A Look at Human Rights

The Points in Common between the Western and Islamic Views on the Human Rights

There are several things in common between the human rights Islam presents and the Declaration of Human Rights:

1-Both regard the right to live as quite serious.

2-Both have paid significant attention to human dignity.

3-In both systems, the right to education is considered as one of the responsibilities of social leaders.

4-They both consider the right to freedom as one of the primary rights, which should be provided by the government and the society.

5-They both approve of the right to equality.

Let us now consider what they have in common and how they differ:

1-The Right to Live: In both systems, the right to have a deserved life, freedom, security, and the elimination of torture, atrocity and inhuman behavior has been emphasized. Nevertheless, there are some points of difference between them:

a)In contrary to the Western system, Islam believes life to be a blessing from God.

b)The Declaration of Human Rights considers governments and states all around the world responsible for executing the laws concerning the right to live, but there is no guarantee whether they will actually be carried out or not.

c)Islamic human rights state that human life cannot be destroyed by any means at all, but the Western human rights does not. In Islam, nobody is allowed to bring harm to his own life, and if others bring harm to him, the issue must be resolved and compensated.

d)The right to live is so significant in Islam that even abortion is not allowed – except for highly dangerous cases.

2-Human Dignity: This principle has also received attention in both systems. However, Islam believes there are two forms of dignity:

a)The innate, natural dignity and greatness all human beings possess.

b)The value-based dignity arising from activating human potentials on the path to perfection.

The points in common between the two systems regarding human dignity are:

a)All human beings are entitled to dignity.

b)No human being can be humiliated.

c)Man's dignity brings him certain rights and duties in order to carry it out.

d)No political preference or social situation can eliminate man's dignity.

e)Torture, disturbance or insult of any kind is forbidden.

f)No individual's name, dignity or reputation should be insulted.

g)Every individual is entitled to the standard of life required to provide him/her and his/her family with a healthy, dignified living.

The two systems differ on the principle of human dignity:

●The Western system of human rights makes no distinction between innate dignity and value-based dignity, but Islam does.

●In Islam, innate dignity is regarded as a God-given blessing, whereas Western human rights have no logical explanation for it, for they have no accurate anthropological system.

●In Islamic human rights, the right for people to live in surroundings free from any corruption or vice is an unquestionable reality, but this does not exist in Western human rights.

3-Education: There are several points in common between the two systems concerning the right to education:

a)The right to education is generally approved by both systems.

b)Both systems regard education as important to human development and emancipation.

c)Parents have the first priority in selecting what kind of education suits their children the best.

d)Every human being is entitled to dignified education.

The two systems, however, have some differences:

a)In the Western system of human rights, primary school education is considered necessary, whereas Islam believes education should continue throughout man's life, for each human being is entitled to a dignified, deserved life, which cannot be possible in Islam without correct education.

b)In Islam, it is the parents' natural, value-based right to choose their children's type of education provided the fact that their selection be calculated and accurate; such a condition does not exist in the Western system of human rights.

c)In Islam, the education of orphans is the responsibility of those who legally have the child's custody, for instance the child's grandfather. The Western human rights include nothing on this.

d)In contrary to Western human rights, much importance is given in Islam to man's mental and spiritual issues.

e)Another point absent in the Western system is Islam's belief that in an Islamic society, all people have the right to invite and encourage others to do good

f)Islam believes that propaganda and the mass media should serve to guide man toward perfection and greatness; in the West, they mainly serve to quench desires and create pleasures.

4-Responsible Freedom: Again, we see some points in common and some differences. Let us first consider the commonalities:

a)All humans are born free, and cannot by any means be enslaved.

b)All humans are equal in terms of dignity and freedom.

c)All human beings have reason and conscience. 

d)All humans should treat each other in a brotherly fashion.

e)No human being is allowed to insult one another.

f)Freedom of expression is of the undoubted human rights.

g)Another one of the rights humans unquestionably have is the right to be provided with and make use of scientific, literary and artistic advances.

h)All humans are entitled to freedom of religion.

i)Both systems believe that every human is entitled to the right of citizenship.

However, Islam has several advantages over the Western system of human rights:

a)Islam emphasizes that no one has the right to exploit or dominate another; Western human rights neglect this point.

b)The numerous results of man serving as God's slave have been accepted in the Islamic system of human rights.

c)In Islam, no one is allowed to, "…make use of totally unlimited freedom of speech, expression or religion so as to disturb the members of the society." As mentioned before, freedom is not virtually absolute, and it is not the goal; it is, in fact, the state of being provided with the creative force of life that enables man to reach an intelligible life."

●Freedom of selecting a religion should also be accompanied by the required education.

●The forbidden aspects of freedom are not confined to the cases where others' rights are violated; man should not harm his own development or progress, either.

5-The Principle of Equality: Here we do not mean that all human beings completely resemble each other, or that they are all the same; the point is equality in a certain number of principles and characteristics. Generally, human beings can have three kinds of equality:

a)"Equality in relation to the source and origin of the highest  principles of the universe,"

b)"Equality in the identity and characteristics all human beings have in common,"

c)"Conventional equality in the natural rights required for life,"

Both systems have some points in common concerning equality:

●They both emphasize the equality of all human beings with regard to the law.

●Everyone is guaranteed the right to refer to the judiciary to get back what is his/her right in both systems.

●All human beings – regardless of their race, language, sex or religion – are entitled to be provided with social services.

●The right to establish charity groups and community services has been guaranteed in both systems.

●Everyone has the right to present his/her case to a court of law. 

●Everyone is protected by the law against any kind of bias.

●Every human being is entitled to attempt to accomplish the highest goals of life.

The differences between the two systems regarding the principle of equality are:

a)If someone's presence is necessary for a group or community that serves the good of the whole society, he/she is religiously obliged to be there.

b)Although obeying and keeping social order and discipline has been emphasized in both systems, Islamic societies are basically different from democratic ones.