RIGHTS or LIMITS? What's Islam?

What Exactly Are
Rights In Islam?

RIGHTS - FOR ALL CREATION

Islam has been from its inception very concerned about the importance of rights (called 'haqq' in Arabic language).
Usually we speak in terms of human rights, women's rights or even animal rights. However, Islam goes into far more detail and in categorical order as to what rights are really all about.
Being all inclusive and for all times, all places, all of creation, Islam provides the correct understanding of "rights & limitations" for all of the creation of the Creator of the entire universe.

ISLAM - IS TO BE SINCERE

"Let there be no compulsion in religion." [Holy Quran 2:256]

DID ISLAM SPREAD BY THE 'SWORD'?

There is not one single, reliable report confirming certain accusations claiming when the Muslims were expanding into Asia, Africa and Europe, that the people were put to the sword if they failed to convert to Islam.

NOTE: The word "sword" does not appear anywhere in the Quranic text. However, the word "sword" does appear over 200 times in the Bible, lest any Christian would dare to compare.

The best proof is that not only did the Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and Hindus in those areas not perish or otherwise disappear, they actually flourished as protected minority communities, and many individuals rose to prominent positions in the arts, sciences, even in government.

The lives, property and privacy of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred, whether or not the person is Muslim.

Non-Muslims have freedom of worship and the practice of their religions, including their own family law and religious courts. They are obliged to pay a different tax (Jizyah) instead of the Zakah, and the state is obligated to provide both protection and government services.

Before the modern era it was extremely rare to find a state or government anywhere in the world that was as solicitous of its minorities and their civil rights as the Islamic states.

In no other religion did women receive such a degree of legal and moral equality and personal respect. Moreover, racism and tribalism are incompatible with Islam, for the Qur'an speaks of human equality in the following terms: 

"Mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God's sight is the greatest of you in piety." [Quran 49:13]

Human Rights In Islam

Bismillahi ar-Rahmani ar-Raheem
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

HUMANS ALL COME FROM ONE SOURCE - ALLAH ( Almighty God - for more about "Allah"www.GodAllah.com)
Only God Alone, is the absolute Creator and the sole Owner and Master of men and the universe. He is the sovereign Lord, the Sustainer and Nourisher, the Merciful, Whose Mercy enshrines all beings; and since He has given each man human dignity and honor, and breathed into him of His own spirit. Therefore, it follows that, united in Him and through Him, and apart from their other human attributes, human beings both men and women, are substantially the same and no tangible and actual distinction can be made among them, on account of their accidental differences such as nationality, color or race.

HUMANS ALL PART OF ONE BROTHERHOOD
Each human being is understood in Islam to be a brother or sister in humanity to every other human being, regardless of their particular beliefs (or lack thereof). Each human is part of the one community of brotherhood in their honorable and pleasant servitude to the most compassionate Lord of the Universe. In such a heavenly atmosphere the Islamic confession of the oneness of God stands dominant and central, and necessarily entails the concept of the oneness of humanity and the brotherhood of mankind.

ISLAM DOES NOT SEEK TO RESTRICT HUMAN RIGHTS
Although an Islamic state may be set up in any part of the earth, Islam does not seek to restrict human rights or privileges to the geographical limits of its own state. Islam has laid down some universal fundamental rights for humanity as a whole, which are to be observed and respected under all circumstances whether such a person is resident within the territory of the Islamic state or outside it, whether he is at peace or at war. The Quran very clearly states:

"O believers, be you securers of justice, witness for God. Let not detestation for a people move you not to be equitable; be equitable - that is nearer to God-fearing." (5:8)

Human blood is sacred in any case and cannot be spilled without justification. And if anyone violates this sanctity of human blood by killing a soul without justification, the Quran equates it to the killing of entire mankind.

"...Whoso slays a soul not to retaliate for a soul slain, nor for corruption done in the land, should be as if he had slain mankind altogether." (5:32)

It is forbidden by Islam to oppress women, children, old people, the sick or the wounded. Women's honor and chastity are to be respected under all circumstances. The hungry person must be fed, the naked clothed and the wounded or diseased treated medically irrespective of whether they belong to the Islamic community or are from among its enemies.
see: www.IslamsWomen.com/articles/do_muslim_women_have_rights.php

When we speak of human rights in Islam we really mean that these rights have been granted by God; they have not been granted by any king or by any legislative assembly.

The rights granted by the kings or the legislative assemblies, can also be withdrawn in the same manner in which they are conferred.

The same is the case with the rights accepted and recognized by the dictators. They can confer them when they please and withdraw them when they wish; and they can openly violate them when they like. But since in Islam human rights have been conferred by God, no legislative assembly in the world or any government on earth has the right or authority to make any amendment or change in the rights conferred by God.

No one has the right to abrogate them or withdraw them. Nor are they basic human rights which are conferred on paper for the sake of show and exhibition and denied in actual life when the show is over. Nor are they like philosophical concepts which have no sanctions behind them.

The charter and the proclamations and the resolutions of the United Nations cannot be compared with the rights sanctioned by God; because the former are not applicable on anybody while the latter are applicable on every believer. They are a part and parcel of the Islamic Faith.

Every Muslim or administrator who claims himself to be Muslim, will have to accept, recognize and enforce them. If they fail to enforce them, and start denying the rights that have been guaranteed by God or make amendments and changes in them, or practically violate them while paying lip service to them, the verdict of the Holy Quran for such government is clear and unequivocal:

"Those who do not judge by what God has sent down - are the disbelievers." (5:44)

Human Rights
In The Islamic State

1. The Security Of Life And Property:
   The Prophet delivered a speech on the time of the Farewell Hajj (pilgrimage), he said:
   "Your lives and properties are forbidden to one another till you meet your Lord on the Day of Resurrection."
    The Prophet has also said about the dhimmis (the non-Muslim citizens of the Muslim state):
    "One who kills a man under covenant (i.e., dhimmi - a non-Muslim in an Islamic state) will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise."
2. The Protection Of Honor:
   The Holy Quran lays down:
   • "You who believe, do not let one (set of) people make fun of another set."
   • "Do not defame one another."
   • "Do not insult by using nicknames."
   • "Do not backbite or speak ill of one another."
     (49:11-12)
3. Sanctity And Security Of Private Life:
   The Quran has laid down the injunction:
   • "Do not spy on one another." (49:12)
   • "Do not enter any houses unless you are sure of their occupant's consent." (24:27)
4. The Security Of Personal Freedom:
   Islam has laid down the principle that no citizen can be imprisoned unless his guilt has been proven in an open court. To arrest a man only on the basis of suspicion and to throw him into a prison without proper court proceedings and without providing him a reasonable opportunity to produce his defense is not permissible in Islam.
5. The Right To Protest Against Tyranny:
   Among the rights that Islam has conferred on human beings is the right to protest against government's tyranny. Referring to it the Quran says:

   "God does not love evil talk in public unless it is by someone who has been injured thereby." (4:148)

   In Islam, as has been argued earlier, all power and authority belong to God, and with man there is only delegated power which becomes a trust; everyone who becomes a recipient of such a power has to stand in awful reverence before his people toward whom and for whose sake he will be called upon to use these powers. This was acknowledged by Hazrat Abu Bakr who said in his very first address: "Cooperate with me when I am right but correct me when I commit error; obey me so long as I follow the commandments of Allah and His Prophet; but turn away from me when I deviate."
6. Freedom Of Expression:
   Islam gives the right of freedom of thought and expression to all citizens of the Islamic state on the condition that it should be used for the propagation of virtue and truth and not for spreading evil and wickedness. The Islamic concept of freedom of expression is much superior to the concept prevalent in the West. Under no circumstances would Islam allow evil and wickedness to be propagated. It also does not give anybody the right to use abusive or offensive language in the name of criticism. It was the practice of the Muslims to enquire from the Holy Prophet whether on a certain matter a divine injunction had been revealed to him. If he said that he had received no divine injunction, the Muslims freely expressed their opinion on the matter.
7. Freedom Of Association:
   Islam has also given people the right to freedom of association and formation of parties or organizations. This right is also subject to certain general rules.
8. Freedom Of Conscience And Conviction:
   Islam has laid down the injunction:

   "There should be no coercion in the matter of faith." (2:256)

   On the contrary, totalitarian societies totally deprive the individuals of their freedom. Indeed, this undue exaltation of the state authority curiously enough postulates a sort of servitude, of slavishness on the part of man. At one time slavery meant total control of man over man - now that type of slavery has been legally abolished but in its place totalitarian societies impose a similar sort of control over individuals.

9. Protection Of Religious Sentiments:
   Along with the freedom of conviction and freedom of conscience, Islam has given the right to the individual that his religious sentiments will be given due respect and nothing will be said or done which may encroach upon his right.
10. Protection From Arbitrary Imprisonment:
    Islam also recognizes the right of the individual not to be arrested or imprisoned for the offenses of others. The Holy Quran has laid down this principle clearly:

    "No bearer of burdens shall be made to bear the burden of another." (35:18)

11. The Right To Basic Necessities of Life:
    Islam has recognized the right of the needy people for help and assistance to be provided to them:

    "And in their wealth there is acknowledged right for the needy and the destitute." (51:19)

12. Equality Before Law:
    Islam gives its citizens the right to absolute and complete equality in the eyes of the law.
13. Rulers Not Above The Law:
    A woman belonging to a high and noble family was arrested in connection with theft. The case was brought to the Prophet, and it was recommended that she might be spared the punishment of theft. The Prophet replied: "The nations that lived before you were destroyed by God because they punished the common man for their offenses and let their dignitaries go unpunished for their crimes; I swear by Him Who holds my life in His hand that even if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, had committed this crime, I would have amputated her hand."
14. The Right To Participate In The Affairs Of State:

15. "And their business is (conducted) through consultation among themselves." (42:38)

    The "Shura" or the legislative assembly has no other meaning except that the executive head of the government and the members of the assembly should be elected by free and independent choice of the people.

    Lastly, it is to be made clear that Islam tries to achieve the above mentioned human rights and many others not only by providing certain legal safeguards but mainly by inviting mankind to transcend the lower level of animal life to be able to go beyond the mere ties fostered by the kinship of blood, racial superiority, linguistic arrogance, and economic privileges. It invites mankind to move on to a plane of existence where, by reason of his inner excellence, man can realize the ideal of the Brotherhood of man.

Human Rights in Islam
Complied by Muslim Scholars
From http://islamtomorrow.com/rights/more.asp