Habeeb Rahman Md. Ibramsa 

This paper is an attempt to examine and evaluate the opinions of the Muslim Modernists by analyzing their interpretation and understanding regarding the injunctions of the sariqah and Hirabah scrutinizing their ideas, and a cross-examination thereof. This is for the purpose of testing the degree of harmony and coherence of these scholarly inputs, and also to know the extent of the soundness of their interpretation, and whether it is, all through, consistent or not. Thereafter, we relate these inputs to their inherent historical context in order to discover their future tendencies and real objectives.

Introduction

Execution of hudud, legal punishments according to Islam, is not a cruel and barbaric act. It never, in any way, transgresses human rights. Therefore interpreting the Qur’anic injuctions and the Prophetic traditions to discredit the well accepted legal system is unethical and will be unacceptable to Muslims unless it is based on a hermeneutic of the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet. Muslims, since the early days of Islam believe that all commandments in both the Qur’an as well as in the Prophetic traditions never neglected human rights. Although an Islamic state may be set up in any part of the earth, Islam does not seek to restrict human rights or privileges to the geographical limits of its own state. Islam has laid down some universal fundamental rights for humanity as a whole, which are to be observed and respected under all circumstances whether such a person is resident within the territory of the Islamic state or outside it, whether he is at peace with the state or at war. The Qur’an very clearly states:

“O believers, be you securers of justice, witness for God. Let not detestation for a people move you not to be equitable; be equitable - that is nearer to the god-fearing.”1

Human blood is sacred in every way and cannot be spilled without justification. And if anyone violates this sanctity of human blood by killing a soul without justification, the Qur’an equates it to the killing of entire mankind.

“Whoso ever slays a soul not to retaliate for a soul slain, nor for corruption done in the land, should be as if he had slain mankind altogether.”2

It is not permissible to oppress women, children, old people, the sick or the wounded. Women's honor and chastity are to be respected under all circumstances. The hungry person must be fed, the naked clothed, and the wounded or diseased treated medically, irrespective of whether they belong to the Islamic community or are from among its enemies.

When we speak of human rights in Islam we really mean that these rights have been granted by God; they have not been granted by any king or by any legislative assembly. The rights granted by the kings or legislative assemblies can also be withdrawn in the same manner in which they are conferred. The same in the case with the rights accepted and recognized by the dictators. They can confer them when they please and withdraw them when they wish; and they can openly violate them when they like. But since in Islam God has conferred human rights, no one on earth has the right or authority to make any amendment or change in the rights given by Him. No one has the right to abrogate them or withdraw them. Nor are these basic human rights that are conferred on paper for the sake of show and exhibition and denied in actual life when the show is over. Nor are they like philosophical concepts that have no sanctions behind them.

The proclamations and the resolutions of the United Nations are incomparable with the rights sanctioned by God. The former is not applicable on anybody while the latter is applicable on every believer. They are a part of the Islamic Faith. Every Muslim, or
administrators who claims to be Muslim, will have to accept, recognize and enforce them. If they fail to enforce them, and start denying the rights that have been guaranteed by God, or make amendments and changes in them, or practically violate them while paying lip service to them, the verdict of the

 “Those who do not judge by what God has sent down are the disbelievers.”3

Human Rights in Islam encompass all aspects of life. In regard to the security of life and property, for instance, the Prophet said:

"Your lives and properties are forbidden to one another until you meet your Lord on the Day of Resurrection."4

He has also said about the dhimmis (non-Muslim citizens of the Muslim state):

"One who kills a man under covenant (i.e. dhimmi) will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise."5

As for the Protection of Honor: The Qur’an states:

“O you who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (Indeed) doing wrong. O you who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: and spy not on each other nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay ye would abhor it...but fear Allah: for Allah is Oft-Returning Most Merciful.”6

Among the rights that Islam has conferred on human beings is the right to protest against tyranny. Referring to this, the Qur’an says:“God does not love evil talk in public unless it is by someone who has been injured thereby."7

In Islam all power and authority belongs to God, and with man there is only delegated power, which becomes a trust. Everyone who becomes a recipient of such a power has to stand in awful reverence before his people towards whom and for whose sake he will be called upon to use these powers. This was acknowledged by AbË Bakr al-ØiddÊd, who said in his very first address as Caliph:

"Cooperate with me when I am right, but correct me when I commit error; obey me so long as I follow the commandments of Allah and His Prophet; but turn away from me when I deviate."8

Accountability of Rulers to the legal system is another important aspect of Islamic human right. A woman belonging to a high and noble family was arrested in connection with theft. The case was brought to the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), and it was recommended that she might be spared the punishment of theft. The Prophet replied, "The nations that lived before you were destroyed by God because they punished the common-man for their offences, and let their dignitaries go unpunished for their crimes. I swear by Him who holds my life in His hand that even if Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad, had committed this crime, I would have amputated her hand."9

Islam attempts to achieve these human rights and many others not only by providing certain legal safeguards, but also mainly by inviting mankind to transcend the lower level of animal life to be able to go beyond the mere ties fostered by the kinship of blood, racial superiority, linguistic arrogance, and economic privileges. It invites mankind to move on to a plane of existence where, by reason of his inner excellence, man can realize the ideal of the brotherhood (ukhuwwah) of man. Therefore, clear understanding on the Islamic concept of human rights is an essential criterion for those scholars and exegesis, including the Muslim modernists, engaging in both the Qur’anic texts and the Prophet traditions.

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