Human Rights in the Islamic Faith

Islamic Pro-Human Rights protesters
Kaitlin Dominski

Islamic beliefs are very strong when it comes to the issue of human rights. The rules applied in the Quran are not just set to Islamic territory, but everywhere. Here, the Quran states the basic structure of human rights, "...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). This means that if a person were to kill another human, then it would be as if he had killed every single human on this Earth. It was made to respect each other and state how wrong and unforgivable the act of murder truly is.

Everyone is made equal. Woman are to be respected, not pushed around and abused, like in many other cultures. Children and old people must be treated alike. The homeless should be sheltered, the sick medicated, whether or not they were Islamic or not. Everyone, even if they were among your enemies, deserved respect and the right to live. Human rights have been granted by Allah, the holy one, not some faulty human government. No one has the right to take another person's rights away when they are given to them by Allah.

The first of the rights given is the right to "security of life and property". It was said that if you took another being's prooperty of life that you would never live in Paradise.

Another right is about honor. You may not argue or snap at each other and call each other names, nor may you put someone down.

Everyone has the right to a private and personal life along with personal freedom. You may not break and enter into another's house, nor may you have one arrested on suspicion charges; there must be solid evidence the one has done wrong in order to send them to prison.

Everyone has the right to express themselves as long as it is in the name of what is true and virtuous and not evil.

There must be tolerance every religion no matter what it is.

So basically, in Islamic culture, everyone is equal no matter who they are, and no offense is really excusable.



Source: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/humanrelations/humanrights/