Human Rights Commitments Of Islamic States

"This book examines the legal nature of "an" Islamic state and the human rights it commits to uphold. It offers the first study into Islamic constitutions to map the relationship between Sharia and the state in terms of institutions. This also supports an assessment of the place of Sharia in the national legal order. The book unites three strands of analysis: the compatibility of Sharia with the rights enunciated in UN treaties; the patterns of adherence of Islamic states to human rights treaties; and the compatibility of international Islamic human rights declarations with UN standards. By exploring all formal human rights commitments of all Islamic states within a single analytical framework, it will appeal to international human rights and constitutional scholars with an interest in Islamic law and states"--

This research - undertaken from a comparative perspective with a view to identifying any patterns followed by Islamic countries in making declarations and reservations to the main international human rights treaties - measures and analyzes to what extent Sharia affects the ratification and implementation of human rights norms by Muslim States. An analysis of the various roles of Sharia reveals different approaches in the use of Islamic considerations by Muslim States. At an international level, Sharia has always been used upon the ratification of international human rights treaties to limit the scope of the State's engagement. Internally, however, some recent examples of legislative amendments and judicial activities demonstrate that Sharia is and can be used to achieve a better translation of human rights norms into domestic practice.

This book examines the legal nature of Islamic states and the human rights they have committed to uphold. It begins with an overview of the political history of Islam, and of Islamic law, focusing primarily on key developments of the first two centuries of Islam. Building on this foundation, the book presents the first study into Islamic constitutions to map the relationship between Sharia and the state in terms of institutions of governance. It then assesses the place of Islamic law in the national legal order of all of today's Islamic states, before proceeding to a comprehensive analysis of those states' adherences to the UN human rights treaties, and finally, a set of international human rights declarations made jointly by Islamic states. Throughout, the focus remains on human rights. Having examined Islamic law first in isolation, then as it reflects into state structures and national constitutional orders, the book provides the background necessary to understand how an Islamic state's treaty commitments reflect into national law. In this endeavour, the book unites three strands of analysis: the compatibility of Sharia with the human rights enunciated in UN treaties; the patterns of adherence of Islamic states with those treaties; and the compatibility of international Islamic human rights declarations with UN standards. By exploring the international human rights commitments of all Islamic states within a single analytical framework, this book will appeal to international human rights and constitutional scholars with an interest in Islamic law and states. It will also be useful to readers with a general interest in the relationships between Sharia, Islamic states, and internationally recognised human rights.

Freedom of religion is a subject, which has throughout human history been a source of profound disagreements and conflict. In the modern era, religious-based intolerance continues to provide lacerative and tormenting concern to the possibility of congenial human relationships. As the present study examines, religions have been relied upon to perpetuate discrimination and inequalities, and to victimise minorities to the point of forcible assimilation and genocide. The study provides an overview of the complexities inherent in the freedom of religion within international law and an analysis of the cultural-religious relativist debate in contemporary human rights law. As many of the chapters examine, Islamic State practices have been a major source of concern. In the backdrop of the events of 11 September 2001, a considerable focus of this volume is upon the Muslim world, either through the emergent State practices and existing constitutional structures within Muslim majority States or through Islamic diasporic communities resident in Europe and North-America.

In the last few years, issues related to human rights, including encouraging the democratization of Muslim societies from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, have acquired great importance in shaping the character of U.S.-Muslim relations and U.S. policy toward Muslim countries. An important impetus behind this development were the tragic events of 9/11, which demonstrated the destructive potential of militant groups that use a distorted interpretation of Islam as justification for their actions. These events also led to a greater realization by the United States--and the West--that a lack of democracy and lack of respect for human rights have been contributory factors to the rise of militant Islam. Consequently, in its approach toward the Muslim world, the United States has emphasized the themes of human rights and democracy. Within the Islamic world, too, both secular and moderate Islamists have begun focusing on issues related to human rights. Although many conservative Muslims believe that Islam is incompatible with Western notions of democracy and human rights, reformist Muslim thinkers and activists maintain that a proper reading of Islamic injunctions and the ethical values underpinning those injunctions shows there is no such incompatibility. Complicating the debate is the fact that many Muslims--secular as well as conservative and reformist--doubt the seriousness of the U.S. commitment to the cause of human rights and democracy in the Muslim world, believing that the United States applies human rights' standards selectively to suit its strategic and economic interests. Irrespective of the validity of these charges, they are part of the context of the U.S.-Muslim dialogue on human rights. And it is this complex dialogue that this volume seeks to advance.

This volume examines the important question of whether or not international human rights and Islamic law are compatible. It asks whether Muslim States can comply with international human rights law whilst adhering to Islamic law. The traditional arguments on this subject are examined and responded to from both international human rights and Islamic legal perspectives. The volume engages international human rights law in theoretical dialogue with Islamic law, facilitating an evaluation of the human rights policy of modern Muslim States. International Human Rights and Islamic Law formulates a synthesis between these two extremes, and argues that although there are differences of scope and application, there is no fundamental incompatibility between these two bodies of law. Baderin argues that their differences could be better addressed if the concept of human rights were positively established from within the themes of Islamic law, rather than by imposing it upon Islamic law as an alien concept. Each article of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as relevant articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women are analysed in the light of Islamic law. The volume concludes that it is possible to harmonise the differences between international human rights law and Islamic law through the adoption of the 'margin of appreciation' doctrine by international human rights treaty bodies and the utilization of the Islamic law doctrines of 'maqâsid al-sharî'ah' (the overall objective of Sharî'ah) and 'maslahah' (welfare) by Muslim States in their interpretation and application of Islamic law respectively. Baderin asserts that Islamic law can serve as an important vehicle for the guarantee and enforcement of international human rights law in the Muslim world, and the volume concludes with recommendations to that effect.

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - Topic: Public International Law and Human Rights, grade: 1,5, University of Edinburgh, language: English, abstract: During the last few decades, growing attention has been paid to the enforcement (and the prevention of the abuse) of fundamental human rights, mainly facilitated by the International Human Rights Regime. Moreover, human rights-issues are increasingly subject to a controversial international debate, especially in the light of continuous globalisation, events such as 9/11 and rising cross-cultural communication. One specific discussion-point concerns ‘Islam and Human Rights’, the crux of the matter being the compatibility of Islamic normative values with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Every scholar who approaches this debate more profoundly automatically comes across with the Universalist/Cultural- Relativist-debate. These academics go a step further. They are concerned with the evaluation of the compatibility-analysis and discuss the validity and consequences of such an analysis.1 However, the following paper operates independently of the Universalist/Relativist debate. The aim is to explore the compatibility of the Islamic tradition with the Universal Declaration, and the author believes that the most appropriate approach is an objective comparison, without judging the result of the analysis in any way. 2 The first and second section sketch the basic characteristics of the UDHR and Islam. An understanding of both doctrines is a necessary tool for the purpose of this essay. The third part analyses the compatibility of both doctrines on two levels. The essay then outlines the diverse Muslim positions regarding human rights in Islam. This is essential to be able to draw a sound conclusion concerning the compatibility of Islam with the UDHR, in the last section. 1 Universalists maintain the validity of the UDHR-doctrine and often criticise the Islamic- or other traditions on grounds of their non-conformity with the International Bill of Human Rights. Cultural Relativists, on the other hand, argue that the doctrine of universal human rights is challenged by different moral claims derived from different cultural contexts. Compare Jones (2001:51-76), Brown (1999:103-127), Pollis (2000:9-30), Schmale (1993:3-27), Rüsen (1993:28-46), Donelly (1998: 1-23) and Huntington (1997). 2 Also, the term ‘compatibility’ does not imply a notion of superiority (of one over the other doctrine) in this context.

Available now for the first time in English, the most important work of one of the great moderate political leaders of the Muslim world Rached Ghannouchi has long been known as a reformist or moderate Islamist thinker. In Public Freedoms in the Islamic State, his most influential book, he argues that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—in its broad outlines—should be widely accepted by Muslims under the correct interpretation of Islamic law and theology. Under his theory of the purposes of Shari‘a, justice and human welfare are not exclusive to Islamic governance, and the objectives of Islamic law can be advanced in multiple ways. Appearing in English translation here for the first time, this book is a major statement by one of the most important political theorists in the modern Middle East.