Topic
and Research Question
Islam and Human rights, a religion
much talked about nowadays, and a topic of great concern in today’s world. The
regions we live in, GCC, is surely well versed with the religion, its laws, and
rights. However, in the western world, a lot of discrimination is being taken
place, and due to various incidents, which have somehow been linked to the
religion, many westerners, who are unaware of the actual teachings or the
religion, have down-seen the entire nation of Islam. Therefore, in the research
paper, I will be elaborating on the actual “rights” the religion of Islam
mentions as per the books, emphasizing on three major points, the first being
“Islam; forbidding discrimination”, in terms of colour, belief, language and so
on, further on, I will be discussing “women rights”, which has surely been
misunderstood by many, even people living in the GCC region may have
misunderstood it in many ways. And finally, in my research paper, I will be
discussing “Article 10”, which states that “Islam is a religion of un-spoilt
nature!”, and basically describing that the religion does not force any human
to revert, or follow the religion of Islam, it is entirely upto them to take up
their belief in the religion, and that, forcefully doing it is prohibited.
Importance
of Research
To my belief this topic is extremely
important, not only to the current follows of the religion, but to the entire
mankind, as the teachings of the religion, along with its laws and rights, has
been entirely misunderstood by everyone across the globe. After researching,
and writing this research paper, not only will I be able to take a strong stand
that my side of the argument, which is “FOR” the topic, is strong, but even the
readers or listeners will be able to understand the concept of human rights in
Islam in a better manner, which I feel is an important topic. Undoubtedly,
slightly controversial, however, with strong points noted and mentioned, with
logical explanations, I am sure everyone would agree upon.
Literature
Review
Sachedina (2009), with very definite
and strong points or arguments has mentioned in his book, “Islam and the
Challenge of Human Rights”, that both the religion of Islam, and Human Rights
are inter-linked, and that, the religion has entirely logical points to support
everyone’s rights, as they deserve. It may have been mislead to many, that
other religions have better rights, and that Islam does not have equal rights
amongst its people, however, this is untrue, and Sachedina (2009) has, within
his book, explained, and compared various human right issues precisely. As
mentioned above, one of the main topics in my research paper would be “women
rights”, which will be an argument opposed to Wafa Sultan (2009), the author of
the book “A God Who Hates”. This book of
hers had brought about fury to a lot in the Muslim world. She explains that
within Islam, women rights are almost non-existent, and that, all women
following the religion are ill-treated. However, this is entirely un-true,
alas, she was one among the million others who were and are unable to
understand the religion, and its human rights righteously.
Methodology
As this topic is a slightly
controversial one, and is wide spread, I would do the max to bring out the
truth, and look into each matter as deep as I can in order to prove my point.
Hence, my research would compose of various academic research journals, articles,
news papers, and so on, from whatever source I may have at my disposal. It may
be the library database, hard-copies of magazines, and news papers, and books.
In addition, to have a better understanding, I would even put an extra effort
to go about making a questionnaire and filling it out amongst not only students
in our university, but of people of different age groups, religious beliefs,
and regions. All this would help in making my paper a stronger one.
Expected
Findings
At the end of the research, I will be
clearly stating, along with proving, that Islam has absolute links with Human
Rights, and that, it is a religion that takes care of everyone and everything,
be it Feminism, war issues, adopting issues, or whatsoever.
References:
Afkhami,
Mahnaz (1999), ‘Gender Apartheid and the Discourse of Relativity of Rights in
Muslim Societies’, in Courtney W. Howland
(ed.), Religious Fundamentalisms
and the Human Rights of Women, New York: St. Martin’s Press, pp. 67-77
Ahmed,
Leila (1992), Women and Gender in Islam,
New Haven: Yale University Press
Allen,
Tim and Jean Seaton (eds.) (1999), The
Media of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence,
London: Zed Books.
Al- Sheha, A. (2009). Human rights in islam and
common misconceptions. Retrieved from http://www.islamland.com/Media/Books/HumanRightsinIslam.pdf
Brames, E. (2001). Islamic declarations of human
rights.International studies in human rights, 66, 241-84.
David G., L. (2003). human rights and human
wrongs.National Review Online,
David, L. (1999). universal human rights and
"human rights in islam. Midstream
(New York)
IHCR. (n.d.). Islam
human rights commsion. Retrieved from http://www.ihrc.org.uk/
Kazemi, F. (2002). Perspectives on islam and
civil society.Islamic Political Ethics: Civil Society, Pluralism and
Conflict, 50.
Rhonna, S. (2003). Textbook on international
human rights.Oxford University Press, 195.
Sachedina, A. (2009). Islam & the challenge of human
rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sultan, W. (2009). A go who hates. (1st ed.). New
York: St. Martin's Press.
UN, Human Rights. (1990). cairo declaration on human rights
in islam, U.N Doc.
(1990).
The cairo declaration on human rights in islam.Nineteenth Islamic Conference
of Foreign Ministers in Cairo, Retrieved from http://www.rwi.uzh.ch/lehreforschung/alphabetisch/buechler/cont/The_Cairo_Declaration_on_Human_Rights_in_Islam.pdf
