Do Universal Human Rights Exist?

[seoxeee]

The idea of universal human rights is an intangible ideal, a philosophical concept, the high water mark of what living in a free and democratic society should be. But, due to social contracts, mores, customs, traditions, laws and many other variables, the application of these rights vary from state to state, country to country. An example would be Article 22 of the Cairo Declaration which says:

Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Shari'ah.

Shari'ah is defined as:

Rules and regulations governing the lives of Muslims, derived in principal from the Quran and Hadith.

Therefore, human rights are applicable only if they are not contrary to the teachings laid out in the Quran and Hadith. As Article 22 above states, everyone should have the right to express his opinion freely, but in the Quran it states:

They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelieversPTS Unggul  among them a painful punishment.

The above passage from the Quran is one of many and has been the force behind the enacting of blasphemy laws all over the Islamic world. In Pakistan for example, section 298 of the Criminal Code states:

Whoever, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person or makes any gesture in the sight of that person or places any object in the sight of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

This is an example of how Shari'ah overrules the application of human rights within the Muslim world. The application of Article 22 to certain members of certain societies within this world is restricted.

This overruling of Article 22 of the Cairo Declaration by Shari'ah is not unique. Articles 2, 7, 12, 16, 19, 23 and 24 also mandate a strict adherence to and overruling of Shari'ah. Article 25 actually states:

The Islamic Shari'ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification to any of the articles of this Declaration

So what does this mean?

In Australia we have a democratic form of government with elected officials who are representatives of the people within their constituency. This essentially means that if enough people get behind an idea, for example, same sex couples, women's rights, and indigenous rights and so on, that the normative feelings toward these things can change over time, and subsequently archaic laws regarding these things will change too. An example of this in Australia is the 1967 referendum to the Australian Constitution to have Aboriginal people included in the census. I would say it is moving "forward", some would say "backwards", but at least it is moving, and this is my point. Shari'ah is a system which is grounded back in Bronze Age Saudi Arabia.