Sociology of Rights: "I Am Therefore I Have Rights": Human Rights in Islam between Universalistic and Communalistic Perspectives
``I am therefore I have rights," argues this paper. Mere existence qualifies a human being for universal human rights. Yet human beings do not live in solitude; they are always embedded in a network of social relations which determines their rights and duties in its own terms. Consequently, the debate about the universality and relativism of human rights can be best understood by combining legal and sociological perspectives. Such an approach is used in this article to explore the tensions and contests around the universality of human rights in Islamic law. Whether all human beings or just citizens are qualified for the inviolability of human rights is a question which divided Muslim jurists into two schools: Universalistic School, emanating from Abu Hanifa, advocated for the universality of human rights, while Communalistic School, originating from Malik, Shafii and Ibn Hanbal, advocated for civil rights. Universalistic School was adopted by such great cosmopolitan empires as Umayyads, Abbasids, Mughals and Ottomans. It was also reformed by the Ottomans during the nineteenth century in the light of the new notions of universal human rights in Europe to purge remaining discriminatory practices against non-Muslim citizens and to justify constitutionalism and democracy. Yet the universalistic tradition in Islamic law has been forgotten as the chain of memory was broken after the collapse of Ottoman Empire. This article briefly unearths the forgotten universalistic approach in Islamic law to build upon it a modern universalistic human rights theory for which there is a pressing need at this age of globalization.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Editor's Note
- Editors' Note to the Special Issue
- Article
- Human Rights and Scholarship for Social Change in Islamic Communities
- Islam and Women's Sexual Health and Rights in Senegal
- Islam, Women and Gender Justice: A Discourse on the Traditional Islamic Practices among the Tausug in Southern Philippines
- Domestic Violence in Indonesia
- Extension of Shari'ah in Northern Nigeria: Human Rights Implications for Non-Muslim Minorities
- Islam in Malaysia: Constitutional and Human Rights Perspectives
- ``Walls Hit Me": Urbanites on the Margin
- The Accursed Minority: The Ethno-Cultural Persecution of Al-Akhdam in the Republic of Yemen: A Documentary & Advocacy Project
- Nigeria Beyond Secularism and Islamism: Fashioning a Reconsidered Rights Paradigm for a Democratic Multicultural Society
- Sociology of Rights: "I Am Therefore I Have Rights": Human Rights in Islam between Universalistic and Communalistic Perspectives
- Mainstreaming Human Rights in the Curriculum of the Faculty of Islamic Law
Articles in the same Issue
- Editor's Note
- Editors' Note to the Special Issue
- Article
- Human Rights and Scholarship for Social Change in Islamic Communities
- Islam and Women's Sexual Health and Rights in Senegal
- Islam, Women and Gender Justice: A Discourse on the Traditional Islamic Practices among the Tausug in Southern Philippines
- Domestic Violence in Indonesia
- Extension of Shari'ah in Northern Nigeria: Human Rights Implications for Non-Muslim Minorities
- Islam in Malaysia: Constitutional and Human Rights Perspectives
- ``Walls Hit Me": Urbanites on the Margin
- The Accursed Minority: The Ethno-Cultural Persecution of Al-Akhdam in the Republic of Yemen: A Documentary & Advocacy Project
- Nigeria Beyond Secularism and Islamism: Fashioning a Reconsidered Rights Paradigm for a Democratic Multicultural Society
- Sociology of Rights: "I Am Therefore I Have Rights": Human Rights in Islam between Universalistic and Communalistic Perspectives
- Mainstreaming Human Rights in the Curriculum of the Faculty of Islamic Law
