What Obliges People to Have Respect for the Rights of Others? (Part 2)
An Islamic View vs. A Non-Religious View
Islam has proposed another solution, which guarantees the rights of human beings, in line with the rights God has on his creatures. Some Islamic philosophers have emphasized on the superiority of Islamic rights on non-Islamic rights. But the law philosophers, in the schools of non-religious law, could not present any philosophical logic to prove the necessity of the rights and to appoint them, or to bring a definite reason why people need to have respect for each other’s rights, or the same. They could at most emphasize on the social agreement about this matter and they consider the International Declaration of Human Rights as the basis for these obligations, because it has been signed by many different governments, as the representatives of the people. While the religious logic believes that all the rights have their source in a divine right, which is a logical and sensible idea and could be considered as the best basis for Human Rights.
Secular rights, instead of denying the existence of God, deny the religious rule of God and consider Human Rights as a this-worldly matter, and therefore, out of the arena of human capability. Secularism actually, by ignoring or even denying a divine source for human rights, looks at the worldly matters as totally separated from God. Thus, proving the religious rule of God is the only way to explain why following these rights is obligatory.
Human tendencies could be controlled only when we consider human being responsible and committed in regards to the rights of other people. One needs to consider it as his or her duty to have respect for others’ rights and the only thing that could construct this feeling of duty and obligation inside human beings, is God, upon whom human life is depended.
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi
Other links:
The Divine Source of Human Rights (Part 1)
The Divine Source of Human Rights (Part 2)
