Humanity as the ground for universal human rights in Islamic law

Abstract

A legal maxim in Islamic law states that “The right to inviolability (‘isma) is due for humanity (adamiyya)”. The right to inviolability includes inviolability ofthe right to (1) life, (2) property, (3) religion, (4) mind (expression), (5) family andprogeny, as well as (6) honor and dignity. Universalist Muslim jurists share thisview from different schools of Islamic law. In particular, all jurists from the H.anaf¯ischool subscribe to this view. From this perspective being human is sufficient tohave human rights regardless of innate, inherited and gained attributes such as sex,religion, race and nationality. This article explores the thought of Muslim juristswho took humanity as the sufficient ground for human rights and the arguments theyused to justify it by deriving from classical Islamic law books. It will also provide ahistorical survey about how this view was implemented in Islamic history from Indiato the Balkans under Islamic law. Following it will discuss the reforms in Islamic lawduring the late Ottoman period (1839–1918). It will conclude by proposing how thepresent Muslim legal and political discourse can be re-connected to this universalisthuman rights tradition to overcome the challenges for human rights in the Muslimworld today.