Islam and Human Rights

In the United States, the concept of human rights tends to be equated with the political and civil rights expressed in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed to citizens through the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, freedom from unreasonable search and inhumane punishment, and other rights. They focus on providing individuals with the freedom to pursue their own individual courses, free from government interference unless they violate the laws. Even then, the rights of the accused in a criminal proceeding are protected.

Many scholars, politicians, and ordinary citizens in the United States, and in most of the West too, believe that this concept of human rights is the only true concept and that those countries which do not guarantee the same rights to their citizens are backwards in terms of human rights. However, outside the West, there are those who claim that there are other kinds of concepts of human rights. For example, Islamic scholars contend that Islam provides a more appropriate understanding of human rights in a communal context. It is the contention of this paper that Islam does support a concept of human rights, even though that concept is not identical to the Western concept.

One of the first strong U.S. voices to emphasize the way in which Islam contributed to human rights was Malcolm X (Haley, 1968). In

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need, and to the traveler; and do not squander your wealth in the manner of a spendthrift" (17:26); "And in their wealth there is acknowledged right for the needy and the destitute" (51:19); "The Prophet (PBUH) has said: he is not a believer who eats his fill, when his neighbor beside him is hungry" (Mughal, 1995). Thus, one element of the Islamic understanding of human rights is care for those members of the community who are without money, food, clothes, and housing. Islam defines fundamental human rights as including access to the means for existence, which is not the traditional understanding of human rights in the West. Economic Justice This basic emphasis on economic justice and communal care has led to a specifically Islamic concept of economic justice in the modern world. According to Kuran (1990), theorists believe that an Islamic economic justice system would differ both from capitalism and socialism. It would provide for more freedom than socialism, and affirmation of trade and the creation of wealth, at the same time that it would avoid the exploitative and consumerist nature of capitalism. Theorists base their contention on the Quran, tradition, and on the concept of consensus in Islamic society. According to

Category: Philosophy - I