Muhammad, the final prophet of Islam, established the very first Islamic society which eliminated the spiritual and social problems rampant in the Arabian Peninsula. Freedom of religion was instituted in Medina; women were honored and respected as equals; racial discrimination was practically eliminated; tribal warfare was replaced with united ties of brotherhood; usury and alcohol were completely forbidden. As Karen Armstrong, a renowned author of books on comparative religion has expressed, “Muhammad … was a dazzling success, politically as well as spiritually, and Islam went from strength to strength to strength''

Therefore, Islam’s contribution to human rights is best appreciated when viewed against the backdrop of world history as well as the realities of modern times. Social, racial, gender, and religious inequities continue to exist. Economic and social disparities have resulted in the oppression of the lower classes; racial prejudices have been the cause of subjugation and enslavement of people with darker skin; women have been weighed down by chauvinistic attitudes, and pervasive attitudes of religious superiority have led to widespread persecution of people with different beliefs.

When considering the question of human rights and Islam, it is important to distinguish the divinely prescribed rights of Islam from potential misinterpretation and misapplication by imperfect human beings. Just as Western societies still fight against racism and discrimination, many Muslim societies struggle to fully implement the rights outlined in Islam.

Dear Mahdi Movahed-Abtahi, I respectfully suggest that you begin by studying and analyzing your religious beliefs and the cultural influences that surround them.

عزيزي اقترح عليك ان تبدأ من النصوص الاسلامية ورسالة الحقوق للامام زين العابدين عليه السلام التي تضمنت معاني حقوق الانسان وهي 51 حق بالاضافة الى عهد الامام علي الى واليه على مصر مالك الاشتر وما تضمنه هذا العهد من قيم انسانية ودروس تصلح للاجيال

Humanitarian Law in Islamic Jurisprudence- Karima Bennoune

Humanitarian Int Law in Islam: A general outlook Ahmed Zaki Yamani

Islamic Law and Int Hum Law: An intro to main principles: Ahmed al -Dawood

These are focused on law of war, obviously, but there are many points of contact with Human Rights.

First of all, I rather start looking into the Islamic societies whereby the legal systems do not match with the western one. Comparatively, their systems are still strongly dependent to sharia law or islamic law. As an example, Arabe League do not afford to establish a Human Rights mechanism to monitor the violations around Arabe countries and its systems. Starting from this point of view we cannot assume that there is human rights in the islamic perspective. To my understanding this should be your starting point to discuss and explore whether in the islamic view on human rights and its origin and so on.

You should start from the last sermon of Prophet Muhmmad (peace be upon him).

Responding to this question, I follow the dual distinction of human rights, the underlying foundation/justification and legal/moral norms as highlighted in the drafting process of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Jacques Maritain mentioned as follows;

"I am quite certain that my way of justifying belief in the rights of man and the ideal of liberty, equality and fraternity is the only way with a firm foundation in truth. This does not prevent me from being in agreement on these practical convictions with people who are certain that their way of justifying them, entirely different from mine or opposed to mine, in its theoretical dynamism, is equally the only way founded upon truth".

Based on the above, I hold that human rights could be distinguished as “Moral Imaginary” and “Moral rights”.

Human rights as moral imaginary has two dimensions. One is semantic and another is pragmatic.

The semantic characteristic of human rights as moral imaginary is its justificatory power, existing in human reflection, which makes human rights as moral rights deemed as universal, indivisible and inalienable although most of human rights as moral rights, whether codified or not, are subject to certain internal and external restraints in practice.

The pragmatic characteristic of human rights as moral imaginary is its expressive function of universal commitment to the human rights as moral imaginary, which directs the people, mainly the state officials, to review legislation, administration and judiciary constantly and repeatedly from the viewpoint of human wellbeing of every individual under its jurisdiction and which reminds every human of his/her equality in dignity and rights.

Whereas human rights as moral rights are certain and concrete rights which are assumed to exist prior to codification in international human rights treaties/declarations and national statutes/constitutions.

According to this distinction, Islam culture is definetely one of major human rights philosophies/justifications like Western Christianity, East Asian Philosophies, Buddhism and the other indigenous religious beliefs.

However, the major issue around human rights nowadays is somehow different.

In my account, it challenges the legitimacy of "moral rights" codified in the international/regional human rights conventions as they follow the Western Legal Paradigm, characterised with the strict distinction between human and the other "things".

I think we need to reexamine this fundamental paradigm now.