Human Rights in Islamic Nations

This research paper discusses the relationship among modern Islamic militancy, or fundamentalist movements, traditional Islamic thought and practice and the preservation of basic human rights in Islamic nations. In the second half of the 20th century, and particularly since the 1970s, a broad revival of Islamic traditions, which encompasses many disparate groups, has gathered momentum in the Middle East, North Africa and other Muslim lands, overthrowing some Muslim governments and threatening many others. Its more radical elements have advocated and engaged in practices such as airplane hijackings, car bombings, kidnapping and torture of hostages, political assassinations and other forms of terrorism.

In the Muslim nations in which they have come to power, Iran and the Sudan, ethnic and religious minorities have been persecuted, religious orthodoxy has been imposed, primitive forms of punishment such as stoning, flogging and amputation have been restored and women have been relegated to the human and the veil. Such groups have generally opposed, often violently, largely secularized regimes in the Arab and Muslim world. The thesis of this paper is that Islamic fundamentalism has deep roots in Islamic culture, religion and traditions. It, however, represents only one of many important strains in Islam, and in its most extreme manifestations, represents a serious threat to the best of those traditions and to basic concepts of human rights.

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tible with Islam, which considers the sharia [Islamic law], and not the people, to be sovereign" (41). Miller regards the fundamentalists' beliefs as antithetical to the concept of political democracy: Devout Muslims believe that legitimate authority comes from God alone. And since the ruler derives his power from God and the holy law, and not from the people, defying authority has been tantamount to defying God . . . to most Islamists, . . . democracy translates as majority rule. There is an almost total disregard for minority rights" (50-51). Lewis maintains that Islamic fundamentalists who advocate unrestrained violence (acts of terrorism) against Muslim political leaders they abhor and against non-Muslims "are in violation of Islamic morality and law" (182). Jansen quotes former Egyptian Minister of the Interior Zaki Badr: "The Muslim Brothers are no Muslims . . . they are enemies of what Islam stands for" (173). Doctrinal basis for Islamic fundamentalism. The fundamentalists believe in the literal reading and application of the word of God, as found in the Koran, the hadith (reports of Muhammad's activities and teachings) and the sharia. However, as Sidahmed and Ehteshaimi point out, "the text of the Qur'an is formulated

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