The general view of majority of western jurists on Human Rights is that Human Rights is the idea of our times. But this idea is generally wrong. It is an idea which took a positive shape fourteen hundred years earlier by Islamic law. Islam being the religion of nature embodies the entire all the basic ideas of Human Rights. Human Rights in Islam is a divine concept unlike the western and contemporary concept of Human Rights, Human Rights in Islam was not the result of any development in human thought. It was the divine arrangement and divine guidance and this guidance was completed with the revelation of the Quran. If one thinks as of Human Rights, then Islamic pioneering contribution to the inception and growth of Human Rights has to be duly acknowledged. Islamic initiative and role in evolving respectable Human Rights jurisprudence cannot be denied but greatly appreciated”.Islam is an Arabic word, derived from a root which means “Peace” and “Submission”. It connotes the attainment of peace through submission to Allah. The most remarkable attribute of Islam is its universality and the place that it assigns to man as the center of the universe. Thus Islam is a term used in reference to the way of life. The word Islam or Muslim are derived from the same Arabic roots “Slm” – which mean Peace, Security, integrity, etc. The concept of Human Rights is as mature as human history itself but the first practical and audacious step was made by Islam in 7th century A.D. (10th AH). Islam bestows importance to Human Rights due to human honor and dignity. Due to various different schools of thoughts the scholars define the Human Rights in different ways. Some important definitions are as follows:
According to renowned Muslim Scholar Abdul Hakeem, “General Human Rights are collective rights. Any power do not ban or stop them, but their perception is different in different areas. So there is deficiency to define then”. According to Scholars of Social Sciences the English word, ‘Right’ and Arabic word ‘Haq’ has multifold meaning and in specific sense denotes the meaning of ‘compulsory’ ‘free from error’ or ‘immediately’. A Renowned Islamic jurist Dr. Hassan Karrah defines right in Islam as: “Right as the legal bond under which the authorized person, for monopolizing and his exclusive command on something or a specific requirement of another person.” Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri delineates the Human Rights as “The Human Rights are those Rights which are given by the creator (Allah) of the humanity through His messengers. These rights are immutable but have reciprocal relationship to the duties.”
In Islam, Human Rights are granted by Allah, not by kings or legislative assemblies and therefore can never be taken away or changed, even temporarily, for any reason. They are meant to be put into practice and lived not to stay on paper. The Quran states that those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down are the disbelievers. The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue”.The Quran states that “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other) verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.” The Quran states that “All human being are one and the same by birth. ultimately everyone can trace his origin to the same man and women as father and mother. It is therefore necessary that all human beings would have a feeling of affinity with each other and live with fairness and goodness like the members of one extended family.” Quran is the Magna Carta of Human Rights and a large part of its concern is to free human beings from the bondage of traditionalism, authoritarianism (religious, political, economic, or any other), tribalism racism, sexism, slavery or anything else that prohibits or inhibits human beings from actualizing the Quranic vision of human destiny embodied in the classic proclamation.
Bernared Lewis says, “Islam – the offspring of Arabic and the Arabian Prophet (PBUH) was not only a system of belief and cut. It was also a system of state, society, law, thought and art, a civilization with religion as its unifying, eventually dominating factor. Its code was shariah, the holy law developed by jurists from the Quran and traditions of the Prophet (PBUH). The shariah was not only a normative code of law but also, in its social and political aspects, a pattern of conduct, an ideal towards which men and society must strive.” Human Rights in Islam are honor, privilege, appendage, which is granted, conferred by Allah because the sovereignty not only of the state but the entire universe rests with him. Islam has attached special sanctity to human life. Human blood is sacred in any case and cannot be spelled without justification and if any one violates this sanctity of human blood by killing a soul without justification the Quran equates it to the killing of entire mankind.
(The author is a human rights defender from Kashmir. Views are his own [email protected])
