The Limits of Governmental Power:
When reading about the history of human rights in the West, numerous authors emphasize how it was a reaction to the extremes of governmental power. Europe had gone through a long history of both church control and the concept of the divine right of kings. In Islam, as is not uncommon when comparing Christianity with Islam, the situation was very different because the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), as opposed to the Prophet Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), was also the head of a government. Thus, from the outset, the rules of good governance were laid down by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) himself and followed by his Companions afterward. From the outset, obedience to the ruler was conditional upon obedience to God. Hence, the limits of the ruler were already set and established. In fact, when a military leader during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went too far in his demands on his soldiers, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) clearly stated, “There is to be no obedience to a created being if it involves disobedience to Allah.”  Thus, the ruler is not free to demand any more than what the Law has given him. Furthermore, the ruler must realize that he is bound to the citizens and must act in their best interests. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed to God, “O Allah, if anyone is in charge of anything for my Ummah and he is harsh upon them, then be harsh upon him. And if anyone is in charge of anything for my Ummah and he is gentle upon them, then be gentle with him.”  The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, “The just will be with Allah upon pulpits of light to the right of the Merciful, and both of His hands are right hands. They are the ones who are just with respect to rulings, people and what they are in charge of.”  The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also, “No one is given charge of the affairs of the Muslims except that if he does not strive on their behalf and act sincerely toward them, then he will not enter Paradise with them.”

The early caliphs followed the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and set the example for all who should come later, including today. Abu Bakr, the close Companion to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), was the first caliph in Islam. His inaugural speech is probably well-known to all students of Islamic history.


In it, he stated,
O people, I have indeed been appointed over you, though I am not the best among you. If I do well, then help me; and if I act wrongly, then correct me. Truthfulness is synonymous with fulfilling the trust, and lying is tantamount to treachery. The weak among you is deemed strong by me, until I return to them that which is rightfully theirs, Allah Willing. And the strong among you is deemed weak by me, until I take from them what is rightfully (someone else’s), Allah willing.… Obey me so long as I obey Allah and His Messenger. And if I disobey Allah and His Messenger, then I have no right to your obedience.


The following anecdote demonstrates Umar’s, the second caliph, view of the ruler:
‘Umar stood up and delivered a speech in which he said: “O people, whoever among you sees any crookedness in me, let him straighten it.” A man stood up and said: “By Allah, if we see any crookedness in you, we will straighten it with our swords.” ‘Umar said: “Praise be to Allah Who has put in this ummah people who will straighten the crookedness of ‘Umar with their swords.”

As is said, “Power corrupts.” Throughout Islamic history, rulers have exploited their power and position—although perhaps not like those who believed in the Divine Right of kings, as in Europe. However, scholars continually took it upon themselves to at least attempt to correct them and to use any leverage that they could against them. They had some solid to rest their complaints upon that gave them great legitimacy: The fundamental teachings of the religion of Islam. Obviously, Islam does not call for revolting against legitimate rulers and there is also a proper etiquette to be following when correcting them. But it does call for attempting to restrain the rulers and guiding them back to the straight path. For this reason, Islam has a rich history of scholars standing up to the rulers on behalf of the masses and demanding that the rulers give the people their rights—even though they may not have referred to them as “human rights.” A classic example is that of al-Nawawi, who wrote and spoke directly to the rulers on a number of cases. His advice and words have been well-documented and preserved. In reality, though, he was simply one among a large number of such scholars.


Justice and Equity:
 The Arabic words for “justice, just, equity,” such as adl and qist and their related terms, are some of the most repeated terms in the Quran.  Similarly, there is an equivalent emphasis given to prohibiting dhulm (wrongdoing, oppression, tyranny).  This emphasis on justice and equity—as opposed to mere equality—is related to Islam’s stance on many of the contemporary human rights concerning women. In the contemporary human rights documents the emphasis is on equality and not on equity. The emphasis in Islam is on what is equitable. Hence, there is going to be great differences between the two approaches. Equity and justice demands that laws differ under different circumstances or for different members of society if the circumstances require that.

When it comes to being a full human being and being a servant of God, there is no difference between men and women. Hence, there has never been any discussion in Islam, like there was in the West and in Christianity, as to whether women even possess souls. This type of equality between men and women is well-established in Islam and probably recognized by Allah. The following Quranic verses, for example, touch upon this point: “And do not wish for that by which Allah has made some of you exceed others. For men is a share of what they have earned, and for women is a share of what they have earned. And ask Allah of his bounty. Indeed Allah is ever, of all things, Knowing” (al-Nisaa 32); “Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so - for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward” (al-Ahzaab 35); And their Lord responded to them, ‘Never will I allow to be lost the work of [any] worker among you, whether male or female; you are of one another. So those who emigrated or were evicted from their homes or were harmed in My cause or fought or were killed - I will surely remove from them their misdeeds, and I will surely admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow as reward from Allah , and Allah has with Him the best reward’” (ali-Imraan 195).

There is actually a strong movement under foot to remove any kinds of differences between men and women. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women was one of the first steps to redress many unjust discriminatory acts against women. However, the language of strict equality as opposed to equity troubled some nations, leading many not to ratify this document. Even Tunisia, definitely one of the most liberal of the Muslim states, entered reservations to this convention.


Baderin explains that this document may have gone too far even for this more liberal state:
It is noteworthy however that even Muslim countries, such as Tunisia, considered today as having adopted a most liberal approach in their interpretation of Islamic law, entered reservations to the Women’s Convention. This may not be unconnected with the revolutionary approach of the Women’s Convention. It aims at ‘a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in family and at achieving full equality between men and women. Muslim States tend to be cautious in that regard because both the society and family are very important institutions in Islam. The family and societal structures of Muslim societies are based on principles prescribed by the religion, reinforced by the law, and cherished by the individuals. Some family rights and obligations are not considered as entirely private family affairs but of concern to society.

However, the “strict equality” movement became much bolder in more recent years. Many of the proponents of this view are very active in the human rights movement and, for example, had a very strong influence at the Beijing Conference in 1995 and its resultant Platform for Action.


Kausar has given a rather strong warning about this movement, as she writes in the introduction to her work covering this movement and its relationship to the Beijing Conference in particular,
I hope that the questions and issues identified and discussed in this book would reveal the influence of extreme feminists and women activists in international documents and politics. It seems urgent and imperative to look into the sexual agenda of the extreme feminists in international law and politics and to remind the United Nations to stay away from the strategies of feminist colonization.

The document from the Beijing Conference states, “responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the Platform for Action and the integration of a gender perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations system must rest at the highest levels.”  It is this issue of “gender perspective” that is of interest and that is a strong departure from earlier calls to change and, it could be argued, from what most cultures throughout the world currently accept. When asked to explain this phrase, the preparatory committee responded, “Gender refers to the relationship between women and men based on socially defined roles that are assigned to one sex or the other.”


Bella Abzug, a famed American politician further clarified the issue by proclaiming,
[We] will not be forced back into the ‘biology is destiny’, concept that seeks to define, confine and reduce women to their physical sexual characteristics. The meaning of the word ‘gender’ has evolved as differentiated from the word ‘sex’ to express the reality that women’s and men’s roles and status are socially constructed and subject to change.    

The concept of gender is embedded in contemporary social, political and legal discourse. It has been integrated into the conceptual planning, language, documents, and programmes of the United Nations systems. The infusion of gender perspective into all aspects of United Nations activities is a major commitment approved at past conferences and it must reaffirmed and strengthened at the Fourth World Conference on Women.


The implication is very clear:
There is nothing about these relationships, they have been designated through a history of oppression of one sex over the other and this is exactly what needs to be changed throughout the world.Kausar also notes, “To the believers and promoters of the gender perspective, the great obstacles in their way of fulfillment of the absolute freedom for sexuality and reproduction are the institutions of ‘wifehood’ and ‘motherhood.’ Hence, they try to portray the images of those ‘wives’ and ‘mothers’ who do not work outside for various reasons, as ‘gender stereotypes’.”  Adrienne Rich, a leading radical feminist, once wrote, “The  patriarchal institution of motherhood is not the ‘human condition’ anymore than rape, prostitution and slavery are.”  Alison Jaggar, another radical feminist, explains this point even further, stating, “[T] he radical feminist equality means not just equality under the law nor even equality in satisfaction of basic needs: rather it means that women, like men, should not have to bear children.”

There is no need to discuss any further some of the new directions of feminist human rights advocates. It is one thing to demand for women the rights that they have been denied, such as equal work for equal pay, but it is quite another to claim that there should be no distinction between men and women.  This stance would be considered unjust from an Islamic perspective, as there are numerous laws in Islam that distinguish rights of women from rights of men.In fact, it should be unacceptable from a purely rational viewpoint. It is amazing to see that the evidence that men and women are different continues to pile up yet these people, who claim to be “rationalists,” want to ignore all of these differences and insist on making no difference whatsoever between men and women, claiming that the differences which include everything from brain size, brain activity and muscle build to personal traits are nothing but culturally or socially created.

The basic unit of the social system of Islam is the family. This unit has to be stable, with people having both rights and responsibilities—it could not possibly be stable if only rights were claimed and no one accepted responsibilities. Thus, rights and responsibilities have been distributed by Islam to the individual members of the family (father/husband, mother/wife, child, sibling and so on). These rights and responsibilities are based on the principles of justice and equity and not “equality.” Allah says, “They [women] have rights similar to those against them” (al-Baqarah 228). Thus, for example, the financial burden of a family falls completely on the shoulders of the husband/father, to the point that even if the wife is independently wealth this does not absolve the husband of his responsibility. It is based on this concept that ties together both rights and responsibilities—the latter which the human rights paradigm completely ignores—that a number of laws are different with respect to men and women in Islam. These would include laws related to marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance. In some cases, laws may favor the woman, as such would be fairer, while in many other cases, the laws favor the man due to the greater corresponding responsibilities on his shoulders.

There is one final point that deserves to be mentioned concerning human rights law and the rights of women with respect to marriage. Islam does recognize the concept of prenuptial agreements (al-shuroot fi al-nikaah). In other words, the woman can put stipulations into the contract that would allow her, if the two parties agree, to have additional rights than those created by the contract itself. In some schools of legal thought, this includes the right of talaaq  similar to the right of talaaq that the husband possesses. Thus, the woman does some have legal redress if she so demands concerning some of the rights related to marriage.

In sum, the Islamic view of society and, in particular, of the family definitely seems to be different from that of the contemporary human rights paradigm. For this reason, it differs with the demands of many human rights activists today concerning a large range of issues, especially women, family and sexual practices. However, the Islamic laws have their own internal logic and purpose. They are based on justice and equity within the framework of the entire social system and are not build upon a utopian and impractical “equality” that some human rights activists call for.

Before leaving this issue of women’s rights in Islam, it is important to critique Mayer’s discussion of “sexual stereotyping” in Islam as the basis for Islamic laws. There is no need here to enter into a detailed refutation of the claims she makes. Instead, the goal is simply to emphasize that the human rights movement, especially the leading feminists among them, are simply creating a new stereotype of what it means to be a full person and full human. Thus, the Platform for Action and Beijing Declaration speak about what women need and must be provided for in order to allow them to fulfill their potential. They state, “The lack of a family friendly environment, including a lack of appropriate and affordable child-care, and inflexible working hours further prevent women from achieving their full potential.” 


Commenting on what is behind such a statement, Kausar wrote,
It seems important to clarify here that economic independence of women as such is not objectionable rather desirable. But when economic independence becomes a condition for equality, it becomes objectionable. The document’s emphasis on the economic independence of women not only makes men and women inimical to each other but also makes economic factor a criterion for equality, development and peace for women. Only those women are considered equal, peaceful and developed who have their own independent economic resources. For the same reason, the roles of women as wives and mothers are perceived as secondary and insignificant. These roles are considered obstacles in women’s economic empowerment, equality, development and peace.

The phenomenon of believing that being a wife or a mother is simply not satisfying or sufficient for a woman has spread among Muslim women, partially as a result of strong criticisms leveled against who chose to follow such a path. Such women are treated as backwards, uneducated or uncivilized. This is a new type of stereotyping and it should be considered just a much a violation of a human’s rights as any other stereotyping that restricts choices for people.