Gender And Human Rights In Islam And International Law

This important study offers a conceptual analysis of gender and human rights under Islamic law, state law and international law, and extends this analysis to a specific examination of the nature of women's rights in the Islamic tradition. It explores the disparity between the theoretical perspective on women's rights and its applications to Muslim jurisdictions, determined by elements of cultural practices, socio-economic realities and political expediences, and uses the example of Pakistan to demonstrate the divergence between the theory and practice of Islamic law in these jurisdictions. It discusses the concept of an emerging 'operative' Islamic law, which includes principles of Islamic law, secular codes and popular custom and usage.

Religion plays a pivotal role in the way women are treated around the world, socially and legally. This book discusses three Islamic human rights approaches: secular, non-compatible, reconciliatory (compatible), and proposes a contextual interpretive approach. It is argued that the current gender discriminatory statutory Islamic laws in Islamic jurisdictions, based on the decontextualised interpretation of the Koran, can be reformed through Ijtihad: independent individual reasoning. It is claimed that the original intention of the Koran was to protect the rights of women and raise their status in society, not to relegate them to subordination. This Koranic intention and spirit may be recaptured through the proposed contextual interpretation which in fact means using an Islamic (or insider) strategy to achieve gender equality in Muslim states and greater compatibility with international human rights law. It discusses the negative impact of the so-called statutory Islamic laws of Pakistan on the enjoyment of women’s human rights and robustly challenges their Koranic foundation. While supporting the international human rights regime, this book highlights the challenges to its universality: feminism and cultural relativism. To achieve universal application, genuine voices from different cultures and groups must be accommodated. It is argued that the women’s human rights regime does not cover all issues of concern to women and has a weak implementation mechanism. The book argues for effective implementation procedures to turn women’s human rights into reality.

Deepening the discussion of the relationship between Islamic law and human rights, this volume gathers leading experts in both fields to examine how each system protects and limits fundamental freedoms. From gender equality to freedom of religion the book explores the main flashpoints in the debate, examining the operation of the law in context.

Islam and womena (TM)s human rights entertain an uneasy relationship. Much has been written on the subject. This volume addresses it from a new perspective. It attempts to define some basis for constructive dialogue and interaction in the context of international law and, more precisely, in the context of participation of many Muslim States in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Having discovered a constructive potential in both Islam and womena (TM)s human rights, the author concentrates on the role which international law should play in promoting dialogue and constructive interaction. This is done mainly through analysis of the regime of reservations and of the practice of reservations developed in the context of Muslim Statesa (TM) participation in the CEDAW. The basic thesis defended is the following: Islam as articulated in the practice of States and womena (TM)s human rights, as reflected in international instruments, are both results of human activity. Their analysis in this study reveals more commonalities than one might expect. International law should be more attentive to their voices and more innovative in using these commonalities in order to promote constructive dialogue between them and thus help to improve the situation of women suffering from discrimination and inequalities.

Muslims in the Islamic.

Mona Samadi examines the sources of gender differences within the Islamic tradition, with particular focus on guardianship, and describes the opportunities and challenges for advancing the legal status of women.

Traditional Islamic law has long been regarded as academic, local in nature, and relevant only as a measure of the inadequacy of women's rights in the family law regimes of a few Islamic states. In opposition, the author argues that the Sharia is both a quasi-regional customary international law capable of competing with prevailing customary international law, and brings its own international agenda of "Islamic human rights" that compete with and seek to displace "Western human rights." Rather than acknowledging the rights of Muslims qua Muslims internationally, aggressive proponents of an "American customary-law-of-human-rights school" have responded with a new militant doctrine of "instant customary law" to aid the U.S. in its "war on terror," targeting the Sharia wherever encountered, and risking a global "war on Islam."