Human Rights in Islam

Islam gave humanity an ideal code of human rights 14 centuries ago. These rights seek to confer honor and dignity on humanity and to eliminate exploitation, oppression, and injustice.

These human rights are rooted firmly in the belief that God, and God alone, is the Source of all human rights. Due to their Divine origin, no ruler, government, assembly, or authority can curtail or violate in any way the human rights conferred by God, nor can they be surrendered, if they are to remain Muslims.

Human rights are an integral part of the overall Islamic order, and all Muslim governments and organs of society must implement them in letter and in spirit within that order’s framework. These rights, as compiled by eminent Muslim scholars based on the Qur’an and the Sunna, can be enumerated as follows:

·           All people are equal, and no one shall enjoy a privilege or suffer a disadvantage or discrimination due to his or her race, color, sex, origin, or language.

·           All people are born free.

·           Slavery and forced labor are abhorrent.

·           Conditions shall be established to preserve, protect, and honor the institution of family as the basis of all social life.

·           Both the rulers and the ruled are subject to, and equal before, the law.

·           Only those commands that conform to the law must be obeyed.

·           All worldly power is considered a sacred trust to be exercised within the limits prescribed by the law, in a manner approved by it, and with due regard for its priorities.

·           All economic resources shall be treated as Divine blessings bestowed upon humanity and shall be enjoyed by all, in accordance with the rules and values set out in the Qur’an and the Sunna.

·           All public affairs shall be determined and conducted by mutual consultation, and the authority to administer them shall be exercised according to this consensus.

·           Everyone shall undertake obligations proportionate to one’s capacity and shall be held responsible pro rata for one’s deeds.

·           If a person’s rights are infringed upon, he or she shall be assured of appropriate remedial measures in accordance with the law.

·           No one shall be deprived of his or her rights guaranteed by the law, except by its authority and to the extent permitted by it.

·           Every individual shall have the right to bring legal action against anyone who commits a crime against society as a whole or against any of its members.

·           Every legally permitted effort shall be made to secure humanity’s deliverance from every type of exploitation, injustice, and oppression, and to ensure humanity’s security, dignity, and liberty as set out in the law.

Right to Belief and Practicing One’s Belief

·           Every person is free to prefer a belief and practice it, although Islam has a right to be communicated to everyone in accordance with God’s rules and the Messenger’s practice. No one can be coerced to believe, not believe, or choose a certain belief.

·           No one shall insult or ridicule the religious beliefs of others or incite public hostility against them, for all Muslims are obligated to respect the religious feelings of others.

Right to Life

·           As human life is sacred and inviolable, every effort must be made to protect it. No one can be exposed to injury or death, unless the law permits it.

·           Just as in life, so also after death the sanctity of a person’s corpse shall be inviolable. Muslims must ensure that a deceased person’s corpse is handled with due solemnity.

Right to Freedom

·           Every person is born free. No inroads can be made upon his or her right to liberty, except under law’s authority and due process.

·           Every individual and people has the inalienable right to physical, cultural, economic, political, and all other types of freedom, and are entitled to struggle by all available means against any infringement or abrogation of this right. In addition, every oppressed individual or people has a legitimate claim upon the support of other individuals and/or peoples in such a struggle.

Right to Equality and Prohibition of Impermissible Discrimination

·           All persons are equal before the law and are entitled to equal opportunity and its protection.

·           No person can be denied the opportunity to work, be discriminated against, or exposed to greater physical risk due to religious belief, color, race, origin, sex, or language.

Right to Justice

·           Every person has the right to be treated in accordance with the law, and only in accordance with the law.

·           Every person has the right and the obligation to protest injustice, to use any recourse to provided by the law to remedy any unwarranted personal injury or loss, to self-defense against any charges laid against him or her, and to obtain fair adjudication before an independent judicial tribunal in any dispute with public authorities or with another person.

·           Every person has the right and duty to defend the rights of any other person and the community in general (hisba).

·           No person can be discriminated against while seeking to defend private and public rights.

·           Every Muslim has the right to refuse to obey any command that is contrary to the law, no matter by whom it may be issued.

Right to a Fair Trial

·           No person can be judged guilty of an offence and made liable to punishment before his or her guilt has been proven an independent judicial tribunal.

·           No person can be judged guilty before a fair trial and a reasonable opportunity for self-defense.

·           Punishment shall be meted out in accordance with the law in proportion to the seriousness of the offence, and with due consideration of the surrounding circumstances.

·           No act can be considered a crime, unless the law clearly stipulates it as such.

·           Every individual is responsible for his or her actions. Responsibility for a crime cannot be placed upon other members of the family or group, who are not directly or indirectly involved in the crime in question.

Right to Protection against the Abuse of Power

·           Every person has the right to protection against harassment by official agencies. A person is liable to account for himself or herself only when defending himself or herself against specific charges when there exists a reasonable suspicion of involvement.

Right to Protection against Torture

·           No person can be subjected to physical or mental torture; degraded; threatened either with personal injury or injury to his or her relatives or loved ones; made to confess to a crime; or forced to do something against his or her own will.

Right to Protection of Honor and Reputation

·           Every person has the right to protect his or her honor and reputation against calumny, groundless charges, or defamation and blackmail.

Right to Asylum

·           Every persecuted or oppressed person has the right to seek refuge and asylum, irrespective of his or her race, religion, color, and sex.

·           The Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram) in Makka is a sanctuary for all Muslims.

Rights of Minorities

·           The Qur’anic principle of no compulsion in religion governs the religious rights of non-Muslim minorities.

·           In a Muslim country, religious minorities have the choice to have their civil and personal matters governed by Islamic law or their own law.

Right and Obligation to Participate in Managing Public Affairs

·           Subject to the law, every individual in the community is entitled to assume public office.

·           Free consultation (shura) is the basis of the administrative relationship between the government and the people, and people can remove their rulers in accordance with it.

Right to the Freedom of Belief, Thought, and Speech

·           Every person has the right to express his or her thoughts and beliefs so long as he or she remains within the law’s limits. However, no one is entitled to disseminate falsehood, circulate reports that may outrage public decency, indulge in slander or innuendo, or cast defamatory aspersions on others.

·           The pursuit of knowledge and truth is a right and a duty of every Muslim.

·           Every Muslim has the right and duty to protest and strive (within the law’s limits) against oppression, even if it involves challenging the state’s highest authority.

·           There is no bar on disseminating information, provided it does not endanger the security of the society or the state, and is confined within the law’s limits.

Right to Free Association

·           Every person is entitled to participate, individually and collectively, in the community’s religious, social, cultural, and political life, and to establish institutions and agencies that promote good and prevent evil.

·           Every person is entitled to work for establishing institutions that will allow these rights to be enjoyed. Collectively, the community is obliged to establish the conditions that will allow its members to fully develop their personalities.

The Economic Order and Related Rights

·           All persons are entitled to the full benefits of nature and its resources to pursue their economic interests. These are blessings bestowed by God to benefit humanity as a whole.

·           All people are entitled to earn their living according to the law.

·           Every person is entitled to own property individually or in association with others. State ownership of certain economic resources in the public interest is legitimate.

·           The poor have the right to a prescribed share in the wealth of the rich, as fixed by zakat and levied and collected in accordance with the law.

·           All means of production shall be used to benefit the community as a whole, and may not be neglected or misused.

·           In order to promote the development of a balanced economy and to protect society from exploitation, Islamic law forbids monopolies, unreasonable restrictive trade practices, usury, coerced contracts, and publishing misleading advertisements.

·           All economic activities are permitted, provided they do not harm the community’s interests or violate Islamic laws and values.

Right to Protection of Property

·           No property may be expropriated, except by the law, in the public interest and on payment of fair and adequate compensation.

Status and Dignity of Workers     

·           Islam honors work and the worker, and enjoins Muslims to treat workers justly and generously. They must be paid what they have earned promptly, and also entitled to adequate rest and leisure.

Right to Social Security

·           Every person has the right to food, shelter, clothing, education, and medical care consistent with the community’s resources. This communal obligation extends in particular to all individuals who cannot take care of themselves due to some temporary or permanent disability.

Right to Establish a Family and Related Matters

·           Every person is entitled to marry, establish a family, and bring up children according to his or her religion, and culture. Every spouse is entitled to such rights and privileges, and carries such obligations as stipulated by the law.

·           Each spouse is entitled to respect and consideration from the other spouse.

·           Every husband is obliged to maintain his wife and children according to his means.

·           Every child has the right to be maintained and properly brought up by his or her parents. Children cannot be made to work at an early age or bear any burden that might arrest or harm their natural development.

·           If parents cannot discharge their obligations toward their children, the community must fulfill these obligations at public expense.

·           Every person is entitled to material support, care, and protection from his or her family during childhood, old age, or incapacity. Parents are entitled to material support, care, and protection from their children.

·           Motherhood is entitled to special respect, care, and assistance from the family and the community’s public agencies.

·           Within the family, men and women are to share in their obligations and responsibilities according to their gender, natural endowments, talents, and inclinations, bearing in mind their common responsibilities toward their progeny and relatives.

·           No person may be married against his or her will, lose, or suffer a diminished legal personality on account of marriage.

Rights of Married Women

Every married woman is entitled to:

·           live in the house in which her husband lives;

·           receive what she needs to maintain a standard of living that is not inferior to that of her spouse, and, in the event of divorce, receive during her waiting period (‘idda) support commensurate with her husband’s resources both for herself and the children she nurses or keeps, irrespective of her own financial status, earnings, or property held in her own right;

·           seek and obtain a dissolution of marriage in accordance with the law, as well as to seek a divorce through the courts;

·           inherit from her husband, parents, children, and other relatives according to the law;

·           strict confidentiality from her spouse, or ex-spouse if divorced, with regard to any personal information that, if made public, could harm her interests. Her husband or ex-husband also has similar rights over her.

Right to Education

·           Every person is entitled to receive an education in accordance with his or her natural capability.

·           Every person is entitled to freely choose his or her profession and career, and to the opportunity for full personal development.

Right of Privacy

·           Every person is entitled to the protection of privacy. Suspicion, spying, slandering, and backbiting are all forbidden.

Right to Freedom of Movement and Residence

·           Every Muslim has the right to freely move in and out of Muslim lands.

·           No one shall be forced to leave his or her country of residence or be deported arbitrarily without recourse to due process.