Over a billion humans in the world today are Muslims. As Muslims, they believe in human rights. But their bill of human rights is not one composed by a committee of scholars or leaders, resolved and promulgated by a government, a parliament, or a representative assembly. What humans compose can only be tentative; and what they resolve can only be temporary. With their partial knowledge and passing interests, humans are known always to contend with one another, to agree and disagree and to keep on changing. Human rights cannot be subject to such vicissitudes. Hence, Muslims believe in a bill of human rights which is eternal whose author is Allah — Subhanahu wa Ta’ala (SWT). Theirs is a bill which was taught by all the prophets and which is crystallized in the Holy Qur’an, the revelation which came to the Prophet Muhammad, Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam (SAAS). Islam’s bill of human rights was promulgated by God for all places and times. The Islamic bill of human rights is the oldest, as well as the most perfect and greatest. The Muslims of the world rejoice that humanity has in this century come to acknowledge the greater part of Islam’s Bill of human rights and pray that Allah (SWT) may guide humankind to recognize these rights and actualize them in their lives.
Islam and Human Rights
Why Islam?
Within Islam it is both legitimate and right to ask the question: “why Islam?” Every tenet in Islam is subject to analysis and contention. No other religion is willing to subject its basic fundamentals of faith to such questioning. For example, Saint Thomas Aquinas, the most rational of Christian theologians, stopped the use of reason when it came to the basic fundamentals of Christian faith. He then tried to justify faith. So to ask “why Christianity?” is an illegitimate question. However, Allah invites the question as to “why Islam?”.
Title: Al-Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life
Author: Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi
Publisher: The International Institute Of Islamic Thought
ISBN: 0912463805
Pages: 237
Edition: Paperback
Synopsis
If the concept of tawhid is central to Islam and everything Islamic, it is because of its centrality to existence and every thing that exists. Indeed, Islamic science, whether religious, moral or natural is essentially a quest to discover the order underlying the variegated world of multiplicity. The work of al-Shahid Dr. Ismail Raji al-Faruqi on the subject of tawhid entitled Al-Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life thus affords the reader to not only a look on the axial doctrine of Islam but also allows the reader to understand that doctrine from a number of different perspectives.
In the endeavor to explain the simple truths of the doctrine of unity, Dr. al-Faruqi touches upon a broad spectrum of subjects, drawing into his discussions various elements from history, comparative religion, anthropology, philosophy, ethics, epistemology, archeology and other disciplines. As such, his concept of tawhid is rich in the depth of its erudition, abundant in its perception.
Indeed, it is perhaps this work more than any other that reflects the profound and original thought of Dr. al-Faruqi.