Human Rights and Justice in
Islam
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Islam provides many
human rights for the individual. The following are some of
these human rights that Islam protects. |
The life and property of all
citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred, whether a
person is Muslim or not. Islam also protects honor. So, in
Islam, insulting others or making fun of them is not allowed.
The Prophet Muhammad  said: {Truly
your blood, your property, and your honor are inviolable.}1
Racism is not allowed in
Islam, for the Quran speaks of human equality in the following
terms:
 O mankind,
We have created you from a male and a female and have made you
into nations and tribes for you to know one another. Truly, the
noblest of you with God is the most pious.2
Truly, God is All-Knowing, All-Aware. 
(Quran, 49:13)
Islam rejects certain
individuals or nations being favored because of their wealth,
power, or race. God created human beings as equals who are to
be distinguished from each other only on the basis of their
faith and piety. The Prophet Muhammad
said: {O people! Your God is one and your forefather (Adam)
is one. An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is
not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e. white tinged with red)
person is not better than a black person and a black person is
not better than a red person,3
except in piety.}4
One of the major problems
facing mankind today is racism.
The developed world can send a man to the moon but cannot stop
man from hating and fighting his fellow man. Ever since the
days of the Prophet Muhammad ,
Islam has provided a vivid example of how racism can be ended.
The annual pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah shows the real
Islamic brotherhood of all races and nations, when about two
million Muslims from all over the world come to Makkah to
perform the pilgrimage.
Islam is a religion of
justice. God has said:
Truly God
commands you to give back trusts to those to whom they are due,
and when you judge between people, to judge with justice....
(Quran, 4:58)
And He has said:
...And act
justly. Truly, God loves those who are just.
(Quran, 49:9)
We should even be just with
those who we hate, as God has said:
...And let
not the hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that
is nearer to piety....
(Quran, 5:8)
The Prophet Muhammad
said: {People, beware of injustice,5
for injustice shall be darkness on the Day of Judgment.}6
And those who have not
gotten their rights (i.e. what they have a just claim to) in
this life will receive them on the Day of Judgment, as the
Prophet said: {On
the Day of Judgment, rights will be given to those to whom they
are due (and wrongs will be redressed)...}7
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Footnotes:
(1) Narrated in Saheeh Al-Bukhari,
#1739, and Mosnad Ahmad, #2037.
(2) A pious person is a believer who
abstains from all kinds of sins, performs all good deeds that
God commands us to do, and fears and loves God.
(3) The colors mentioned in this
Prophetic saying are examples. The meaning is that in Islam no
one is better than another because of his color, whether it is
white, black, red, or any other color.
(4) Narrated in Mosnad Ahmad,
#22978.
(5) i.e. oppressing others, acting
unjustly, or doing wrong to others.
(6) Narrated in Mosnad Ahmad,
#5798, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #2447.
(7) Narrated in Saheeh Muslim,
#2582, and Mosnad Ahmad, #7163.
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