Volume 2, Issue 1 - Special "From the Field" Issue: Islam and Human Rights Advocacy For Social Change In Local Contexts

The objective of this study is to analyse the tensions between conceptualizations about Islam, women's sexual health and rights in Senegal. Sexual rights are defined here as the right to choose a partner, the right to enjoy sex without fear of violence or disease, and the right to physical integrity. These rights are examined through legal, Islamic and International frameworks in the context of their relevance to Senegal. The general population's, and Ulamas', positions, attitudes and behaviours about these rights were collected through interviews and focus group discussions. These research methods revealed a strong opposition, from both men and women, to women's individual choice and control over her body as far as family planning, sexuality, or abortion are concerned. Most respondents regarded these rights as "Western." In their view, the idea of equality embedded in international human rights conflicts with local cultures and religion. At the level of service delivery, a large number of health care providers still believe that unmarried women should not be given information or family planning methods. Also revealed is how Islam is used to construct and legitimize existing reproductive and sexual roles and deprive women of rights in these areas. Part of the reason why women's rights are not observed relate to the failure by Senegal to enforce international human rights treaties and conventions that it has already signed. Failure by Senegalese women's associations to give priority to sexual rights, has also contributed to lack of real progress in this area. This study is meant to be used by Senegalese women's rights activist and human rights organizations, as, inter alia, a tool for advocacy for the advancement of women's sexual health and rights.

As in many parts of the world, Islam in Southern Philippines is generally seen as subjecting women to unfair treatment. The concept of gender justice is thought to be non-existent. Among the minority populations in the region are the Tausug of Sulu who practice an Islam that is heavily influenced by their pre-Islamic traditions, popularly known in the community as Adat or customary laws. This study, conducted from January to June 2004, documents and analyzes the influence of the traditional Islamic practices of the Tausug in relation to women's rights and gender justice in marriage, divorce, polygamy, custody of children, inheritance, property rights and leadership; and makes recommendations regarding some reform initiatives that could improve the status of women and the general issue of gender justice in the Muslim communities in southern Philippines. The study found no violation of women's rights in the Tausug Islamic community and that gender justice actually exists. The Tausug believe that because of their strong and dynamic traditions, their practice or interpretation of Islam is more liberal and accommodating. Generally, compared with other Islamic communities in the area, the human rights situation of the women in Sulu is much better. Women were found to be enjoying considerable freedoms, including access to public office and other leadership positions. One could argue, therefore, that the Tausug community is a good example of an Islamic community where women's rights are respected and gender justice prevails. What remains to be done is to sustain this favorable environment and to safeguard it from certain sectors of the Islamic society and male chauvinists bent on undermining gender justice in the area.

Anthropological studies have shown that attitudes and behavior of majority of Muslims towards gender and women's issues are influenced by the combined patriarchal culture and patriarchal reading of Islamic teachings which is reflected in conventional fiqh. This creates room for domestic violence; men occupy a dominant position and women are obliged to show their submission to them, such submission being portrayed as divine order. Some of the men interviewed in this study defended their dominant position by exaggerating the interpretation of religious texts that grant special privileges to men. Because of its serious repercussions on women, and because it runs counter to the basic principles of Islam on justice and equality and the overall objective of sharia, i.e. maslahat (benefit, well being), such male-biased reading of religious texts should be challenged. Over 30 verses in the Qur'an support equality between women and men and refer to women's rights in various aspects of life. Many of these women-friendly Qur'anic verses are further supported by the Hadith, traditionally attributed to Prophet Muhammad. The question that emerges is: why are Muslims' attitudes quite contradictory to the spirit of gender equality and equity and women's emancipation advocated in the Qur'an's verses? Using three different perspectives: theology (fiqh), legal (the newly passed Indonesian law), and anthropological case studies, this paper explores the answer to the above question and suggests how the gap between Islamic ideals on gender and their realities can be bridged.

States in northern Nigeria are the latest in a list of political entities around the world formalizing religious law, or institutionalizing Shari'ah, into their public law system. Shari'ah applies in many Muslim-majority countries in the realm of personal law. However, when it is expanded and made to apply as part of public law, it carries enormous constitutional implications. This article examines the institutionalization of Shari'ah in twelve northern states of Nigeria in year 2000 and the likely implications on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of non-Muslim minorities in those states. Muslims' objection to the methodology of human rights discourse stems mostly from the need to maintain integrity of the family, safeguard the interests of the community in addition to those of the individual, and preserve religious belief as manifested in ritual and in daily life. The author argues that the core issue in preserving Muslim values without trampling on the rights of the minorities lies in finding a synergy for simultaneous application of Shari'ah and human rights. A synergy is imperative because neither has proved to be satisfactorily workable at the public law level for contemporary Muslims—neither Shari'ah as represented by fiqh literature, nor the secular oriented human rights. It concludes that it is the goal of justice that should be immutable rather than the means for achieving the goal. Therefore, reconciling Islam with protection of non-Muslim rights in a Muslim-majority constitutional democracy should present less conceptual difficulties and social tension than is presently the case.

This paper seeks to examine the constitutional and legal implications of Islam in Malaysia with a focus on fundamental liberties and particular reference to freedom of religion; conversion of non-Muslim minors to Islam; Hudud law, `Islamic dress,' offenses against precepts of Islam; and, women, Heads of State and Islam. These areas are chosen as a result of cases in civil courts contesting fundamental liberties, and debate in the public domain. The problems which have surfaced revolve around the following concerns: subjecting non-Muslims to Islamic law or principles; subjecting Muslims and non-Muslims to an Islamic fiqh principle contrary to humanistic principles; the problems of a dual legal system with attempts to demarcate jurisdiction but at the cost of fundamental liberties; and, the relevance of the ``Islamic state" vs. ``secular state" issue in rights adjudication. The courts appear to be in a conundrum when dealing with these cases, and this suggests a conflict in the application of Islamic and civil laws. These issues are not new; they have persisted for a long time. Recently court decisions have aroused a public perception that the problem is one of Islam versus the non-Muslim. This tends to be perceived in ethnic terms as well, specifically as a contest between the Malays, who are mostly Muslims, and other races. The author calls for increased secularization in Malaysia as a way to resolve these issues.

Human Rights have in the past been defined legalistically, a practice that tends to restrict their full import, and renders them inaccessible to those who need them. In this essay, I attempt to operationalize human rights without necessarily tying such rights to the legal meaning often attached to them. Definitions of `dignity,' 'access to resources,' `equality,' and `entitlement' are worked out in relation to the local context while simultaneously drawing on the aspirational model of Human Rights that I have developed in this slum area within the city of Salé in Morocco. My research is guided by not only this aspirational concept of Human Rights, but also by Islam as an open and evolving entity and a fan of meanings that structures people's lives. The second component of this project is an examination of the sum of religious beliefs and practices that inform and structure the life of individuals in this slum. I try to establish what Islam is in its life-world dimension, particularly for the slum inhabitants, as a way of understanding and explaining their living conditions. The objective is to locate and emphasize the possible links and compatibilities between Islam and Human Rights in keeping with An-Na'im's postulations. This work then aligns itself with the line of inquiry which probes into the particularity and the preparedness of a context to adopt and/or translate Human Rights in a language that is dear and clear to its members.

This is an advocacy essay that documents the undignified and inhumane conditions of social inequality to which the members of "Al-Akhdam" minority group are subjected in the Republic of Yemen. By focusing on the interaction between culture and collective violence, it examines the exclusionary socio-cultural and economic practices by which Al-Akhdam are denied basic human rights. In so doing, the article locates the root cause of such practices in ethnic prejudices; the Al-Akhdam are persecuted on account of their being of African-descent in a country with an Arab-majority. Finally, the article advocates the protection of the collective human rights of the Al-Akhdam minority and proposes cogent measures for restoring social justice through the implementation of specific actions, including international condemnation of their persecution; official recognition of the violence meted to them; national international recognition and promotion of their rights; cessation of Yemeni government-supported policy of Al-Akhdam forced labor; formal extension of constitutionally-guaranteed economic and social rights and the establishment of a program designed to integrate them into the mainstream of Yemeni society. This list of concrete steps represents a practical advocacy plan for fostering changes in the conditions of Al-Akhdam in Yemen through numerous venues, including the Yemeni government, the United Nations, and local and international human rights NGOs. It is hoped that this documentation will significantly elevate international awareness of, and instigate responses to, the ethno-cultural violence being perpetrated against Al-Akhdam in Yemen.

Political ideologies devoted either to the elimination or exclusion of religion from, or to its imposition on, the public sphere, and which are prepared in either case to capture State Power to achieve their vision for Society, must inexorably deny to citizens fundamental human rights and civil liberties – in a globalizing world where sustainable societies must become more culturally heterogeneous and where the continuing rise of (public) religion is inevitable, so argues the author in this article. What is needed is a polity that privileges tenets of democratic pluralism, human rights and multiculturalism over and above secularism or any of its various oppositional frameworks (so-called political religions or 'fundamentalisms'). The author posits that a Secular State is incapable of guaranteeing fundamental human rights to its citizens within a democratic framework. Secularism never triumphed as the ideology of state without important civil liberties being abjured. At the same time, any State applying Shari'ah as public law, must not only deny to non-Muslims fundamental human rights, but will also eventually deny Muslims their self-determination at both personal and collective levels and will in due course cease to be a State. The author calls for a re-thinking of human rights in order to make them more acceptable universally across diverse cultures.

``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.

The transference of knowledge which takes place in various Islamic educational systems, from basic to higher education, is mostly normative and happens doctrinally, giving little space for reinterpretation. Higher education, which is expected to bring about progress, often fails under these circumstances, with its strong tendency to preserve classical Islamic traditions without alteration. This problem is clearly discerned at the Faculty of Islamic Law within Islamic universities in Indonesia, which has a strong reputation for dealing with, as well as the authority to deal with, social and theological issues in Indonesia. The existing Islamic law curriculum, which is based solely upon classical Islamic thought, precludes the emergence of transformative solutions to modern problems. The author takes the view that curriculum reform is imperative, and has produced this document whose aim is to promote and improve the teaching of human rights in the Islamic University in Indonesia. This project adapted the principles of Participatory Action-Reflection Research, which combines action, reflection, participation and research. Several bottlenecks inhibiting effective teaching of human rights were identified and the author has made recommendations on how they might be removed. This project is designed to be a pilot project in developing Human Rights Education in Islamic higher education in Indonesia