movement succeeded in gaining for many women the right to vote. National liberation movements in many countries succeeded in driving out colonial powers. One of the most influential was Mahatma Gandhi's movement to free his native India from British rule. Movements by long-oppressed racial and religious minorities succeeded in many parts of the world, among them the civil rights movement, and more recent diverse identity politics movements, on behalf of women and minorities in the United States.

Human Rights in Islam
The concept of human rights in Islam is based on two important principles: dignity of human beings and justice. Islam emphasizes that all human beings are honored by Allah. Allah wants all human beings to live in peace and harmony and for this reason He wants us to establish justice in this world. Without justice there is no dignity and without dignity and justice there cannot be any peace.
Three Qur’anic verses, which are crucial to determining a Muslim’s identity, summarise the concept of human dignity:
1- Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: “I will create a vicegerent on earth.” (2: 30)
2.
وَلَقَدْ کَرَّمْنَا بَنِی ءَادَمَ وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ فِی الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنَاهُمْ مِنَ الطَّیِّبَاتِ وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَى کَثِیرٍ مِمَّن خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِیلاً
We have honoured the children of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favours, above a great part of Our Creation. (17:70)
3-
لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا بِالْبَیِّنَاتِ وَأَنْزَلْنَا مَعَهُمُ الْکِتَابَ وَالْمِیزَانَ لِیَقُومَ النَّاسُ بِالْقِسْطِ وَأَنْزَلْنَا الْحَدِیدَ فِیهِ بَأْسٌ شَدِیدٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلِیَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ مَنْ یَنْصُرُهُ وَرُسُلَهُ بِالْغَیْبِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَوِیٌّ عَزِیزٌ
We sent aforetime our Messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Book and the balance (of Right and Wrong), that humankind may stand forth in justice; and We sent down Iron, in which is (material for) mighty war, as well as many benefits for humankind, that Allah may test who it is that will help, unseen, Him and His Messengers: for Allah is Full of Strength, Exalted in Might (and able to enforce His Will). (al-Hadid 57:25)
There are four important principles that we must keep in our mind when talking about human rights in Islam:
1. Rights are given by Allah:
The rights in Islam are not just human conventions, or so-called “natural rights” or “social contracts”. They are Allah’s orders. They should be considered as “permanent values” “universal and eternal standards”. They should not be given only to those who shout most or who lobby most, but they should be given even to those who are not yet empowered to speak for themselves, or who are not even aware due to social circumstances to know what rights they should have. The rights are rights even when no one asks for them. 2. Rights (http://www.elasoft.net/%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%B1/) are governed by duties:
The Shari’ah is the network of rights and responsibilities. There are Huquq (rights) and there are Wajibat (duties). Muslim scholars have debated this issue whether the Huquq come first or the Wajibat come first. Some have emphasized duties and some have emphasized rights. However, both of them are important. It is not possible to have rights without duties. Also there is mutuality between rights and duties. Someone’s right is another person’s duty and someone’s duty is another person’s right.
3. Hierarchy in rights
The Shari’ah has special objectives (maqasid). Imam Ghazali, and many other scholars have mentioned five basic objectives of the Shari’ah. The Shari’ ah came to preserve: 1. Din (Religion), 2. Life,3. Progeny, 4. Intellect, 5. Wealth. But within the Shari’ah there are certain rules that are called Zaruryat (necessities) and some that are called Niazat (needs). Preservation of Din is at the top. Life is second most important thing and so on and so forth.
4. Priorities in relations:
Islam has a detailed scheme in its priorities. All people have rights but no one has a right above Allah’s rights. Among the people there are rights of parents, rights of spouses, rights of children, rights of other relatives. There are rights of neighbors. There are rights of employers and employees. There are rights of Muslims and there are rights of other human beings. There are rights of animals, resources and objects. Sometimes there are conflicts between one right and another right and so the question comes what is my first duty. It is for this reason the issue of rights becomes very complex and difficult. The most important thing is to have the fear of Allah in all relations.
Following are some of the rights emphasized in Islam:
1. The Right to Life
The first and foremost basic right is the right to life. The Holy Qur’an lays down:
"Whosoever kills a human being (without any reason like) man-slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is thought he had killed all mankind." (5:32)
The propriety of taking life in retaliation for murder or for spreading corruption can be decided only by a competent court of law. During a war it can be decided only by a properly established government. In any event, Qur’an makes clear:
"Do not kill a soul which Allah has made sacred except through the due process of law." (6:151)
Homicide is thus distinguished from destruction of life carried out in the pursuit of justice. The Prophet, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, has declared homicide as the greatest sin after polytheism. A Tradition of the Prophet reads: "The greatest sins are to associate something with Allah and to kill human beings."
In all these verses of the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet the word 'soul' (nafs) has been used in general terms without any indication that citizens belonging to one's own nation or the people of a particular race or religion should not be killed. The injunction applies to all human beings.
The 'Right to Life' has been given to man as a whole only by Islam. You will observe that reference to human rights in constitutions or declarations in many countries clearly implies that these rights are applicable only to the citizens of that country or to the white race. For example, human beings were hunted down like animals in Australia and the land was cleared of the aborigines for the white man. Similarly, the aboriginal population of America was systematically destroyed and the Red Indians who somehow survived this genocide were confined to reservations. In Africa human beings were also hunted down like wild animals. Contrary to this partial concept of human rights, Islam recognizes such rights for all human beings.
2. The Right to the Safety of Life
Immediately after the verse in the Holy Qur’an which has been mentioned in connection with the right to life, Allah says:
"And whoever saves a life it is as though he had saved the lives of all mankind." (5:32)
There can be several forms of saving man from death. If a man is ill or wounded it is your duty to get him medical help. If he is dying starvation, it is your duty to feed him. If he is drowning, it is your duty to rescue him. We regard it as our duty to save every human life, because it is thus that we have been enjoined in the Holy Qur’an.
3. Respect for the Chastity of Women
The third important element in the Charter of Human Rights granted by Islam is that a woman's chastity must be respected and protected at all times, whether she belongs to one's own nation or to the nation of an enemy, whether we find her in a remote forest or in a conquered city, whether she is our co-religionist or belongs to some other religion or has no religion at all. A Muslim may not physically abuse her under any circumstances. All promiscuous relationships are forbidden to him, irrespective of the status or position of the woman or of whether she is a willing partner to the act.
The words of the Holy Qur’an in this respect are: "Do not approach (the bounds) of adultery" (17:32). Heavy punishment has been prescribed for this crime, and no mitigating circumstances are indicated. Since the violation of the chastity of a woman is forbidden in Islam, a Muslim who perpetrates this crime cannot escape punishment-whether he receives it in this world or in the Hereafter.

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This concept of the sanctity of chastity and the protection of women can be found nowhere else except in Islam. The armies of the Western powers need the daughters of their own nations to satisfy their carnal appetites even in their own countries, and if they happen to occupy another county, the fate of its womenfolk can better be imagined than described.
But the history of the Muslim, apart from individual lapses, has been free from this crime against womanhood. It has never happened that after the conquest of a foreign country the Muslim army has gone about raping the women of the conquered people, or, in their own country, the government has arranged to provide prostitutes for them.
4. The Right to a Basic Standard of Life
Speaking about economic rights, the Holy Qur’an enjoins its followers:
"And in their wealth there is acknowledge right for the needy and destitute." (51:12)
The wording of this injunction shows that it is categorical and unqualified. Furthermore, this injunction was given in Mecca where there was no Muslim society in existence and where the Muslim came in contact mostly with disbelievers.
The clear meaning of this verse is that anyone who asks for help and anyone who is suffering from deprivation has a right to share in the property and wealth of a Muslim; irrespective of whether he belongs to this or to that nation, to this or to that country, to this or to that race. If one is in a position to help and a needy person asks for help or if one comes to know that he is in need, then it is one's duty to help him.
5. The Individual's Right to Freedom
Islam has categorically forbidden the primitive practice of capturing a free man to make him a slave or to sell him into slavery. On this point the unequivocal words of the Prophet (ص) are as follows: "There are three categories of people against whom I shall myself be a plaintiff on the Day of Judgment .
The words of this Tradition of the Prophet have not been qualified or restricted to a particular nation or race, or to followers of a particular religion. The Europeans take great pride in claiming that they abolished slavery from the world, though they had the decency to do so only in the middle of the last century. Before this, the Western powers had been raiding Africa on a very large scale, capturing free men, putting them in bondage and transporting them to their new colonies. The treatment which they meted out to these unfortunate people was worse than that given to animals. Accounts in Western books themselves bear testimony to this fact.
5.1The Slave Trade of Western Nations
After the occupation of America and the West Indies, traffic in slave trade continued for three hundred and fifty years. The African ports where the Africans were brought from the interior and put on ships came to be known as the Slave Coast. In the course of only one century (from 1680 to 1786) the total number of free people who were captured and enslaved for the British Colonies amounts, according to the estimate of British authors, to 20 million. We are told that in the year 1790, 75,000 human beings were captured and sent for slave labour in the colonies. The ships which were used for transporting the slaves were small and dirty. These unfortunate Africans were thrust into the holds like cattle and many of them were chained, one on top of the other, to wooden shelves on which they could hardly move because they were only eighteen inches apart. They were not given proper food, and if they fell ill or were injured, no attempt was made to provide them with medical treatment.
Western writers themselves state that at least 20 per cent of the total number of people who were captured for slavery and forced labour perished while being transported from Africa to America. It has also been estimated that the total number of people who were captured for slavery by the various European nations during the heyday of the slave trade was at least one hundred million. This is the record of the people who denounce Muslims for recognizing the institution of slavery. It is as if a criminal is pointing the finger of blame at an innocent man.
5.2 The Position of Slavery in Islam
Islam tried to solve the problem of the slaves that were already in Arabia by encouraging people to set them free. Muslims were told that freeing slaves would mean the expiation of some of their sins. Freeing a slave of one's own free will was declared to be an act of such great merit that the limbs of the man who manumitted a slave would be protected from hell-fire-one for each limb of the slave freed.
The problem of the slaves of Arabia was thus solved in under 40 years. After this the only slaves left in Islamic society were prisoners of war captured on the battlefield. These were kept by the Muslim government in question until their own government agreed to receive them back in exchange for Muslim soldiers they captured by them or arranged the payment of ransom on their behalf. If the soldiers they captured were not exchanged for Muslim prisoners of war, or their people did not pay their ransom money to purchase their liberty, the Muslim government distributed them among the soldiers of the army which had captured them.
This was a more humane way of disposing of them than penning them like cattle in concentration camps and taking forced labour from them and, if their womenfolk were also captured, setting them aside for prostitution. Islam preferred to spread them through the population and thus being them in contact with individual human beings. Their guardians, in addition, were ordered to treat them well.
The result of this policy was that most of the men who were captured on foreign battlefields and brought to the Muslim countries as slaves embraced Islam and their descendants produced great scholars, imams, jurists, commentators, statesmen and generals. So much so that later they became rulers of the Muslim world.
6. The Right to Justice
This is a very important and valuable right which Islam has given to man. The Holy Qur’an has laid down: "Do not let your hatred of a people incite you to aggression" (5:3). "And do not let ill-will towards any folk incite you so that you swerve from dealing justly. Be just; that is nearest to heedfulness" (5:8). Stressing this point the Qur’an again says: "You who believe stand steadfast before Allah as witness for (truth and) fair play" (4:135).
The point is thus made clear that Muslims have to be just not only to their friends but also their enemies. In other words, the justice to which Islam invites her following is not limited to the citizens of one's own country, or the people of one's own tribe, nation or race, or the Muslim community as a whole; it is meant for all human beings.

7. The Equality of Human Beings
Islam not only recognizes the principle of absolute equality between men irrespective of colour, race or nationality, it makes it an important reality. Almighty Allah has laid down in the Holy Qur’an: "O mankind, we have created you from a male and female." In other words, all human beings are brothers. They all are the descendants from one father and one mother. "And we set you up as nations and tribes so that you may be able to recognize each other" (49:13). This means that the division of human beings into nations, races, groups and tribes is for the sake of distinction, so that people of one race or tribe may meet and be acquainted with people belonging to another race or tribe and co-operate with one another.
This division of the human race is neither meant for one nation to take pride in its superiority over others nor for one nation to treat another with contempt. "Indeed, the noblest among you before Allah are the most heedful of you" (49:13). That is, the superiority of one man over another is only on the basis of Allah-consciousness, purity of character and high morals, and not colour, race, language or nationality. People are therefore not justified in assuming airs of superiority over other human beings. Nor do the righteous have any special privileges over others.
This has been thus exemplified by the Prophet (ص) in one of his sayings: "No Arab has any superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over a black man, or the black man any superiority over the white man. You are all the children of Adam, and Adam was created from clay." (Beyhaqi). In this manner Islam established the principle of equality of the entire human race and struck at the very root of all distinctions based on colour, race, language or nationality.
According to Islam, Allah has given man this right of equality as a birthright. No man should therefore be discriminated against on the grounds of the colour of his skin, his place of birth, the race or the nation in which he was born.
Malcolm X, the leader of African Negroes in America, once launched a bitter struggle against the white people of America in order to win civil rights for his black compatriots. But when he went to perform the pilgrimage, he saw how the Muslims of Asia, Africa, Europe and America were all wearing the same dress and were all hurrying towards the Ka'ba ¾ and were offering prayers standing in the same row. He realized that this was the solution to the problem of colour and race, and not what he had been trying to seek or achieve in America. Today, a number of non-Muslim thinkers openly admit that no other religion or way of life has solved this problem with the same degree of success as Islam.
8. The Right to Co-operate and Not to Co-operate
Islam has prescribed a general principle of paramount importance and universal application. The Holy Qur’an says: "Co-operate with one another for virtue and heedfulness and do not co-operate with one another for the purpose of vice and aggression" (5:2). This means that the man who undertakes noble and righteous work, irrespective of whether he is living at the North Pole or the South Pole, has the right to expect support and active co-operation from Muslims. But he who practices vice and aggression, even if he is our closest relation or neighbour, does not have the right to our support and help in the name of race, country, language or nationality, nor should he expect Muslims to co-operate with him. The wicked and vicious person may be our own brother, but he is not of us, and he can have no help or support from us as long as he does not repent of his ways. On the other hand, the man who is doing deeds of virtue and righteousness may have no kinship with Muslims, but Muslims will be his companions and supports, or at least his well-wishers.
Conclusion
This is a brief sketch of those rights which 1400 years ago Islam gave to man, to those who were at war with each other and to the citizens of its state. It refreshes and strengthens our faith in Islam when we realize that even in this modern age, which makes such loud claims of progress and enlightenment, the world has not been able to produce more just and equitable laws than those given 1400 years ago. On the other hand, it is saddening to realize that Muslims nonetheless often look for guidance to the West. Even more painful is the realization that, throughout the world, rulers who claim to be Muslims have made disobedience to their Allah and the Prophet the basis and foundation of their government. May Allah have mercy on them and give them true guidance.
The modern nation state
The modern nation state is based on three principles established by the westphalian peace treaty of 1648:
Sovereignty of state that no authority existed higher than the state, states could pursue whatever goals and through whatever means they chose, asserted the primacy of nation state and rejected controls by pope or any other external authority.
Legitimacy, that all states had a right to exist and that the authority of the king within his state was both supreme and rightfully his.
Duty, that states have some formal duties and obligations to one another.
Theoritcally speaking, states recognize no higher authority than themselves, state is thus an entity that defines its own interests, determine the ways through which it will achieve them and more importantly, decides what limits on the exercise of individual’s rights are reasonable.
The modern state, in its operational structure, is intimately related to the notion of
national interest, an extremely ambiguous term which does not explain as to who within the state defines national interest? Do national interests change when government change?
It is theoretical foundation of the modern nation state that makes its moral defense of human rights must necessarily be functional (that is it will defend and uphold human rights as long as it is functional to the perpetuation of its own institutional structures, interest and welfare imperatives) and secondary.
References
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• Forsythe, David P. (2000). Human Rights in International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Ignatieff, Michael. Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press.
• Landman, Todd (2006) Studying Human Rights, Oxford and London: Routledge
• Shute, Stephen & Hurley, Susan (eds.). (1993). On Human Rights: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures. New York: BasicBooks.
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