Thirteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

The basic principles of Islamic teaching on Human Rights are contained in the Qur’ān. They derive entirely from absolute divine authority, while in general there are several similarities with the corresponding Christian teaching. The Qur’ān introduces very serious provisions concerning Human Rights and as a result various, official Islamic Declarations-positions have emerged in the modern era. In addition, there is an abundance of texts that capture the views of important Muslim intellectuals as well as state constitutions. However, all of this ends up being exclusive to Islamic states and Muslims, as all rights are regulated exclusively by the sharī‘a. Thus, while for example religious tolerance seems to be accepted, in fact it only concerns Muslims, as it is not clearly addressed to all people without exception. Therefore, it is clear that in the Islamic world there are official texts and positions concerning Human Rights. Ιt is equally clear that they mean exclusively Muslims, since they cannot have universal application due to the inflexible interpretive framework delimited by the sharī‘a. A really interesting way out of this impasse is the interpretative re-approach of the Qur’ān and the reduction of the great weight of the sharī‘a.