Universal declaration of human rights (UDHR) : an analytical study from the perspective of Qur’an and sunnah

Abstract

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948 was proclaimed by the United nations (UN) as a common standard of achievements for all people and all nations for establishing peace, freedom, and justice in the world. However, the UDHR remained not free from disputes where the cultural relativists consider it not universal, while the universalists believe that it is universal and fit for all cultures and all nations. Likewise, some Islamic scholars believe that the UDHR is incompatible with Islam while others claim it is partially compatible, and some recent scholars consider it completely compatible. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to explore the human rights aspect as declared through the UDHR and analyse them from the Qur’an and Sunnah perspective. This study adopted the descriptive, analytical, comparative, critical, and evaluative approaches for describing all the rights drafted in the UDHR, followed by an objective analysis and evaluation based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. This study explored all rights mentioned in the UDHR, and analysed how they have been implemented and protected; or how they have been violated. This study concluded that the UDHR has declared some fundamental human rights without which no human can survive. However, the Qur’an and Sunnah, since revealed for the betterment of human civilisation, left no human rights untouched, be it civil or political, economic, social or cultural. Therefore, a thorough observation in the texts of the UDHR reached the conclusion that there is no single point in the human rights declaration that can be considered as incompatible with the Qur’an and Sunnah, though some scholars tried to pinpoint some aspects of incompatibilities between the UDHR and Islam. It is also observed that despite the diligent mechanisms that the UN has for protecting human rights, there exist gross violations everywhere. Therefore, this study located some instructions from the Qur’an and Sunnah which play active roles in protecting human rights. The Qur’an and Sunnah strongly command for implementing all fundamental human rights and declare immense rewards for those who implement them.It also strongly prohibits human rights violations and declared severe punishments for those who violate them. Thus, awareness of these Qur’anic instructions and instilling God’s consciousness in the minds of people can be the perfect mechanism for human rights to be properly implemented.