Human Rights in Islamic Tradition: An Overview

Abstract

The concept of human rights is as old as human history itself but the first brave step was made by Islam in the 7th century CE (10th AH). Nowadays, it has become a most significant issue of the modern era especially in the Islamic and the Western world. Human rights have become most discussable issues in the contemporary socio-political context. Islam gives great importance to human rights due to human honour and dignity. In Islamic perspective, all kinds of rights and freedoms are granted by Almighty Allah and the revelation (Wahi) is a sole base of them. Many verses of the Holy Quran and Ahadith (sayings) of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) describe these rights in a quite scientific way. According to Muslim scholars, the fundamental human rights were given by Islam fourteen hundred years ago in 10 AH/632 CE with the deliverance of the Last sermon of the Prophet (SAAS). Every person stands in need of other person at every step of his life. Therefore, it was important that there should be definite mutual rights and duties for human beings which might smooth the human existence. That is why the human rights have been of very great significance in the existence of humankind. In this research paper, an attempt is made to describe the concept of human rights in Islam in the light of its primary text on one hand and it also makes a discussion about some of the basic human rights conferred by Islam upon the human beings on the other hand