Portal: Islam and Human Rights: Difference between revisions
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While some modern Islamic scholars have struggled to reconcile | 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== | ||
Islamic scriptures generally employ the masculine pronoun in Arabic, which is used to refer to both men and women. On occasion, the scriptures diverge from this standard, inclusive usage, and comment specifically on men or women. The perspective taken by Islamic scriptures on women is of special interest in recent times due to frequent collision with modern values. | |||
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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 | {{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.}} | ||
{{PortalArticle|title=Slavery in Islamic Law|summary=|image=OttomanEunuchsConcubines.jpg |description=Slavery, while no longer permitted in the modern context by most scholars, was a major theme of Islamic jurisprudence. The Quran permits sexual intercourse with those women "whom your right hands possess", and Caliphs from the Umayyads to the Ottomans enjoyed harems full of female concubines, attended by male eunuch (castrated) slaves.}} | |||
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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 | {{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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===Other articles in this section=== | ===Other articles in this section=== | ||
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*[[Zina]] | |||
*[[Forced Marriage]] | *[[Forced Marriage]] | ||
*[[Hijab]] | *[[Hijab]] | ||
*[[Women in Islamic Law]] | |||
{{col-float-break|width=25em}} | {{col-float-break|width=25em}} | ||
*[[Wife Beating in Islamic Law]] | |||
*[[Wife Beating in the Qur'an]] | |||
*[[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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabians Sabians] (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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==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. Such practices have been replaced by civil penalties in most modern Muslim majority countries, though not all. | |||
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{{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Violence|summary=|image=Islamic-violence.jpeg|description=Islamic law sanctions several forms of physical violence in domestic, civil, and international contexts, ranging from unprovoked imperial Jihad, to wife-beating, to amputations. While a few modern Islamic scholars have challenged the legality of imperial violence, a smaller minority that also of domestic violence, and yet smaller minority that of civil violence, the overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars today embrace the tradition of Islamic violence in all three respects.}}{{PortalArticle|image=Hands-cut.jpg|description=Various forms of amputation are prescribed as punishments in Islamic law, drawing on the Quran in particular, which instructs the delimbing of thieves as well as those who 'spread mischief in the Earth' (variously interpreted as everything from political corruption to promoting atheism). Muslim-majority implement these punishments even today, most notably Saudi Arabia and Iran.|title=Amputation in Islamic Law|summary=}} | {{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Violence|summary=|image=Islamic-violence.jpeg|description=Islamic law sanctions several forms of physical violence in domestic, civil, and international contexts, ranging from unprovoked imperial Jihad, to wife-beating, to amputations. While a few modern Islamic scholars have challenged the legality of imperial violence, a smaller minority that also of domestic violence, and yet smaller minority that of civil violence, the overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars today embrace the tradition of Islamic violence in all three respects.}}{{PortalArticle|image=Hands-cut.jpg|description=Various forms of amputation are prescribed as punishments in Islamic law, drawing on the Quran in particular, which instructs the delimbing of thieves as well as those who 'spread mischief in the Earth' (variously interpreted as everything from political corruption to promoting atheism). A few Muslim-majority countries implement these punishments even today, most notably Saudi Arabia and Iran.|title=Amputation in Islamic Law|summary=}} | ||
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{{PortalArticle|image=Stoning in afghanistan.jpg|title=Stoning in Islamic Law|description=Stoning (رجم, ''Rajm'') is primarily a mode of capital punishment for persons who engage in unlawful sexual relations. The criminals "hands are tied behind their backs and their bodies are put in a cloth sack." They are then "buried in a hole, with only the victims heads showing above the ground. If its a woman, she is buried upto her shoulders." The stones which are to be thrown at the criminal "should not be so large that the offender dies after a few strikes, nor so small as to fail to cause serious injury."|summary=}}{{PortalArticle|description=Crucifixion is prescribed as a punishment in the Quran for those who 'spread mischief in the Earth' (variously interpreted as everything from political corruption to promoting atheism). The practice of crucifixion can range from execution and/or torture by tying and/or nailing someone to a cross, stake or tree to the public display of a body after execution.|title=Crucifixion|image=Crucified in iraq.jpg|summary=}} | {{PortalArticle|image=Stoning in afghanistan.jpg|title=Stoning in Islamic Law|description=Stoning (رجم, ''Rajm'') is primarily a mode of capital punishment for persons who engage in unlawful sexual relations. The criminals "hands are tied behind their backs and their bodies are put in a cloth sack." They are then "buried in a hole, with only the victims heads showing above the ground. If its a woman, she is buried upto her shoulders." The stones which are to be thrown at the criminal "should not be so large that the offender dies after a few strikes, nor so small as to fail to cause serious injury."|summary=}}{{PortalArticle|description=Crucifixion is prescribed as a punishment in the Quran for those who 'spread mischief in the Earth' (variously interpreted as everything from political corruption to promoting atheism). The practice of crucifixion can range from execution and/or torture by tying and/or nailing someone to a cross, stake or tree to the public display of a body after execution.|title=Crucifixion|image=Crucified in iraq.jpg|summary=}} | ||
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===Other articles in this section=== | ===Other articles in this section=== | ||
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*[[Wife Beating in Islamic Law]] | |||
*[[Wife Beating in the Qur'an]] | *[[Wife Beating in the Qur'an]] | ||
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==Modern movements and events== | ==Modern movements and events== | ||
The sharp contrast between still-practiced Islamic law and modern norms of human rights has brought the archaisms of Islamic law to achieve considerable public attention. International controversies surrounding intentional and unintentional acts of blasphemy against Islam have become commonplace in the twenty first century, the first major harbinger of these events being the supreme leader of Iran's call for the killing of the British novelist Salman Rushdie in 1989 for a book that was deemed blasphemous. | |||
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Latest revision as of 02:29, 20 November 2023
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
Islamic scriptures generally employ the masculine pronoun in Arabic, which is used to refer to both men and women. On occasion, the scriptures diverge from this standard, inclusive usage, and comment specifically on men or women. The perspective taken by Islamic scriptures on women is of special interest in recent times due to frequent collision with modern values.
Other articles in this section
Religious Minorities
Islamic law permits the residence of Christians, Jews, and Sabians (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.
Other articles in this section
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.
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. Such practices have been replaced by civil penalties in most modern Muslim majority countries, though not all.
Other articles in this section
Modern movements and events
The sharp contrast between still-practiced Islamic law and modern norms of human rights has brought the archaisms of Islamic law to achieve considerable public attention. International controversies surrounding intentional and unintentional acts of blasphemy against Islam have become commonplace in the twenty first century, the first major harbinger of these events being the supreme leader of Iran's call for the killing of the British novelist Salman Rushdie in 1989 for a book that was deemed blasphemous.