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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*[[Forced Marriage]]
*[[Forced Marriage]]
*[[Hijab]]
*[[Hijab]]
*[[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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==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.
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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.<div class="articleSummaryColumn">
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{{PortalArticle|summary=|image=Broken cross.jpg|description=The word Dhimma in modern parlance refers to the non-Muslim persons permitted to live under the Islamic regime (The Caliphate), namely those of Abrahamic faiths, as well as the system of financial, legal, and social subjugation that must be brought to bear over them so as to bring about their humiliation, as instructed by the Quran. Included in this system are the practices of ''Zunar'' (yellow-badge practices) and ''Jizyah'' (non-Muslim tax).|title=Dhimma}}{{PortalArticle|summary=|description=The Jizyah is the tax imposed by the Islamic regime, or caliphate, upon the non-Muslims permitted to live under its reign, namely those of Abrahamic faiths. The Jizya tax is intended as a form of humiliation, as stated in the Quran, whereby non-Muslims are financially incentivized to convert to Islam. Conquered non-Muslim peoples are given the choice between conversion, mass execution and enslavement, and paying the Jizyah. The Jizyah is four times the Zakah Tax, imposed upon Muslim.|image=Collecting Jizyah.jpg|title=Jizyah}}
{{PortalArticle|summary=|image=Broken cross.jpg|description=The word Dhimma in modern parlance refers to the non-Muslim persons permitted to live under the Islamic regime (The Caliphate), namely those of Abrahamic faiths, as well as the system of financial, legal, and social subjugation that must be brought to bear over them so as to bring about their humiliation, as instructed by the Quran. Included in this system are the practices of ''Zunar'' (yellow-badge practices) and ''Jizyah'' (non-Muslim tax).|title=Dhimma}}{{PortalArticle|summary=|description=The Jizyah is the tax imposed by the Islamic regime, or caliphate, upon the non-Muslims permitted to live under its reign, namely those of Abrahamic faiths. The Jizya tax is intended as a form of humiliation, as stated in the Quran, whereby non-Muslims are financially incentivized to convert to Islam. Conquered non-Muslim peoples are given the choice between conversion, mass execution and enslavement, and paying the Jizyah. The Jizyah is four times the Zakah Tax, imposed upon Muslim.|image=Collecting Jizyah.jpg|title=Jizyah}}
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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.
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