The Right to Life, Security, Privacy and Ownership in Islam

by Prof. Mohammad Hashim Kamali

Overview

Exploring the ideas of human rights according to the laws of Islam, this discussion examines the sanctity of life, murder, unintentional killing, the death penalty, abortion, suicide, and euthanasia. The arguments are introduced by Qur’anic quotations and prophetic anecdotes and include practical examples of both medieval and contemporary applications. Relevant to the current international interest of multicultural perspectives on human rights, this analysis also covers security against unlawful arrest, freedom from torture, immunity against invasion of privacy, and restrictions imposed by the Shari’a on the exercises of these rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781903682555
Publisher:	Islamic Texts Society
Publication date:	07/01/2008
Series:	Fundamental Rights and Liberties in Islam , #5
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mohammad Hashim Kamali is dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization and a professor of Islamic law and jurisprudence at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

Read an Excerpt

The right to life is the starting point and foundation of almost all other basic rights and liberties. For they exist when life exists and most of them terminate when life comes to an end. The rights to privacy, ownership, the freedom of speech and expression, freedom of movement, and the like, are meaningful only in relation to living persons and almost worthless in relation to the deceased. In this sense the right to life stands on a unique footing since all other rights are derivable from this right. It is a primary right in the sense that no civilization can flourish without protecting and guaranteeing the right to life of its members. This would explain why jurists and philosophers have generally treated the right to life as the most non-negotiable. It is an inherent right of every human being because it pre-exists the state and any social order preceding it. It is inherent because it derives from the very fact of being human. A corollary of this is that the right to life is enforceable against everyone almost without exception.
   Although the right to life is generally recognised as the inherent right of every human being under the Shari'ah, man is not the creator of life, and life is, in this sense, deemed to be a God-given gift and a manifestation of His divine grace. For God alone is the creator of life and it is by virtue of His express will and command that the Shari'ah proclaims every aggression against it a crime and a violation both of the Right of God (haqq Allah) and that of the human being (haqq al-Adami). Life is sacrosanct and the Shari'ah seeks to protect it through the law of just retaliation (qisas), which makes its hostile destruction punishable by death, and, in cases of unintentional slaying, makes the killer liable to the payment of blood money (diyyah) to the family of the deceased.
   The Shari'ah also contains a variety of other provisions designed to protect human life. These are reviewed and summarised in the following pages. The discussion that follows is presented in twelve sections, beginning with a review of some of the general provisions of the Qur'an and Sunnah in relation to the sanctity of life, and the grave view that is taken of all acts of violence that seek to destroy it. This also involves a brief discussion of the right to self-defence, which entitles every person to repel aggression and protect himself against attack. This is followed, in the succeeding two sections, by an overview of the Shari'ah provisions on just retaliation and blood money (qisas and diyyah), as well as the supplementary punishment of barring the killer from receiving any benefit from the estate of his victim. We then briefly review the Shari'ah position on the death penalty. Suicide is discussed in the section after, and section five addresses the subject of abortion. The two sections that follow are devoted to a discussion of euthanasia, and laqit, or the abandoned child, whose life is exposed to the threat of destruction. This is followed, in turn, by a review of the rules of warfare that need to be observed before war and during the conduct of war, with a view to preventing unnecessary brutality and destruction. The last section offers a brief discussion of the Shari'ah concessions (rukhsah shar'iyyah) granted in situations of necessity and hardship in order to limit exposure to life-threatening situations.
   Some of these subjects, such as qisas and diyyah, are addressed in the fiqh sources in considerable detail, whereas others are covered in brief outline, and the information found on them is not always relevant to our concerns. My purpose here is not to present an exhaustive treatment of any of these topics but to address them from the perspective of constitutional law, which emphasises the sanctity of life, and the commitment of Shari'ah to protection against aggression. Since the fiqh texts that contain information on these subjects do not normally distinguish constitutional law from other legal themes, one often needs to be selective in the choice of data as well as in the tone of language used.

Table of Contents

Note on the Series
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One: The Right to Life (Haqq al-Hayat)
Chapter Two: The Right to Personal Security (Haqq al-Amn)
Chapter Three: The Right to Privacy (Haqq al-Khususiyyah)
Chapter Four: The Right to Ownership (Haqq al-Milkiyyah)
Chapter Five: The Acquisition and Means of Ownership
Chapter Six: Restrictions on Ownership
Bibliography
Index