{"title":"Ideas Can Also Kill: Five Assumptions that Uprisings in the Arab World have Disproved","authors":"B. E. Hassan","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1244","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1244","url":null,"abstract":"In 2011, the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and later Syria struggled to overthrow their despotic regimes and bring about radical political change. However, to date, little discussion has revolved around the role of long-standing assumptions about political change and human rights in the Arab world in prolonging the lifespan of these collapsing regimes. The first of these assumptions claimed that authoritarian rulers were the guarantors of stability in nations throughout the region. Second was the assumption that Islamists were the sole alternative to authoritarian regimes in the region. These uprisings also proved false the theory that democracy and civil and political rights were not priorities for peoples of the Arab world. Finally, the fourth assumption to be debunked is the claim that the people of the region are not ready for a democratic system that respects human rights because the religion of the majorityIslamis incompatible with democratic values and human rights.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1244","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68676632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does the Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam Provide Adequate Protection for Children Affected by Armed Conflicts?","authors":"Nasrin Mosaffa","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1220","url":null,"abstract":"More than a quarter of the global population of two billion children live in Islamic countries; therefore, their protection is vital while a handful of them are suffering from lack of hygiene, education, and poverty. The current armed conflict in different ways also has an effect and seriously impacts children as victims and associates in armed groups. Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) as a collective voice of its 57 members, initiated a series of efforts in this regard. Islamic texts and traditions show significant importance for child protection, but what has been done until today by OIC as a main intergovernmental Organization guided by Islamic principles, values and norms, is not sufficient. Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam is the first human rights binding document adopted by OIC as part of consecutive efforts of OIC to promote protection of children. Although it is regarded as an important step, its adequacy for protection of children affected by armed conflicts is under question. Furthermore, in comparison to International Humanitarian Law and Convention on the Rights of the Child, it does not reflect proportionately and further provisions for children affected, with regard to the extent and the dimensions of conflicts in Islamic countries.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1220","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68676261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Victim's Claim of Being Raped is Neither a Confession to Zina nor Committing Qadhf (Making False Accusation of Zina)","authors":"A. Noor","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1174","url":null,"abstract":"Sexual assault leaves the victims with unbearable emotional pain from the experience. The unwanted aggression against their freewill causes them to suffer physically and mentally. On top of that, they also have to fight to be treated fairly and respectfully during their court trials. There has been some controversy regarding rape prosecution in the Islamic legal system. The reason for this controversy is that the rape victim would usually be either charged with zina because of her confession, or committing qadhf, as a result of her failure to provide four male eyewitnesses. This paper aims at investigating the fundamental legal rights of rape victims who complain of being raped, to be defended fairly, and to get exemption from punishment as provided in Islamic law. This paper also seeks to investigate the admissibility of the individual testimony of the victim against the rapist. This paper suggests that proving rape is not similar to proving zina, because a rape victim who lodges a report or complains of her ordeal of being raped should not be treated the same as a person who confesses to zina. Proving rape is also different from accusing the rapist with committing zina (qadhf). This study will explore opinions and arguments of classical Muslim scholars of Islamic jurisprudence from various schools of thought.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1174","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68675463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultural Legitimacy and Human Rights in Bangladesh: Strategies for Effective Advocacy","authors":"M. Tomm","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1228","url":null,"abstract":"This essay addresses the cultural legitimacy of human rights norms in Bangladesh and suggests some strategies for Bangladeshi human rights advocates to effectively disseminate and strengthen human rights standards among their constituents. Abdullahi An-Naim argues that human rights will never be secure in a country until they are seen as culturally legitimate, and consequently human rights advocates in the Muslim world must work within the framework of Islam to be effective (1990, 15). Taking this idea as its starting point, this article draws on the idea of public reason and the development of politics in the West to suggest some ways that An-Naims imperative might be realized in practice.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1228","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68676430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways","authors":"A. B. Sajoo","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1243","url":null,"abstract":"Olivier Roy argues that the separation of culture and faithby secular as well as religious actorshas fuelled a \"holy ignorance\" which paves the way for fundamentalist claims as \"authentic.\" This review draws attention to the consequences for human rights in the Muslim world, especially with regard to gender and religious freedom. While agreeing with Roy's overall thesis, the review finds it too sweeping in its assumption that religious traditions can be grounded at all outside of some cultural foundations. Further, both secular and religious forces have much to gain fromas well as contribute toa pluralism that offers the strongest prospects for the cultural legitimacy that human rights needs as universalist project.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1243","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68676561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of The Rights of God: Islam, Human Rights, and Comparative Ethics","authors":"Laila Khalid Ghauri","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1223","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1223","url":null,"abstract":"Many scholars, Muslim and Western, struggle to understand the concept of human rights in Islam and its status in contemporary Islamic societies. There is much debate because often the discussion of universal human rights does not address the subject of religion at all. Furthermore, the language of universal human rights, as presented in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), is not explicit in Islams primary and secondary sources, including the Quran and Hadith. The Rights of God: Islam, Human Rights, and Comparative Ethics attempts to address this sensitive and largely unexplored relationship between Islam and human rights, by further focusing on, what the author calls, comparative religious ethics, which seeks to understand ethical values across religions and cultures. To demonstrate diversity of opinions on this issue, Irene Oh studies and compares the religious ethics of Abul Ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb, and Abdolkarim Soroush. This text opens the door for further research to investigate into the issue, and uncovers that universal ideas of human rights have found their way into Islamic thought.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1223","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68676414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Restrictions on the Press under King Mohammed VI and Morocco's Obligations under International and Domestic Laws on Freedom of Expression","authors":"A. Koprowski","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1186","url":null,"abstract":"Over the last eight years, there has been a sharp increase in government censorship and officially sponsored persecution of the Moroccan free press. The Moroccan press still enjoys greater freedoms now than under the late King Hassan II, thanks to the liberalization efforts he facilitated toward the end of his life, which were also continued in the early years of his sons reign. However, the freedoms media activists worked so hard to obtain at the end of the last century have rapidly begun to erode, particularly after the 2003 terrorist attacks in Casablanca. Morocco remains an important Arab ally to both the United States and Europe, but the monarchy risks that relationship by tightening the reigns on speech and violating international human rights laws. Moreover, the monarchy puts itself at risk domestically every time it imprisons a journalist or imposes a bankrupting fine on a popular periodical, as Moroccan human rights groups grow less enchanted by their king. Over the last two years, criminal charges against the media have increased significantly, causing some publications to close and leaving a number of journalists in jail for their writings. In addition, since 2008, the Moroccan government has begun to censor the Internet, arresting bloggers and satirists and temporarily suspending access to popular websites, such as YouTube. This article explores Morocco's obligations under international and domestic law relating to freedom of expression and examines some recent court cases involving the Moroccan media.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1186","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68675328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Citizenship in Question: Chicago Muslims Before and After 9/11","authors":"Jackleen M. Salem","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1180","url":null,"abstract":"While the migration of the Muslim in the U.S. dates back to the late 1800s and they have been active members of society for decades, the presence of Muslims in the U.S. has recently come under focus and discussion. The U.S. is a nation that has historically struggled with treating all its citizens equally and has been in the frontlines of eliminating these inequalities. As a result of 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., there has been a systematic and troubling trend of violations of citizenship rights of American Muslims in general. This paper examines these violations before and after 9/11 from a historical perspective. For this purpose, Chicago, as the home of one of the largest Muslim communities in the country, is used to document and conduct this analysis. The paper also discusses the implications of these issues in terms of citizenship, race, and ethnicity.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1180","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68675539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human Rights and Islamic Law: A Legal Analysis Challenging the Husband's Authority to Punish \"Rebellious\" Wives\"","authors":"Murad H Elsaidi","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1207","url":null,"abstract":"Verse 4:34 of the Qur'an has historically been interpreted to give husbands authority over their wives. Even today, such as in a recent case in the United Arab Emirates, Islamic courts have held that the husband has some leeway in \"disciplining\" wives who act in a rebellious manner to their husbands. This article challenges this interpretation through a comprehensive legal analysis, taking into account (1) the context under which the verse came about, including the societal norms and conditions of the time; (2) the Prophet Muhammads profound views against violence towards women; (3) the values of marriage emphasized in the Quran; (4) the Qurans incremental approach to improving social behavior and practice; and (5) the higher objectives of Islamic law.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1207","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68676078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards Substantive Equality in Iranian Constitutional Discourse","authors":"Aminreza Koohestani","doi":"10.2202/1554-4419.1190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4419.1190","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses to what extent, if any, recent street uprisings in Iran have been fuelled by gender inequalities; and, what the legal challenges of transforming such gender equality demands into the constitution are. I argue that a demographic transition that commenced two decades ago in Iran changed the status of women in family and society. Such a transition has unavoidably increased the presence of women in the public sphere and challenged gender presumptions within the law. To give a constitutional response to such demands, I argue, the Iranian Constitution must re-examine the correlation between women and men as biological and/or social groups, and the relationship among women themselves as a group consisting of diverse identities. Moreover, equal attention must be paid to womens norm, diversity, and agency.","PeriodicalId":35445,"journal":{"name":"Muslim World Journal of Human Rights","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2202/1554-4419.1190","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68676153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}