Abstract
Representatives of Muslim countries actively participated in the negotiations for and subsequent formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. However, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (ratified in 1990) was an entirely divergent text. This document not only nullified those representatives’ participation in the Declaration of 1948 but also seemed to eliminate the possibility of mutual understanding between Muslim countries and the West over the problematic of human rights. It is not surprising that the Cairo Declaration is always regarded as the official response of Muslim countries to the UDHR and other United Nations covenants. In the segregated world of the two texts, each claiming to safeguard man and his rights, a number of Muslim scholars seek to step beyond this black-and-white binary by delving into Islamic sacred sources to find a reconciliation between Islam and human rights. Limiting herself to the boundaries of the Shīʿa world, in this paper, the author will study the concepts of human dignity, human rights, and its alternative, “the rights of people,” in the key texts of a number of Shīʿī scholars to see how they understand human rights from an Islamic perspective. It will be argued that the diversity of outlooks on human rights among Shīʿī scholars is indicative of the vitality of intellectual activity, which unlike the discourse of the Cairo Declaration looks to find a middle path between the texts of 1948 and 1990. However, when necessary, the author will make comparisons between Shīʿī and Sunni scholars.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
An-Naʿīm, A. A. (1990). Toward an Islamic reformation: Civil liberties, human rights, and international law, foreword by John Voll. New York: Syracuse University Press.
An-Na’im, A. A. (Ed.). (1995). Human rights in cross cultural perspectives: A quest for consensus. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Aydin, C. (2017). The idea of the Muslim world: A global intellectual history. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Baderin, M. A. (2009). International human rights and Islamic law (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bāqī, ʿImād al-Dīn. (2016). Muntaẓirī wa Taʾsīs-i Fiqh-i Ḥuqūq-i Bashar (Muntaẓirī and the foundation of human rights). Official website of ʿImād al-Dīn Bāqī. The ISSN register. http://www.emadbaghi.com/. Accessed 24 July 2018.
Brems, E. (2001). Human rights: Universality and diversity, international studies in human rights (Vol. 66). Cambridge: Kluwer Law International.
British Broadcasting Corporation. (1388 Shamsī/2010). The ISSN register. http://www.bbc.com/persian. Accessed 26 July 2018.
Donnelly, J. (1982). Human rights and human dignity: An analytic critique of non-Western conceptions of human dignity. The American Political Science Review, 76(2), 303–316.
Hashemi, N. & Qureshi, E. Human Rights, The Oxford encyclopedia of the Islamic world. Official website of Oxford Islamic studies online, the ISSN register. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0325. Accessed 26 July 2018.
Kadivar, M. (1386 Shamsī/2007). Ḥaqq u-Nāss: Islam and Ḥuqūq-i Bashar (The right of people: Islam and human rights). Tehran: Kavir.
Kadivar, M. (2014). Mujāzāt-i Irtidād wa Āzādī-ya Mazdhab: Naqd-i Mujāzāt-i Irtidād wa Sabb al-Nabī bā Mawāzīn-i Fiqh-i Istidlālī (Apostasy, blasphemy, & religious freedom in Islam: A critique cased on demonstrative jurisprudence; Islam and human rights-2). Web-Book, Official website of Mohsen Kadivar. The ISSN register. http://kadivar.com/. Accessed 24 July 2018.
Kamali, M. H. (1988). Have we neglected the Shariah-law doctrine of Maslahah. Islamic Studies, 27(4), 287–303.
Little, D., Kelsay, J., et al. (1988). Rights and the conflict of cultures: Western and Islamic perspectives on religious liberty. Columbia: University of South Carolina.
Mawdudi, Abul A’la (1993) Human rights in Islam. Leicester: Islamic Foundation.
Mayer, A. E. (1997). Islam and human rights; tradition and politics (3rd ed.). London: Pinter Publishers.
Mokhtari, S. (2004). The search for human rights within an Islamic framework in Iran. The Muslim World, 94(4), 469–479.
Moosa, E. (2004). The dilemma of Islamic rights schemes. Journal of Law and Religion, 15(1 & 2), 185–215.
Morris, P. (2003). Dignity, difference and divergence: Religious and cultural alternatives to the universal declaration of human rights, human rights research. P. Morris, & H. Greatrex (eds.). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington.
Muntaẓirī, H. A. (1383 Shamsī/2004). Book of rights (Risālay-i Ḥuqūq). Sarāyī, Tehran. Official website of Hossein Ali Muntaẓirī. The ISSN register. https://amontazeri.com/. Accessed 26 July 2018.
Nasr, S. H., et al. (Eds.). (2015). The study Qurʾān, a new translation and commentary. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Price, D. (2002). Islam and human rights: A case of deceptive first appearances. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(2), 213–225.
Radiofarda. (1388 Shamsī/2010). The ISSN register. http://www.radiofarda.com. Accessed 26 July 2018.
Robinson, N. (1958). The universal declaration of human rights: Its origin, significance, application and interpretation. New York: Institute of Jewish Affairs.
Sachedina, A. (2007). The clash of universalisms: Religious and secular in human rights, the hedgehog review: Critical reflections on contemporary. Culture, 9(3), 49–62.
Sachedina, A. (2014). Islam and the challenge of human rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ṣāniʿī, Y. (1383 Shamsī/2004a). Barābarī-ya Qiṣāṣ (lit. Equality in retaliation). Muʾasasa-ya Farhangī-ya Fiqh ul-Thaqalayn. Qum. Official website of Yūsuf Ṣāniʿī. The ISSN register. http://saanei.xyz/. Accessed 24 July 2018.
Ṣāniʿī, Y. (1383 Shamsī/2004b). Barābarī-ya Dīyah (lit. Equality in blood money). Muʾasasa-ya Farhangī-ya Fiqh ul-Thaqalayn. Qum. Official website of Yūsuf Ṣāniʿī. The ISSN register. http://saanei.xyz/. Accessed 24 July 2018.
Ṣāniʿī, Y. (1388 Shamsī/2009). Shahādat-i Zan dar Islam (Woman’s testimony in court), 4th edition. Muʾasasa-ya Farhangī-ya Fiqh ul-Thaqalayn. Qum. Official website of Yūsuf Ṣāniʿī. The ISSN register. http://saanei.xyz/. Accessed 24 July 2018.
Ṣāniʿī, Y. (1390 Shamsī/2011). Ijtihad-i Pūyā Az Manẓar-i Faqīh-i Ahl-i Bayt-i Iṣmat wa Ṭahārat Ḥadhrat-i Ayatollah Al-ʿUẓmā Ṣāniʿī (Dynamic Ijtihad from the outlook of Ayatollah Al-ʿUẓmā Ṣāniʿī), 1st edition. Official website of Yūsuf Ṣāniʿī. The ISSN register. http://saanei.xyz/. Accessed 24 July 2018.
Tabandeh of Gunabad, Sultanhussein. (1970). A Muslim commentary on the universal declaration of human rights (translated to English by Abu’lfazl Hazeghi. F. T.) London: Goulding & Company Limited
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, M. H., et al. (1341 Shamsī/1962). Baḥthī Darbāra-yi Marjaʿīyyat wa Rawḥānīyat (A discussion on leadership and hierocracy). Shirkat-i Sahāmī-ya Intishār: n.p.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Chamankhah, L. (2019). Human Rights and Muslims. In: Woodward, M., Lukens-Bull, R. (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_36-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_36-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73653-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73653-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities