A Look at Human Rights

The Reasons and Motives for Setting Human Rights in Islam

The fundamentals upon which the human rights were set in Islam are very different from those in the West, so their motives and reasons will also naturally differ to a great deal. Let us consider some of the reasons and motives for establishing human rights in Islam: 

1-In Islam, the life and death of one human being is regarded as equal to the life and death of all of mankind. Thus, Islam elevates mankind way beyond quantities to the domain of qualities. See the Holy Koran, (The Table, 5:32) . 

2-The true value of kindness and charity toward people lies in the charitable deed itself. In other words, man must be kind for God's sake alone, not for the reward he might get from others. See the Holy Koran, (Man, 76:9).

3-The closest of human beings to God is the one who is the most helpful and useful to others. Everyone should run to aid their fellow beings. As a hadith says:

الخلق کلهم عيال الله و احبهم اليه انفعهم لهم

"All people are like God's family; the most loved by God is the one who is the most useful and helpful to people." 

4-Islam believes all human beings to be members of one big family. Their relationship must be one of brotherhood and harmony.

5-Islam categorizes human beings into several groups. However, they all still have a series of common rights in Islam, which are:

a)the right to live,

b) the right to innate greatness,

c)the right to work,

d)the right to education, and

e)the right to freedom.

6-The divine, supernatural factor is necessary for human development and prosperity, and Islam has put much emphasis on it. 

The Ad Valorem Theorems in the Human Rights Declaration

Let us now study and analyze some of the ad valorem issues included in the Declaration of Human Rights:

1-Man: Everything in the Declaration of Human Rights is based on mankind. Here we are concerned with how it interprets man. According to the Declaration, is man the same creature born by unconscious laws of nature, who spends his aimless life destroying the earth, fighting his fellow men, and quenching his endless desires for pleasure, and is eventually buried under the ground? Or is man the meaningful being who, according to righteous religions created by God's will and wisdom, has been made to head for a meaningful end? If we accept the first interpretation man would be a totally selfish creature, seeing himself as the end and others as the means; a being who only thinks of seeking his own pleasures, human innate values and greatness have no meaning at all. The Declaration of Human Rights unfortunately does not – even once – say a word about the necessity of piety, or encourage people to seek it; as we know, man can have no superiority, dignity, greatness or value without piety.

2-Man's Virtual Dignity: The key to freedom, peace and justice is accepting man's munificence, his greatness, which is not possible without admitting that man has virtual dignity. Unless this goal is established, the destructive formula, "I am the end, the others are the means" will always prevail. Man's virtual munificence and dignity is the most important issue in the human rights, and all intellectuals should keep its necessity in mind. 

3-Members of the Human Family: One of man's greatest ideals is having all human beings related to each other. Unfortunately, ever since social life arose, human beings have never felt themselves united, except for when God-sent leaders made them recognize their virtual ability to be one. We cannot have people keep their unity and relationship unless they join with the supernatural, where they originate from. If man is to stop seeking his own benefit and think about others' benefit, he must have a common, divine goal.

4-Brotherhood and Equality: This is undoubtedly one of the greatest ideals in social human life. All of God's prophets and true men of wisdom have tried to make it a reality. But alas, the tyrants of history have always destroyed it. Brotherhood among men is the fertilization of the highest possible concept of unity and emotion.

5-Friendly Relationships: One of man's oldest wishes throughout history has been to have all of mankind live in friendship and peace. So far, due to selfishness and alienation from the true human self, the relationships among human beings, in particular between the powerful and the meek, have been one of wolves and sheep. 

6-The Spirit of humanity: is also one of the valuable concepts in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If the spirit and soul of mankind, with all its glory and holiness, were truly respected by the powerful leaders of the world, history would have definitely taken a different course, and many human beings would not have been oppressed and undergone so much atrocity. The human spirit, however, can be considered as sacred only when it is regarded as a non-physical, non-materialistic issue, not merely a part of the nervous system.

7-Equal rights: Recognizing human rights and establishing equality among all is one of the highest wishes of developed man. Its reality, alas, throughout history has seldom gone beyond writings and lectures.

8-Freedom: Freedom has been defined in a variety of ways. Let us define it as the factor providing the survival of a desired life and the supervision and dominance of the human character upon the pros and cons of an action on the path to the good. One of the points of criticism the Declaration of Human Rights undergoes is that it emphasizes natural freedom so much that spiritual freedom has been ignored. Even some of man's collective rights, like avoiding weaknesses, have been neglected. 

 

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