Human Rights, Islam, and the West: Rethinking Convergence in Contemporary Islamic Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57255/hakamain.v4i2.1677Keywords:
Human Dignity, Human Rights, Islamic Law, Legal Convergence, Western PerspectivesAbstract
This study examines the convergence between human rights and Islamic law in contemporary debates between Islam and the West, focusing on their normative and philosophical foundations. It aims to identify the possibilities and limitations of reconciling universal human rights principles with Islamic legal values. This study employs normative legal research using conceptual, philosophical, and statutory approaches. Data are collected through an analysis of Islamic legal thought, international human rights frameworks, and contemporary scholarly debates on human dignity, equality, religious freedom, and cultural diversity. The findings indicate that the relationship between human rights and Islamic law cannot be adequately understood through a binary opposition between Islam and the West. Convergence is possible through contextual interpretation, critical engagement with classical Islamic jurisprudence, and the reconstruction of legal principles in response to contemporary social realities. Islamic legal values, particularly justice, human dignity, equality, and public welfare, provide foundations for engaging with human rights discourse. However, tensions remain regarding gender equality, religious freedom, and the relationship between religious norms and state authority. This study concludes that meaningful convergence requires neither the uncritical adoption of Western legal paradigms nor the rigid preservation of inherited interpretations of Islamic law. Instead, it requires a dialogical and context-sensitive approach that acknowledges shared ethical commitments while critically addressing normative differences. Academically, this study contributes to contemporary Islamic legal scholarship by proposing a framework for understanding human rights convergence as an ongoing process of normative negotiation, interpretive renewal, and cross-cultural engagement.
References
Abdallah, F. “Islam, Slavery, and Racism: The Use of Strategy in the Pursuit of Human Rights (1987).” American Journal of Islam and Society 41, no. 1 (2024): 144–69. https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v41i1.3423.
Ahmed, D., and M. Z. Abbasi. Democracy under God: Constitutions, Islam and Human Rights in the Muslim World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316662618.
Ahmed, F. B. J. “Freedom of Speech, Responsibility, and Human Rights in Islam.” In Global Media Ethics and the Digital Revolution. Taylor & Francis, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003203551-9.
Ali, S. S. Gender and Human Rights in Islam and International Law: Equal before Allah, Unequal before Man? Leiden: Brill, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004479951.
———. “Human Rights in Islam and International Law: A Conceptual Analysis.” In Challenges in International Human Rights Law. Taylor & Francis, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315095905.
Allawi, A. “Islam, Human Rights, and the New Information Technologies.” In Speech and Society in Turbulent Times: Freedom of Expression in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316996850.
An-Na’im, A. A. “Islam, Islamic Law, and the Dilemma of Cultural Legitimacy for Universal Human Rights.” In Applied Ethics: A Multicultural Approach, 6th ed. Taylor & Francis, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315097176.
———. “Islam and Human Rights: Beyond the Universality Debate.” In The Development of International Human Rights Law. Taylor & Francis, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315086750.
Arminjon, C. “Islamic Law and Human Rights: The Doctrinal Controversies in Sunni and Shi’ite Islam Since the 1948 Universal Declaration.” Die Welt des Islams 59, no. 2 (2019): 127–70. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700607-00592P01.
Badar, M. E., and P. Florijančič. “Killing in the Name of Islam? Assessing the Tunisian Approach to Criminalising Takfir and Incitement to Religious Hatred against International and Regional Human Rights Instruments.” Nordic Journal of Human Rights 39, no. 4 (2021): 481–507. https://doi.org/10.1080/18918131.2021.2021665.
Bahlul, R. “Religion, Democracy, and Human Rights: The Example of Islam.” In The Islamic World and the Mediterranean: From Colonial Legacy to Political and Cultural Interdependence. Taylor & Francis, 2025. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003431206-9.
Barry, M. A. M. H. “Human Rights in Islam and Their Relevance in the Present Time.” Advanced Science Letters 23, no. 5 (2017): 4856–59. https://doi.org/10.1166/asl.2017.8927.
Chamankhah, L. “From Political Islam to Civil Religion: The Possibilities of a Pluralistic Constitution and Its Impact on Human Rights in Post-Revolutionary Iran.” Teosofi: Jurnal Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam 12, no. 1 (2022): 125–44. https://doi.org/10.15642/teosofi.2022.12.1.125-144.
Duderija, A. “Women’s Rights as Human Rights in Islam.” In Religious Soft Diplomacy and the United Nations: Religious Engagement as Loyal Opposition. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781978729636.ch10.
Edmunds, J. Human Rights, Islam, and the Failure of Cosmopolitanism. Taylor & Francis, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315750521.
Faizin, A., A. Mansur, and A. M. Abdillah. “Islam, Human Rights, and AKP (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) in Turkey.” Ahkam: Jurnal Ilmu Syariah 21, no. 2 (2021): 279–98. https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85126752211.
Fazaeli, R., and J. Hanisek. “Human Rights, Islam, and Debates Around CEDAW.” Religion and Human Rights 16, nos. 2–3 (2021): 93–116. https://doi.org/10.1163/18710328-bja10020.
Foblets, M.-C. “Islam under the Rule of Law in Europe: How Consistent Is the Human Rights Test?” Religions 12, no. 10 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12100857.
Fornerod, A. “Islam before the European Court of Human Rights: Case Law Mapping.” Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica 22, no. 1 (2019): 191–209. https://doi.org/10.1440/93556.
George, R. A. “Islam and UN Human Rights Treaty Ratification in the Middle East: The Impact of International Law on Diplomacy.” In The Routledge History of Human Rights. Taylor & Francis, 2019. https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85108919253.
Gerbaka, B., S. Richa, and R. Tomb. “Islam, Traditions and Legislation: The Context of Human Rights’ Conventions in MENA.” In Child Maltreatment: Contemporary Issues in Research and Policy. Springer Nature, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66507-4_20.
Ghobadzadeh, N. “Wasatiyya Discourse in Shi’i Islam: Ayatollah Montazeri and Human Rights Jurisprudence.” Religions 13, no. 2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020126.
Goudarzi, M. R. “Resolving the Conflict between Traditional Islam and Human Rights: A Comparative Study of Mahmoud Mohammed Taha’s and Mohsen Kadivar’s Views.” Critical Research on Religion 9, no. 3 (2021): 284–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032211015293.
Goudarzi, M. R., and A. Najafinejad. “Necessity of Reinterpretation of Sharia in the Thoughts of a Grand Ayatollah: Saanei’s Response to the Challenge of Human Rights in Islam.” Muslim World Journal of Human Rights 16, no. 1 (2019): 27–49. https://doi.org/10.1515/mwjhr-2018-0017.
Hamdani, M. F. “Islamic Family Law in the Perspective of Universal Declaration Human Rights (UDHR) and the Universal Islamic Declaration Human Rights (UIDHR).” Ahkam: Jurnal Ilmu Syariah 16, no. 1 (2016): 21–30. https://doi.org/10.15408/ajis.v16i1.2892.
Hashemi, N., and E. Qureshi. “Islam and Human Rights: A 50 Year Retrospective.” Muslim World Journal of Human Rights 19, no. 1 (2022): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1515/mwjhr-2022-0007.
Hasyim, S. “Human Rights and Democracy and the Response of Indonesian Islam.” In Human Rights and ASEAN: Indonesian and International Perspectives. World Scientific Publishing, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789811229503_0008.
Hofifah, H., and K. H. Farosy. “Transitional Perspectives on the New Criminal Law, Human Rights and Islamic Law on the Death Penalty.” Jurnal Konstitusi 21, no. 3 (2024): 464–81. https://doi.org/10.31078/jk2137.
Ibrahim, A. M. “A Not-So-Radical Approach to Human Rights in Islam.” Journal of Religion 96, no. 3 (2016): 346–77. https://doi.org/10.1086/686568.
Ibrahim, H. “Women, Islam, and the Law: Womanism, Shari’a, and Human Rights in Africa.” In The Palgrave Handbook of African Women’s Studies. Springer International Publishing, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28099-4_137.
Jackson, S. A. “Islam and the Promotion of Human Rights.” Telos, no. 203 (2023): 59–77. https://doi.org/10.3817/0623203059.
Kadivar, M., and N. Akhavan. Human Rights and Reformist Islam. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021. https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85212893173.
Kardas, A. Women’s Equality in Islamic Law? A Comparative Study from the Perspective of Islamic Law and Human Rights with Particular Reference to Electoral Law and the Law of Succession. Vol. 178 of Jus Internationale et Europaeum. Mohr Siebeck, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-159872-2.
Karpenko, K. V. “Relationship between Human Rights and Freedoms and Islam in Arab Countries.” Gosudarstvo i Pravo, no. 7 (2023): 147–55. https://doi.org/10.31857/S102694520018174-2.
Kayaoğlu, T. “Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.” In Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights, vol. 1–4. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789903621.cairo.declaration.hr.islam.
Keles, O. Rethinking Islam and Human Rights: Practice and Knowledge Production in the Case of Hizmet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197662489.001.0001.
Khalfaoui, M. “Is Child Marriage Lawful in Islam? Modern and Classical Positions in the Mirror of Modern International Human Rights.” Legal Transformation in Muslim Societies 1, no. 3 (2024): 1–13. https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85218941250.
Mayer, A. E. Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics. Taylor & Francis, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429495120.
Mir-Hosseini, Z. “Global Contestations over Gender Equality in Islam: On Legal Interpretation and Muslim Feminist Scholars’ Activism in a Human Rights Frame.” In Global Contestations of Gender Rights. Transcript Verlag, 2022. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839460696-019.
Muhammadin, F. M., and M. H. M. Kamal. “The Western Universalism vs. Cultural Relativism Debate on Human Rights and Islam: An ‘Aqidah-Based Approach.” Afkar 21, no. 2 (2019): 175–216. https://doi.org/10.22452/afkar.vol21no2.6.
Mukharrom, T., and S. Abdi. “Harmonizing Islam and Human Rights through the Reconstruction of Classical Islamic Tradition.” Samarah 7, no. 1 (2023): 40–57. https://doi.org/10.22373/sjhk.v7i1.16436.
Nestby, D. H. “How Could the Norwegian RE Subject Express the Presence of Human Rights Thinking in Islam?” British Journal of Religious Education 45, no. 1 (2023): 14–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2021.1938511.
Peterson, D. Islam, Blasphemy, and Human Rights in Indonesia: The Trial of Ahok. Taylor & Francis, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003007814.
Powell, E. J., S. C. McDowell, R. O’Brien, and J. Oksasoglu. “Islam-Based Legal Language and State Governance: Democracy, Strength of the Judiciary, and Human Rights.” Constitutional Political Economy 32, no. 3 (2021): 376–412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-019-09298-y.
Prentice, P., and A. Saeed. “The Concept of Human Rights in Islam.” In The Concept of Human Rights in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. De Gruyter, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110561579-005.
Peters, R., ed. “(In)Compatibility of Religion and Human Rights: The Case of Islam.” Studies in Islamic Law and Society. Brill Academic Publishers, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004420625_036.
Rehman, Z. “Islam, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights beyond the Law.” Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 15, no. 2 (2024): 194–211. https://doi.org/10.1353/hum.2024.a953061.
Rotabi, K. S., N. F. Bromfield, J. Lee, and T. A. Sarhan. “Erratum to: The Care of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children in Islam: Exploring Kafala with Muslim Unaccompanied Refugee Minors in the United States.” Journal of Human Rights and Social Work 2, nos. 1–2 (2017): 62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-017-0032-5.
Saeed, A. Human Rights and Islam: An Introduction to Key Debates between Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784716585.
Sajjad, M. W. “Prioritizing Religious Freedoms: Islam, Pakistan, and the Human Rights Discourse.” Muslim World Journal of Human Rights 20, no. 1 (2023): 47–68. https://doi.org/10.1515/mwjhr-2023-0005.
Saruhan, M. S. “Prejudices Concerning Human Rights Vis-à-Vis Islam.” Jurnal Ilmiah Peuradeun 8, no. 2 (2020): 397–408. https://doi.org/10.26811/peuradeun.v8i2.463.
Shah, N. A. “Women’s Human Rights in Islam: Towards a Theoretical Framework.” In International Law and Islamic Law. Taylor & Francis, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315092515-21.
Sheet, D. “On Conceptions of Time in Human Rights Studies: The Afterlife, Islam, and Reparative Justice in Post-Uprising Tunisia.” Journal of Human Rights 22, no. 4 (2023): 524–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2023.2170708.
Tamer, G., and C. Rachik. The Concept of Human Rights in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110561579.
Tibi, B. “Islam, the Principle of Subjectivity, and Individual Human Rights.” In Routledge Handbook on Human Rights and the Middle East and North Africa. Taylor & Francis, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315750972.
Van-Engeland, A. “Violence, Islam, and Human Rights: Islam, a Religion of Peace or a Religion of War?” Human Rights 14, no. 2 (2019): 183–205. https://doi.org/10.22096/hr.2020.121453.1196.
Vidūnaitė, M. “The Agency in Islam or (and) Human Rights? The Case of Pious Baltic Muslim Women.” Religions 14, no. 7 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070937.
Virgili, T. Islam, Constitutional Law, and Human Rights: Sexual Minorities and Freethinkers in Egypt and Tunisia. Taylor & Francis, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429259418.
Zuhriah, E., N. A. Syahriana, and Z. Z. Ali. “Navigating Islam and Human Rights: Examining Women’s Right to Refuse Pregnancy in Indonesia.” Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights 8, no. 2 (2024): 263–87. https://doi.org/10.19184/jseahr.v8i2.42631.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Hamdani Hamdani, Saiful Amin, Hairullfazli Bin Mohammad Som
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
