Islamic Human Rights Instruments in the Wider Context of Human Rights Discourses.

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna, Austria

10.22081/phlq.2025.77884

Abstract

In the course of the 20th century, Islamic human rights Instruments and documents have been issued as a result of conferences of Muslim scholars, sometimes through exchange of opinions with European human rights experts, and initiated by different Muslim countries. On the whole, these instruments/ documents have been mostly welcomed on the international level; partly they were the result of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. On the one hand, international experts on human rights became aware of the rich heritage of Islam in terms of collective and individual rights - on the other hand, the question arose if and to what extent the Islamic corpus of rights – enshrined in the Sharia’s – can be in accordance with the International Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Islamic scholars as well as western human rights experts, both from their perspective, have analysed which differences or communalities exist, what their roots are and how they may influence the legal status of people in an Islamic or Eastern or Western context. The aim of such scientific approach should be to ensure that human beings have access to guaranteed rights and can expect protection when exercising those rights. In this paper I will try to present an overview on relevant discussions and developments, based on literature.  

Keywords


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