Description
Book SynopsisIn 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the International Declaration of Human Rights, a document designed to hold both individuals and nations accountable for their treatment of fellow human beings, regardless of religious or cultural affiliations. Since then, the compatibility of Islam and human rights has emerged as a particularly thorny issue of international concern, and has been addressed by Muslim rulers, conservatives, and extremists, as well as Western analysts and policymakers; all have commonly agreed that Islamic theology and human rights cannot coexist.Abdulaziz Sachedina rejects this informal consensus, arguing instead for the essential compatibility of Islam and human rights. He offers a balanced and incisive critique of Western experts who have ignored or underplayed the importance of religion to the development of human rights, contending that any theory of universal rights necessarily emerges out of particular cultural contexts. At t
Trade ReviewIslam and the Challenge of Human Rights is a reverent, insightful, and truly critical work by Abdulaziz Sachedina, who is the leading Islamic theorist writing in English today. This book is must reading for Muslims who want to be full participants in western moral and political discourse, for Jews and Christians who want voices from the third great monotheistic religion of revelation to become part of their dialogical interaction, and even for secular people who want to engage religious voices in moral and political discourse that is truly inclusive. * David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto *
Table of ContentsContents ; Chapter 1: Clash of Universalism: Secular and Religious in Human Rights ; Chapter 2: The Nature of Islamic Ethical-Juridical Discourse ; Chapter 3: Natural Law and Knowledge of Ethical Necessity ; Chapter 4: The Dignity and Capacities of Women as Equal Bearers of Human Rights ; Chapter 5: Individial and Society: Claims and Responsibilities ; Chapter 6: Freedom of Religion and Conscience: The Foundation of Pluralistic World Order ; Notes ; Select Bibliography ; Index
