Chapter 2: Basic Human Rights moz-extension://0e8809b8-9f65-40f0-b698-ef4816179cf3/read...

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Chapter 2: Basic Human Rights

20 - 26 minutes

The first thing that we find in Islam in this connection is that it lays down
some rights for man as a human being. In other words it means that
every man whether he belongs to this country or that, whether he is a
believer or unbeliever, whether he lives in some forest or is found in
some desert, whatever be the case, he has some basic human rights
simply because he is a human being, which should be recognized by
every Muslim. In fact it will be his duty to fulfil these obligations.

The Right to Life

The first and the foremost basic right is the right to live and respect
human life. The Holy Quran lays down:

Whosoever kills a human being without (any reason like) man

slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as though he had killed all
mankind ... (5:32)

As far as the question of taking life in retaliation for murder or the

question of punishment for spreading corruption on this earth is
concerned, it can be decided only by a proper and competent court of
law. If there is any war with any nation or country, it can be decided only
by a properly established government. In any case, no human being has
any right by himself to take human life in retaliation or for causing
mischief on this earth. Therefore it is incumbent on every human being
that under no circumstances should he be guilty of taking a human life. If
anyone has murdered a human being, it is as if he has slain the entire
human race. These instructions have been repeated in the Holy Quran in
another place saying:

Do not kill a soul which Allah has made sacred except through the
due process of law ... (6:151)

Here also homicide has been distinguished from destruction of life

carried out in pursuit of justice. Only a proper and competent court will

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be able to decide whether or not an individual has forfeited his right to

life by disregarding the right to life and peace of other human beings.
The Prophet, may God's blessings be on him, has declared homicide as
the greatest sin only next to polytheism. The Tradition of the Prophet
reads: "The greatest sins are to associate something with God and to kill
human beings."

In all these verses of the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet the
word 'soul' (nafs) has been used in general terms without any distinction
or particularization which might have lent itself to the elucidation that
the persons belonging to one's nation, the citizens of one's country, the
people of a particular race or religion should not be killed. The injunction
applies to all human beings and the destruction of human life in itself
has been prohibited.

'The Right to Life' has been given to man only by Islam. You will observe
that the people who talk about human rights if they have ever mentioned
them in their Constitutions or Declarations, then it is clearly implied in
them that these rights are applicable only to their citizens or they have
been framed for the white race alone. This can clearly be gleaned by the
fact that human beings were hunted down like animals in Australia and
the land was cleared of the aborigines for the white man. Similarly the
aboriginal population of America was systematically destroyed and the
Red Indians who somehow survived this genocide were confined to
specified areas called Reservations.

They also penetrated into Africa and hunted down human beings like
wild animals. All these instances go to prove that they have no respect
for human life as such and if they have, it is only on the basis of their
nationality, colour or race. Contrary to this, Islam recognizes this right
for all human beings. If a man belongs to a primitive or savage tribe,
even then Islam regards him as a human being.

The Right to the Safety of Life

Immediately after the verse of the Holy Quran which has been
mentioned in connection with the right to life, God has said:

"And whoever saves a life it is as though he had saved the lives of all
mankind" (5:32).

There can be several forms of saving man from death. A man may be ill
or wounded, irrespective of his nationality, race or colour. If you know

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that he is in need of your help, then it is your duty that you should
arrange for his treatment for disease or wound. If he is dying of
starvation, then it is your duty to feed him so that he can ward off death.
If he is drowning or his life is at stake, then it is your duty to save him.

You will be surprised to hear that the Talmud, the religious book of the
Jews, contains a verse of similar nature, but records it in altogether
different form. It says: "Whoever destroyed a life of the Israelite, in the
eyes of the Scripture, it is as if he destroyed the whole world. And
whoever protected and saved one life of the Israelite, in the light of the
Scripture, it is as if he saved the whole world." Talmud also contains the
view that if a non-Israelite is drowning and you tried to save him then
you are a sinner. Can it be given a name other than racialism?

We regard it as our duty to save every human life, because it is thus that
we have been enjoined in the Holy Quran. On the other hand, if they
regard it necessary to save the life of a human being at all, it should be
the life of an Israelite. As far as other people are concerned, according to
this view, they do not seem to be human enough to deserve protection of
their persons. In their literature the concept of 'Goyim' for which the
English word 'Gentile' and the Arabic word ummi (illiterate) is used, is
that they enjoy no human rights; human rights are reserved only for the
children of Israel. The Quran has mentioned this belief of the Israelites
and quotes the Jews saying:

"There is no blame on us (for anything we may do) with regard to

the unlettered folk (i.e. the ummi)" (3:75).

Respect for the Chastity of Women

The third important thing that we find in the Charter of Human Rights
granted by Islam is that a woman's chastity has to be respected and
protected under all circumstances, whether she belongs to our own
nation or to the nation of an enemy, whether we find her in the wild
forest or in a conquered city; whether she is our co-religionist or belongs
to some other religion or has no religion at all. A Muslim cannot outrage
her under any circumstances. All promiscuous relation- ship has been
forbidden to him, irrespective of the status or position of the woman,
whether the woman is a willing or an unwilling partner to the act. The
words of the Holy Quran in this respect are:

"Do not approach (the bounds of) adultery" (17:32).

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Heavy punishment has been prescribed for this crime, and the order has
not been qualified by any conditions. Since the violation of chastity of a
woman is forbidden in Islam, a Muslim who perpetrates this crime
cannot escape punishment whether he receives it in this world or in the
Hereafter. This concept of sanctity of chastity and protection of women
can be found nowhere else except in Islam. The armies of the Western
powers need the daughters of their nation to satisfy their carnal
appetites even in their own countries, and if they happen to occupy
another country, the fate of its women folk can better be imagined than
described.

But the history of the Muslims, apart from a few lapses of the individuals
here or there, has been free from this crime against womanhood. It has
never happened that after the conquest of a foreign country the Muslim
army has gone about raping the women of the conquered people, or in
their own country, the government has arranged to provide prostitutes
for them. This is also a great blessing which the human race has received
through Islam.

The Right to a Basic Standard of Life

Speaking about the economic rights the Holy Quran enjoins upon its
followers:

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

The words of this injunction show that it is a categorical and un-

qualified order. Furthermore this injunction was given in Makkah where
there was no Muslim society in existence and where generally the
Muslims had to come in contact with the population of the disbelievers.

Therefore the clear meaning of this verse is that anyone who asks for
help and anyone who is suffering from deprivation has a right in the
property and wealth of the Muslims; irrespective of the fact whether he
belongs to this nation or to that nation, to this country or to that country,
to this race or to that race. If you are in a position to help and a needy
person asks you for help or if you come to know that he is in need, then it
is your duty to help him. God has established his right over you, which
you have to honour as a Muslim.

Individual's Right to Freedom

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Islam has clearly and categorically forbidden the primitive practice of

capturing a free man, to make him a slave or to sell him into slavery. On
this point the clear and unequivocal words of the Prophet (S) are as
follows: "There are three categories of people against whom I shall
myself be a plaintiff on the Day of Judgement. Of these three, one is he
who enslaves a free man, then sells him and eats this money" (al-Bukhari
and Ibn Majjah).

The words of this Tradition of the Prophet are also general, they have not
been qualified or made applicable to a particular nation, race, country or
followers of a particular religion. The Europeans take great pride in
claiming that they abolished slavery from the world, though they had the
decency to do so only in the middle of the last century. Before this, these
Western powers had been raiding Africa on a very large scale, capturing
their free men, putting them in bondage and transporting them to their
new colonies. The treatment which they have meted out to these
unfortunate people has been worse than the treatment given to animals.
The books written by the Western people themselves bear testimony to
this fact.

The Slave Trade of Western Nations

After the occupation of America and the West Indies, for three hundred
and fifty years, traffic in slave trade continued. The African coasts where
the black-skinned captured Africans were brought from the interior of
Africa and put on the ships sailing out from those ports, came to be
known as the Slave Coast. During only one century (from 1680 to 1786)
the total number of free people who were captured and enslaved only for
British Colonies amounts, according to the estimate of British authors, to
20 million human beings. Over the period of only one year (1790) we are
told that 75,000 human beings were captured and sent for slave labour in
the Colonies. The ships which were used for transporting the slaves were
small and dirty.

These unfortunate Africans were thrust into the holds of these ships like
cattle right up to the top and many of them were chained to the wooden
shelves on which they could hardly move because these were only
eighteen inches apart, kept one on top of the other. They were not
provided with suitable food, and if they fell ill or were injured, no
attempt was made to provide them with medical treatment.

The Western writers themselves state that at least 20% of the total
number of people who were captured for slavery and forced labour

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perished during their transportation from the African coast to America.

It has also been estimated that the total number of people who were
captured for slavery by the various European nations during the heyday
of the slave trade comes to at least one hundred million. This is the
record of the people who denounce Muslims day and night for
recognizing the institution of slavery. It is as if a criminal is holding his
finger of blame towards an innocent man.

The Position of Slavery in Islam

Briefly I would like to tell you about the position and nature of slavery in
Islam. Islam tried to solve the problem of the slaves that were in Arabia
by encouraging the people in different ways to set their slaves free. The
Muslims were ordered that in expiation of some of their sins they should
set their slaves free. Freeing a slave by one's own free will was declared
to be an act of great merit, so much so that it was said that every limb of
the man who manumits a slave will be protected from hell-fire in lieu of
the limb of the slave freed by him.

The result of this policy was that by the time the period of the Rightly-
Guided Caliphs was reached, all the old slaves of Arabia were liberated.
The Prophet alone liberated as many as 63 slaves. The number of slaves
freed by 'Aishah was 67, 'Abbas liberated 70, 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar
liberated one thousand, and 'Abd al-Rahman purchased thirty thousand
and set them free. Similarly other Companions of the Prophet liberated a
large number of slaves, the details of which are given in the Traditions
and books of history of that period.

Thus the problem of the slaves of Arabia was solved in a short period of
thirty or forty years. After this the only form of slavery which was left in
Islamic society was the prisoners of war, who were captured on the
battlefield. These prisoners of war were retained by the Muslim
Government until their government agreed to receive them back in
exchange for Muslim soldiers captured by them, or arranged the
payment of ransom on their behalf. If the soldiers they captured were
not exchanged with Muslim prisoners of war, or their people did not pay
their ransom money to purchase their liberty, then the Muslim
Government used to distribute them among the soldiers of the army
which had captured them.

This was a more humane and proper way of disposing of them than
retaining them like cattle in concentration camps and taking forced
labour from them and, if their women folk were also captured, setting

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them aside for prostitution. In place of such a cruel and outrageous way
of disposing of the prisoners of war, Islam preferred to spread them in
the population and thus brought them in contact with individual human
beings. Over and above, their guardians were ordered to treat them well.
The result of this humane policy was that most of the men who were
captured on foreign battlefields and brought to the Muslim countries as
slaves embraced Islam and their descendants produced great scholars,
imams, jurists, commentators, statesmen and generals of the army. So
much so that later on they became the rulers of the Muslim world.

The solution of this problem which has been proposed in the present age
is that after the cessation of hostilities the prisoners of war of the
combatant countries should be exchanged. Whereas Muslims have been
practising it from the very beginning and whenever the adversary
accepted the exchange of prisoners of war from both sides, it was
implemented without the least hesitation or delay.

In modern warfare we also find that if one government is completely

routed leaving her in no position of bargaining for the prisoners of war
and the winning party gets its prisoners easily, then experience has
shown that the prisoners of war of the vanquished army are kept in
conditions which are much worse than the conditions of slaves. Can
anyone tell us what has been the fate of the thousands of prisoners of
war captured by Russia from the defeated armies of Germany and Japan
in the Second World War?

No one has given their account so far. No one knows how many
thousands of them are still alive and how many thousands of them have
perished due to the hardship of the Russian concentration and labour
camps. The forced labour which has been taken from them is much
worse than the service one can exact from slaves. Even perhaps in the
times of ancient Pharaohs of Egypt such harsh labour might not have
been exacted from the slaves in building the pyramids of Egypt, as has
been exacted from the prisoners of war in Russia in developing Siberia
and other backward areas of Russia, or working in coal and other mines
in below zero temperatures, ill-clad, ill-fed and brutally treated by their
supervisors.

The Right to Justice

This is a very important and valuable right which Islam has given to man
as a human being. The Holy Quran has laid down:

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"Do not let your hatred of a people incite you to aggression" (5:2).

"And do not let ill-will towards any folk incite you so that you
swerve from dealing justly. Be just; that is nearest to heedfulness"
(5:8).

Stressing this point the Quran again says:

"You who believe stand steadfast before God as witness for (truth
and) fairplay" (4:135).

This makes the point clear that Muslims have to be just not only with
ordinary human beings but even with their enemies. In other words, the
justice to which Islam invites her followers is not limited only to the
citizens of their own country, or the people of their own tribe, nation or
race, or the Muslim community as a whole, but it is meant for all the
human beings of the world. Muslims therefore, cannot be unjust to
anyone.

Their permanent habit and character should be such that no man should
ever fear injustice at their hands, and they should treat every human
being everywhere with justice and fairness.

Equality of Human Beings

Islam not only recognizes absolute equality between men irrespective of

any distinction of colour, race or nationality, but makes it an important
and significant principle, a reality. The Almighty God has laid down in
the Holy Quran: "O mankind, we have created you from a male and
female." In other words all human beings are brothers to one another.
They all are the descendants from one father and one mother.

"And we set you up as nations and tribes so that you may be able to
recognize each other" (49:13).

This means that the division of human beings into nations, races, groups
and tribes is for the sake of distinction, so that people of one race or tribe
may meet and be acquainted with the people belonging to another race
or tribe and cooperate with one another. This division of the human race
is neither meant for one nation to take pride in its superiority over
others nor is it meant for one nation to treat another with contempt or
disgrace, or regard them as a mean and degraded race and usurp their
rights.

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"Indeed, the noblest among you before God are the most heedful of
you" (49:13).

In other words the superiority of one man over another is only on the
basis of God-consciousness, purity of character and high morals, and not
on the basis of colour, race, language or nationality, and even this
superiority based on piety and pure conduct does not justify that such
people should play lord or assume airs of superiority over other human
beings.

Assuming airs of superiority is in itself a reprehensible vice which no

God-fearing and pious man can ever dream of perpetrating. Nor does the
righteous have more privileged rights over others, because this runs
counter to human equality, which has been laid down in the beginning of
this verse as a general principle. From the moral point of view, goodness
and virtue is in all cases better than vice and evil.

This has been exemplified by the Prophet in one of his sayings thus: "No
Arab has any superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any
superiority over an Arab. Nor does a white man have any superiority
over a black man, or the black man any superiority over the white man.
You are all the children of Adam, and Adam was created from clay" (al-
Bayhaqi and al-Bazzaz).

In this manner Islam established equality for the entire human race and
struck at the very root of all distinctions based on colour, race, language
or nationality. According to Islam,God has given man this right of
equality as a birthright.

Therefore no man should be discriminated against on the ground of the

colour of his skin, his place of birth, the race or the nation in which he
was born. Malcolm X, the famous leader of African Negroes in America,
who had launched a bitter struggle against the white people of America
in order to win civil rights for his black compatriots, when he went to
perform the pilgrimage, and saw how the Muslims of Asia, Africa,
Europe, America and those of different races, languages and colours of
skin, were wearing one dress and were hurrying towards God's House-
the Ka'bah and offering prayers standing in one row and there was no
distinction of any kind between them, then he realized that this was the
solution to the problem of colour and race, and not what he had been
trying to seek or achieve in America so far.

Today, a number of non- Muslim thinkers, who are free from blind

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prejudice, openly admit that no other religion or way of life has solved
this problem with the same degree of success with which Islam has done
so.

The Right to Co-operate and Not to Co-operate

Islam has prescribed a general principle of paramount importance and

universal application saying:

"Co-operate with one another for virtue and heedfulness and do not
co-operate with one another for the purpose of vice and aggression"
(5:2).

This means that the man who undertakes a noble and righteous work,
irrespective of the fact whether he is living at the North Pole or the South
Pole, has the right to expect support and active co-operation from the
Muslims. On the contrary he who perpetrates deeds of vice and
aggression, even if he is our closest relation or neighbour, does not have
the right to win our support and help in the name of race, country,
language or nationality, nor should he have the expectation that Muslims
will co-operate with him or support him. Nor is it permissible for
Muslims to co-operate with him.

The wicked and vicious person may be our own brother, but he is not of
us, and he can have no help or support from us as long as he does not
repent and reform his ways. On the other hand the man who is doing
deeds of virtue and righteousness may have no kinship with Muslims,
but Muslims will be his companions and supporters or at least his well-
wishers.

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