Reception Human rights in modern Islamic discourse

Abstract

This chapter is a closer reading of arguments in the twentieth century that claimed that Islam had its own unique approach to human rights. There are Muslims who completely ignore or reject human rights as a product of Western and modern influence. Among these are jurists (fuqaha) who see no reason to depart from Islamic law and radical Islamists who frame human rights as an intellectual onslaught of the West. The well-known scholar of Islam and international relations, Majid Khadduri, wrote a defining article on Islam and Human Rights, before the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Most of this work has focussed on creative interpretive approaches to religious texts. Bielefeldt's review also recognises the reconfiguration of human rights in Islamic discourse, leading to changes in both. Maududi and Mutahhari are the leading Islamists who have written extensively on women. Here, women's rights is more closely looked at. Keywords:Bielefeldt's; human rights; Islam; Islamic discourse; Majid Khadduri; Maududi; Mutahhari