Human rights in the Islamic world

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In addition to the United Nations' Western-style Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights declarations have also been drawn up in the Arab world. In response to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations” of 1948 and as a result of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Council of Europe passed the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Islam” in 1981. This was followed in 1990 by the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam , which was drafted at the Foreign Ministers' Conference of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and signed by 57 Muslim countries. Both declarations are a criticism of the Western-style Universal Declaration of Human Rights and claim Islam as the basis and origin of human rights. However, both declarations are not binding under international law and are more of a symbolic character.

Comparison of documented human rights from the UN and from the Arab world

In order to show differences and similarities, the table compares the three stated declarations on the basis of three exemplary human rights - "Freedom and equality", "Prohibition of torture" and "Freedom of thought, conscience and religion". This selection is arbitrary insofar as it was selected only on the basis of comparability.

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (September 19, 1981) Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (August 5, 1990)
All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights (Art. 1)

Everyone has the right to the rights and freedoms proclaimed in this declaration ... (Art. 2)

Man's freedom, like his life, is sacred. It is the first natural characteristic with which a person is born (...) and is inalienable. (Art. 2a)

All people are equal before šarî'a (...). (Art. 3a)

Every thought, every legislation and every condition that allows a distinction to be made between individuals on the basis of gender, race, color, language or religion is a direct obstruction of this general Islamic principle. (Art. 3b)

(...) All people are equal in dignity, duties and responsibility (...)

Truthful faith is the guarantee of attaining such dignity on the path to human perfection. (Art. 1a)

Nobody may be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Art. 5) Torturing the wrongdoer, let alone the accused, is not allowed (...). Whatever the nature of the offense or the punishment provided by law, the human dignity and honor of the person must remain intact. (Art. 7a, b) The right to physical integrity is guaranteed. (...) it is forbidden to violate this right unless there is a reason prescribed by Sharia law. (Art. 2d)
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (...) (Art. 18) Anyone can think, believe and express what he thinks and believes without being interfered or hindered by another, as long as he remains within the general limits prescribed by the sari'a. It is not allowed to spread untruths or to publish what serves to spread the shamelessness or weakening of the ummah (...). (Art. 12a)

Everyone has the freedom of belief and practice of religion according to his belief: "You have your religion and I mine" (Koran 109: 6). (Art. 13)

Islam is the religion of pure nature. It is forbidden to put any kind of pressure on a person or to take advantage of his poverty or ignorance to convert him to another religion or to atheism. (Art. 10)

In comparison to the UN declaration, freedom and equality are restricted by true faith and the šarî'a in the two Arabic declarations. Although human freedom is inalienable, only those who have true faith are also equal in dignity. With regard to the prohibition of torture, which was expressly declared in the UN Charter and can also be found in a similar form in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, an exception is incorporated into the Cairo Declaration. It says here that the right to physical integrity is guaranteed, but this can be restricted if there is a reason given in the šarî'a. Similar reasons for exceptions are also recorded in the two Islamic declarations with regard to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. According to Art. 12a of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, one is free to exercise these rights, but only if what is said is true and is not used to damage the community of Muslims - the Ummah . Here, too, the legal basis is the šarî'a . With regard to religious freedom, Art. 10 of the Cairo Declaration regards Islam as the true religion and attempts to convert is prohibited.

criticism

The Islamic human rights declarations are criticized by liberal Muslim thinkers as inadequate and are inferior to the human rights standards of the UDHR. Furthermore, it should be viewed critically that the interpretation and jurisprudence of human rights is based on the šarî'a, which makes it difficult to apply human rights uniformly in Islam. Fundamentally, the political implementation of and compliance with human rights continue to be in need of improvement, both in the Western and in the Arab countries. For as long as human rights organizations such as the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch report on human rights violations, is obviously not enough of these rights done for the implementation of and compliance - regardless of whether Western or Arab countries miss this.

The culturalistic appropriation of emancipatory ideas

In the western world it is often argued that Islam is incompatible with a democratic political system. In the Arab world , however, many Muslims, both intellectuals and ordinary citizens, disagree with this statement.

The origin of emancipatory ideas does not go back to a single culture . The political ideas that emerged from them , such as human rights and democracy , have a long history. Nevertheless, particularist and culturalist approaches to argumentation, as well as universalistic ones , can lead to democracy. Particularist approaches with such an orientation appear in different societies at different times. Michael Walzer calls this “repetitive universalism”, which is part of the universal history of mankind and at the same time belongs to the particular history of a people. The specific experiences of each culture mean that the design of the results, such as B. a democracy, although similar to each other, but not completely identical. In addition, the repetition of ideas is inevitably influenced by their predecessors. In the case of the ideas of democracy and human rights, this usually leads in the Arab world to their rejection as an element of Western imperialism . So that these countries can still participate in repetitive universalism, it helps to look for motifs and images that give these emancipatory ideas a meaning within their culture. Such a culturalistic appropriation, which demonstrates the compatibility of the ideas with the Arab cultural conceptions, can give these ideas access to the dominant discourse.

The hegemonic discourse position

According to Holger Zapf, the “Islamist hegemonic project” in the Arab world is largely in control of the discourse. Based on Nonhoff's analysis of hegemony, Zapf describes Islam as the “central empty signifier” in Arab political discourse. An empty signifier stands for a comprehensive demand that is to be enforced “within the framework of hegemonic practice”. This demand is aimed at an Islamic social order, with the empty signifier marking the limits of this discourse. This means that everything that is un-Islamic no longer belongs to the hegemonic discourse and is viewed as illegitimate. The empty signifier comprises many individual requirements, e.g. B. for the rule of God, social justice and self-determination. Human rights and democracy are indeed demanded by liberal intellectuals, but they only play a very subordinate role in the hierarchy of these demands.

Strategies for counter hegemonies

Nevertheless, according to Holger Zapf, there is an opportunity to change the Arab human rights and democracy discourse. He names three strategies for this: The first is to change the content of the central empty signifier Islam or to emphasize a certain meaning. For example, congruences and continuities of civilizations can be highlighted, such as the connection between Islam and democracy. Second, the central empty signifier can be retained, while individual claims are removed and replaced by counterclaims. The philosopher al-Jaberi, for example, pursues this strategy. Finally, the central empty signifier can also be replaced. But this is only possible if an alternative demand is presented more convincingly than the hegemonic demand for the Islamic social order. So the third strategy is the one that brings the biggest changes and is also the hardest to implement.

A philosophical perspective on human rights in the Islamic world

The Moroccan philosopher Mohammad Abed al-Jabri offers a possible perspective of interpretation, especially on human rights in Islam . He refers to a variety of interpretations in Islamic political thought and claims that the definition and claim of rights “- that is, legal practice - has to be oriented towards the common good (maslaha) according to its intentions (maqasid). Even if it is assumed that the Sharia, as divine law, cannot be changed, this orientation towards the common good enables flexible application of otherwise rigid rules ”. In this context, Al-Jabri's intention is to legitimize the universal validity of human rights by proving their similar mention in the Koran in the sense of “repetitive universalism”. Thus Al-Jabri does not move outside the so-called empty signifier “Islam”, but advocates revolutionary reform ideas in order to open a philosophical perspective on human rights. He describes human rights in their current form as not being considered in Islamic political thought. He stresses, however, that this can only be understandable, since the current definition of these rights is to be understood as a product of the social and economic development of Europe and the Western world in general. At the same time, however, he assumes that what was not originally thought can still be thought. According to Al-Jabri, one possible cause of the inadequate definition of human rights in Islamic political thought is that there has been a strong focus on the definition of rule, the principles of good rule and the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. In this context, Islamic scholars ( fuqaha ) have also formulated the rights of God and some human rights. The human rights defined by the fuqaha find their legitimation basis in the fact that they are to serve the well-being of humanity in this world and the hereafter. According to Al-Jabri, these rights have little in common with the current conception of human rights. To illustrate this, some examples are given, such as the blood right of the family of a murdered person, the man's right to honor abuse or defamation, and the right to revenge on the principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Al-jabri advises against thinking further about human rights in this context and argues that such an approach amounts to a projection of what can be thought today in the Islamic world , onto a time when human rights in their present form are not could be thought. He suggests redefining human rights in direct reference to the texts in the Koran and the hadiths . With this in mind, he cites some wording on the rights of people from the Koran and the hadiths: the right to life and enjoyment, the right to believe, to know and to advice (shura), the right to equality and justice, as well as the Rights of the oppressed. Al-Jabri then recommends a contemporary formulation of these abstractly formulated rights in connection with the fight against poverty and injustice in the Islamic world.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ali Al-Nasani: Religion - Human Rights in Islam. In: Amnesty International Journal. January 2002 via http://www.amnesty.de/umleitung/2002/deu05/010 (last accessed November 13, 2016).
  2. ^ Anne Duncker: Human Rights and Islam. In: http://www.bpb.de/internationales/weltweit/ Menschenrechte / 38719 / Menschenrechte-und-islam? P = all 2009. (Accessed November 13, 2016); Rainer Huhle: Brief History of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In: https://www.bpb.de/internationales/ Worldwide / Menschenrechte / 38643 / geschichte-der-Menschenrechtserklaerung? P = all 2008. (Accessed November 13, 2016).
  3. ↑ See ibid.
  4. ↑ Amaney Amal, Mark Tessler: The Arab Aspiration for Democracy. In: Larry S. Diamond, Marc F. Plattner (Eds.): How People View Democracy. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp. 132f.
  5. ↑ Holger Zapf: Human rights and democracy in the Arab political discourse. In: Sybille De La Rosa, Sophia Schubert, Holger Zapf (eds.): Transcultural Political Theory. Trans- and intercultural political theory and history of ideas. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2016, p. 179.
  6. ↑ Michael Walzer: Local Criticism - Global Standards. Two forms of moral argument. Rotbuch-Verlag, Hamburg 1996, p. 144.
  7. ↑ Holger Zapf: Human rights and democracy in the Arab political discourse. In: Sybille De La Rosa, Sophia Schubert, Holger Zapf (eds.): Transcultural Political Theory. Trans- and intercultural political theory and history of ideas. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2016, p. 179f.
  8. ↑ a b cf. ibid. 185
  9. ↑ See ibid. 184
  10. ↑ Martin Nonhoff: Political Discourse Analysis as Hegemony Analysis. In: Martin Nonhoff (Ed.): Discourse - Radical Democracy - Hegemony: On Political Thinking by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Transcript Verlag, 2007, p. 183.
  11. ↑ Holger Zapf: Human rights and democracy in the Arab political discourse. In: Sybille De La Rosa, Sophia Schubert, Holger Zapf (eds.): Transcultural Political Theory. Trans- and intercultural political theory and history of ideas. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2016, p. 191.
  12. ↑ See ibid. 181
  13. ↑ See ibid. 188
  14. ↑ See ibid. 189f.
  15. ↑ Holger Zapf: Human rights and democracy in the Arab political discourse. In: Sybille De La Rosa, Sophia Schubert, Holger Zapf (eds.): Transcultural Political Theory. Trans- and intercultural political theory and history of ideas. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 16 2016.
  16. ↑ See ibid. 20th
  17. ↑ Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri: Democracy, Human Rights and Law in Islamic Thought. IB Tauris, New York / London 2009, p. 249.
  18. ↑ a b cf. ibid. 250