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S.M. Musawi: Islamic Human Rights Predate Western Concepts
Written by Grand Imam Sayyed Mohammed Musawi, Secretary General, World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League, United Kingdom
Monday, January 2, 2006
One of the biggest misunderstandings in the matter of human rights is that the “common rights” concept was shaped in Europe, specifically in Britain by the Magna Carta, which is, in fact, six or seven centuries after the establishment of Islam. In the Qur’an and in the hadiths, human rights are based on the principle of the dignity of human beings. The Qur’an says, “Surely we have honored the human beings.” And human rights in Islam, as far as the Qur’an and the hadiths are concerned, cover all areas of life.
If the government sets the rights, then they can be changed, be amended, be modified. The real human rights have been granted and given by the Creator of life, and these rights cannot be changed. When these rights come from Allah as a religious responsibility, then the enforcement and implementation of them take root in the heart of every believer. In that case, we don’t need the police or the military or the government to en force them because they are already in the heart of every believer.
I will list a few of the fourteen basic rights noted in the Qur’an. These rights apply to every human being, not just believers: the right to life (hayat), dignity and respect, justice (adl), and knowledge (ilm). As you know, in America the African blacks were deprived from knowledge, from learning. In fact, it was a punishable crime to find a black person who was learning. In Islam, the right to obtain knowledge applies to everybody. Men, women, everyone has a full right to gain knowledge. The right to earn, to amnesty, and to human freedom. Even the prophets cannot make people slaves for them. The right to human equality, religious freedom, protection against economic corruption, guidance, and life. Every human being has the full right to utilize all life phenomena in the right way and live a clean and healthy life. The last is the right to political freedom. Islam has given the right to political freedom to every human being. We find in the Qur’an that the best governors were the prophets.
Beside the Qur’anic verses concerning human rights, we have a comprehensive charter of rights laid out by Imam Zainul Abideen, the first imam of al-Bayt and great-grandson of the Prophet, May God grant peace upon him. Six centuries before the Magna Carta, Muslims had rights dealing with themselves, rights regarding their parents, rights concerning their wives and children, even rights to petition the governor. It is the most comprehensive charter of rights in one text.
Islam also provides for democracy, but not in the Western sense of the term. We are against dictatorships. In fact, Islam gives people the right to have a consultation (shura). Democracy is not even allowed to be discussed in some countries. If we cannot practice democracy in some Muslim countries because of their governments, we can do it in the West. Millions of Muslims are living in Europe and America. We need the mosques, the schools, the colleges, the universities, and the scholars, to work jointly to tell Muslims to utilize democracy in the noblest way in order to achieve the aims of Islam by using this civilized means, which is now available in the West for us.
[Source: Islamic Perspectives on Peace. Tarrytown, NY: Universal Peace Federation, 2006]