Human rights, women & social justice in Islam
CSS Islamic Studies: the Qur'anic and prophetic foundations of human rights, women's status and social justice, framed for Paper exam scoring.
The Qur'anic Charter of Human Dignity
Islam grounds human rights not in social contract or state grant but in divine creation. The foundational verse is Sūrah al-Isrā' 17:70 — "Wa laqad karramnā banī Ādam" ("We have indeed honoured the children of Adam") — which confers dignity (karāmah) on every human being irrespective of faith, race or status. The unity of humankind is asserted in Sūrah al-Hujurāt 49:13: humanity is created from a single male and female, organised into nations and tribes only li-ta'ārafū ("that you may know one another"), with nobility measured solely by taqwā (God-consciousness).
Five objectives — the maqāsid al-sharī'ah systematised by Imām al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) in al-Mustasfā and elaborated by al-Shātibī (d. 1388) in al-Muwāfaqāt — frame the Islamic theory of rights: preservation of dīn (religion), nafs (life), 'aql (intellect), nasl (lineage/progeny) and māl (property). Every classical right maps onto one of these objectives.
The Farewell Sermon as a Rights Document
The Khutbat al-Wadā' (Farewell Sermon), delivered by the Prophet Muhammad at 'Arafāt on 9 Dhū al-Hijjah 10 AH / March 632 CE, is the canonical proof-text. It abolished racial superiority ("no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab except by piety"), declared the sanctity of life, property and honour, cancelled the blood-feuds and usury of the Jāhiliyyah, and enjoined good treatment of women as amānah (a trust). Candidates should be able to reproduce its clauses.
Sanctity of Life and the Right to Justice
Sūrah al-Mā'idah 5:32 equates the unjust killing of one soul with killing all humanity, and saving one life with saving all. The Mīthāq al-Madīnah (Constitution of Medina, 622 CE) — preserved by Ibn Ishāq — is the earliest written instance of a pluralist polity, granting the Jewish tribes of Medina a single ummah with the Muslims, freedom of religion (li-l-yahūd dīnuhum), and mutual defence. It is routinely cited as Islam's prototype of citizenship and minority rights.
Rights of non-Muslims (dhimmah) were secured by prophetic warning: "Whoever wrongs a mu'āhad (treaty-bound person)... I will be his adversary on the Day of Judgement" (Sunan Abū Dāwūd). The second caliph 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb issued the al-'Uhda al-'Umariyyah guaranteeing the lives, churches and property of the people of Jerusalem in 637 CE. Compare these with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (OIC, 1990), which restated rights within a Sharī'ah framework — a frequent comparative-essay axis.