INTRODUCTION 

 

Bismillāhir Rahmānir Rahīm, As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh. Peace be upon you brothers and sisters.

  

Welcome back to the Muslim Converts Channel! 

 

In this lesson, we will briefly introduce an Islamic perspective on rights. We will then discuss the issue of rights more specifically with women’s rights and non-Muslim rights in Islam.   

 

BODY OF TEXT  

 

Truly God commands you to give back trusts to those to whom they are due, and when you judge between people, to judge with justice....  (Chapter 4, verse 58 of the Holy Qur’an)  

 

...And act justly.  Truly, God loves those who are just.  (Chapter 49, verse 9 of the Holy Qur’an)  

 

...And let not the hatred of others make you avoid justice.  Be just: that is nearer to piety....  (Chapter 5, verse 8 of the Holy Qur’an)  

 

The Prophet Muhammad (s) once said: {O people!  Your God is one and your forefather (Adam) is one.  An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e. white tinged with red) person is not better than a black person and a black person is not better than a red person, except in piety. 

 

In Islam, the fundamental denominator of human relations are rights, duties and responsibilities. The word for “right” in Islam is called haqq (pl. huquq). Incidentally, the premodern Islamic word for duties and responsibilities is also haqq.  

 

What this tells us is that both go hand in hand, in other words, rights don’t exist in a vacuum, any right that is accorded to a person also comes with a series of responsibilities. For example, in Islam, a child has the right to be nurtured by his or her parents, however, this child also has the responsibility of obeying his or her parents.  

 

As such, haqq is dualistic in nature.   

 

Haqq is not only the denominator of all of our relations, but it is also the denominator of all of our sins. Any sin in Islam goes against a certain kind of haqq. For example, one has a responsibility in ensuring one’s own salvation by keeping one’s faith and spiritual heart clean. This means that one should avoid doing things that will harm one’s self, both physically, mentally as well as spiritually.  

 

Our community also has a right to live in a clean spiritual environment that is devoid of spiritual polluters. Therefore, committing the sins of adultery, for example, are infringements upon the rights of a community. This is because sins like adultery break down families, ruin the lives of children, and set precedents that if repeated enough times, become normalized in the eyes of people.  

 

Haqq is also a responsibility that humans must have towards God. Above all, the greatest responsibility of humanity is to be grateful to Allah for it is He who has given us life and the opportunity for eternal joy and bliss in return for a few acts of obedience. 

 

Establishing haqq is, above all, an establishment of justice. The word for justice is adl in Islam, which means to keep a perfect balance, that is, a balance of one’s rights and responsibilities. By maintaining the balance of rights and responsibilities, social justice is maintained. 

 

This in brief is how human rights is understood in Islam from a general perspective.  

 

So now let’s look at some specific cases of rights in Islam.  In order to be brief, we’ll look at two cases only,  1) Islam and women’s rights and 2) Islam and non-Muslim rights. 

 

Women’s Rights in Islam  

 

According to the Qur’an, men and women are spiritually equal. The Qur’an states: 

 

O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah , through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer. (Chapter 4, verse 1 of the Holy Qur’an) 

 

Furthermore, women have equal economic rights, just as men do: 

 

"Whatever men earn, they have a share of that and whatever women earn, they have a share in that." (Chapter 4, verse 32 of the Holy Qur’an) 

 

Men and women have many rights in common.  They are also equal in spiritual terms and in creation. However, Islam has given different responsibilities to men and women. For example, it is the husband’s sole responsibility in Islam to provide maintenance for his wife. If the wife works, she has full discretionary right over her wealth. On the other side of the equation, a wife has the responsibility to meet a set of marital responsibilities in the home.  

 

Non-Muslim Rights in Islam  

 

In chapter 2, verse 256 of the Holy Qur’an, Allah says that “there is no compulsion in religion” 

 

This means that no one can be forced to convert to Islam. It also means that if someone is forced to convert through the threat of physical punishment or some kind of psychological or emotional blackmail, then the perpetrator of this act is sinful and the person’s conversion to Islam will not be valid.  

 

In Islam, non-Muslims are accorded the same rights of security, happiness, life, marriage, family, shelter, medical care as Muslims do. These are of course just a few differences. What the mainstream media likes to talk about though is the poll tax which is known as jizya in Islam. 

 

The jizya was an extra tax that non-Muslims had to pay. However, Muslims on the other hand had to pay other taxes that non-Muslims did not have to pay such as zakat and khums. Furthermore, non-Muslims who did pay the jizya were exempt from going to war for defending Muslim lands. 

 

Islam considers the lives of non-Muslims to be just as sacred as those of Muslims. In one famous hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (s), the Messenger of Allah is reported to have said: 

 

"Beware!  Whoever is cruel and hard on a non-Muslim minority, curtails their rights, burdens them with more than they can bear, or takes anything from them against their free will; I (Prophet Muhammad) will complain against the person on the Day of Judgment." 

 

Until Next Time, Thank you for watching. As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh