Portal: Islam and Human Rights: Difference between revisions

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While some modern Islamic scholars have struggled to reconcile Islam and modern, largely Western notions of human rights, the majority of traditional Islamic scholars today have generally defied what they perceive as a attempt at intellectual colonialism. The conflict between modern human rights doctrine and Islamic law can, for the most part, be understood as a product of their extreme historical and contextual distance. Whereas Islamic law was formulated in the harsh, unpredictable, and austere environment of 7th-9th century Arabia, modern Human rights doctrine is generally traced back to the European Enlightenment, starting especially with the English philosopher John Locke's ideas of ''natural rights'' in the 17th century.
While some modern Islamic scholars have struggled to reconcile Islamic and modern, largely Western notions of human rights, the majority of traditional Islamic scholars today have generally defied what they perceive as an attempt at intellectual colonialism. The conflict between modern human rights doctrine and Islamic law can, for the most part, be understood as a product of their extreme historical and contextual distance. Whereas Islamic law was formulated in the harsh, unpredictable, and austere environment of 7th-9th century Arabia, modern Human rights doctrine is generally traced back to the European Enlightenment, starting especially with the English philosopher John Locke's ideas of ''natural rights'' in the 17th century.


==Women==
==Women==
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{{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Women|image=Muslim-usa.jpg|summary=|description=Islamic law and doctrine holds women to be inferior to men in many respects, including in their intellect, their ability to serve as witnesses on topics other than female biology, ability to handle wealth, and ability to operate independently in society, among other things. While modernist Islamic movements have attempted to reconcile Islam with feminism, mainstream orthodox thought remains strictly antithetical. With some adjustments, Islamic law enshrines the gender norms of 7th century Arabia.}}{{PortalArticle|title=Rape in Islamic Law|summary=|image=Crimean-slave-trade.png|description=Rape, known in Islamic law as ''zina bil-ikrah'' or ''zina bil-jabr'' (literally "fornication by force"), is generally defined by Muslim jurists as forced intercourse by a man with a woman who is not his wife or slave and without her consent. As with enslaved females, according to Islamic law, married women are required to oblige their husbands sexual advances - raping one's wife is permissible. The concept of "rape" is thus deemed to be equally non-existent in the contexts of both marriage and slavery.}}
{{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Women|image=Muslim-usa.jpg|summary=|description=Islamic law and doctrine holds women to be inferior to men in many respects, including in their intellect, their ability to serve as witnesses on topics other than female biology, ability to handle wealth, and ability to operate independently in society, among other things. While modernist Islamic movements have attempted to reconcile Islam with feminism, mainstream orthodox thought remains strictly antithetical. With some adjustments, Islamic law enshrines the gender norms of 7th century Arabia.}}{{PortalArticle|title=Rape in Islamic Law|summary=|image=Crimean-slave-trade.png|description=Rape, known in Islamic law as ''zina bil-ikrah'' or ''zina bil-jabr'' (literally "fornication by force"), is generally defined by Muslim jurists as forced intercourse by a man with a woman who is not his wife or slave and without her consent. As with enslaved females, according to Islamic law, married women are required to oblige their husbands sexual advances. The concept of "rape" did not apply in the contexts of marriage or slavery.}}
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{{PortalArticle|image=Child marriage.jpg|description=Child marriage and sexual activity between adults and children are sanctioned by Islamic law and were practiced by Muhammad and his companions. The only restriction on sexual activity with children of any age within the contexts of marriage and slavery is that the child should not come to severe physical harm as a consequence of the encounter ("mental anguish", as such, is not considered, and consent is regardless irrelevant).|title=Child Marriage in Islamic Law|summary=}}{{PortalArticle|image=4-34-arabic.png|title=Wife Beating in the Qur'an|summary=|description=Verse 4:34 of the Quran instructs men to, among other things, beat their wives "from whom [they] fear rebellion" or "disobedience". As a consequence, Islamic law sanctions and instructs wife-beating as a legitimate domestic disciplinary measure.}}
{{PortalArticle|image=Child marriage.jpg|description=Child marriage and sexual activity between adults and children are sanctioned by Islamic law and were practiced by Muhammad and his companions. The schools of Islamic jurisprudence agreed that a father could contract his virgin minor daughter in marriage. Consummation was to occur when the family considered the child physically ready (no consideration was given to mental anguish). They supported their views variously using Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, the example of his companions, and their understanding of the Quran. In many modern Muslim countries a minimum age of marriage has been introduced or raised in recent decades.|title=Child Marriage in Islamic Law|summary=}}{{PortalArticle|image=4-34-arabic.png|title=The Word "Daraba" in the Qur'an|summary=|description=Verse 4:34 of the Quran instructs men to, among other things, beat their wives "from whom [they] fear rebellion" or "disobedience". As a consequence, Islamic law sanctions and instructs wife-beating as a legitimate domestic disciplinary measure. The word used to instruct this beating is "daraba" whose translation has been a source of contention.}}
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*[[Wife Beating in Islamic Law]]
*[[Wife Beating in Islamic Law]]
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*[[Women in Islamic Law]]
*[[Child Marriage in the Muslim World]]
*[[Child Marriage in the Muslim World]]
*[[Child Marriage in the Qur'an]]
*[[Child Marriage in the Qur'an]]
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*[[Islamic Attire and Health]]
*[[Islamic Attire and Health]]
*[[Thighing|Thighing Children]]
*[[Thighing|Thighing Children]]
*[[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law]]
*[[Polygamy in Islamic Law]]
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==Religious Minorities==
==Religious Minorities==
Islamic law permits the residence of Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians (the three groups constituting the People of The Book) in the Islamic caliphate, or state, provided they accept the legal, social, and financial subjugation (the Dhimma system) whose explicit aim, as mentioned in the Quran, is their humiliation viz-a-viz the Muslims. Traditionally, per Islamic scriptures, polytheists and persons of non-Abrahamic faiths were deemed unsuitable for residence in Islamic lands and would have either to convert or face execution following military defeat. Historically, however, the challenge of implementing such policies against large numbers of polytheists (following, for instance, the Islamic conquest of Hindu lands) brought Islamic scholars and political leaders to arrange compromises and additional constraints whereby certain polytheists could live as Dhimmis. The persecution of non-Muslim minorities and unorthodox Muslim sects in Muslim-majority countries continues today.
Islamic law permits the residence of Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians (the three groups constituting the People of The Book) in the Islamic caliphate, or state, provided they accept the legal, social, and financial subjugation (the Dhimma system) whose explicit aim, as mentioned in the Quran, is their humiliation viz-a-viz the Muslims. Traditionally, per Islamic scriptures, polytheists and persons of non-Abrahamic faiths were deemed unsuitable for residence in Islamic lands and would have either to convert or face execution following military defeat. Historically, however, the challenge of implementing such policies against large numbers of polytheists (following, for instance, the Islamic conquest of Hindu lands) brought Islamic scholars and political leaders to arrange compromises and additional constraints whereby certain polytheists could live as Dhimmis. The Dhimma legal framework is not in force in modern Muslim states today as civil law is considered to have rendered it inapplicable. Nevertheless, other forms of oppression or persecution of non-Muslim minorities and unorthodox Muslim sects in some Muslim-majority countries occur today.
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==Freedom of Conscience==
==Freedom of Conscience==
Traditional Islamic legal scholars overwhelmingly agreed that blasphemers and apostates should be put to death. Most also demanded the death penalty for practicing homosexuals. Religion-critical perspectives were outlawed under the former set of laws, as pronouncing a disagreement with scriptures amounted to apostasy or, at least, heresy, as in much of the pre-modern European world. Similar attitudes prevail in Muslim-majority lands today, with nearly a dozen Muslim-majority countries placing the death penalty on apostasy and/or blasphemy and several more punishing those crimes with imprisonment, fines, and various forms of civil death.
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Traditional Islamic legal scholars overwhelmingly agreed that blasphemers and apostates should be put to death. Most also demanded the death penalty for practicing homosexuals. Religion-critical perspectives were outlawed under the former set of laws, as pronouncing a disagreement with scriptures amounted to apostasy or, at least, heresy, as in much of the pre-modern European world. Similar attitudes prevail in Muslim-majority lands today, with nearly a dozen Muslim-majority countries placing the death penalty on apostasy and/or blasphemy and several more punishing those crimes with imprisonment, fines, and various forms of civil death.<div class="articleSummaryColumn">
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{{PortalArticle|image=KFR.jpg|title=Kafir (Infidel)|description=In Islamic terminology, a kāfir is a disbeliever, or someone who rejects or does not believe in Allah as the one and only God and Muhammad as the final messenger of Allah. In the context of Islamic scriptures, "kafir" is the broadest, all encompassing category of non-Muslim, which includes all other sub-categories, such as ''mushriqun'', or polytheists, ''dahriyah'', or those who deny the existence of any gods outright, as well as those who would today identify as agnostics or who are simply ignorant of religious figments.|summary=}}{{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Apostasy|summary=|image=The Hadd for the Murtad.jpg|description=Apostasy is a serious offense in Islam. Rejecting any part of Islamic doctrine, whether derived from the Quran or from what are held by Islamic scholars to be incontrovertibly reliable hadith, amounts to apostasy. The punishment for apostasy as prescribed by Muhammad and as delineated in all four schools of Islamic law is execution. In Sahih Bukhari, for instance, it is recorded that “Allah's Apostle said, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him'”.}}
{{PortalArticle|image=KFR.jpg|title=Kafir (Infidel)|description=In Islamic terminology, a kāfir is a disbeliever, or someone who rejects or does not believe in Allah as the one and only God and Muhammad as the final messenger of Allah. In the context of Islamic scriptures, "kafir" is the broadest, all encompassing category of non-Muslim, which includes all other sub-categories, such as ''mushriqun'', or polytheists, ''dahriyah'', or those who deny the existence of any gods outright, as well as those who would today identify as agnostics or who are simply ignorant of religious figments.|summary=}}{{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Apostasy|summary=|image=The Hadd for the Murtad.jpg|description=Apostasy is a serious offense in Islam. Rejecting any part of Islamic doctrine, whether derived from the Quran or from what are held by Islamic scholars to be incontrovertibly reliable hadith, amounts to apostasy. The punishment for apostasy as prescribed by Muhammad and as delineated in all four schools of Islamic law is execution. In Sahih Bukhari, for instance, it is recorded that “Allah's Apostle said, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him'”.}}
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==Corporal punishment==
==Corporal punishment==
Several forms of corporal punishment feature in Islamic law. Crimes for which punishments are not explicitly prescribed in scripture can earn a discretionary corporal punishment so long as it does not exceed the least-severe corporal punishment prescribed by scripture. This upper limit is 80 lashes according to some scholars and 40 lashes according to others. Scriptural punishments include crucifixion, stoning to death, execution by other means, various amputations, and lashings.
Several forms of corporal punishment feature in Islamic law. Crimes for which punishments are not explicitly prescribed in scripture can earn a discretionary corporal punishment so long as it does not exceed the least-severe corporal punishment prescribed by scripture. This upper limit is 80 lashes according to some scholars and 40 lashes according to others. Scriptural punishments include crucifixion, stoning to death, execution by other means, various amputations, and lashings. Such practices have been replaced by civil penalties in most modern Muslim majority countries, though not all.
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