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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, the Prophet of Islam
