Human Rights

ISLAM IS ANTITHETICAL TO FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS.

Islam calls for Sharia Law to supersede Civil Laws hence Human Rights Laws are rejected by Islam. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled in February 2003 that Islamic Sharia law is “incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy.” The court said that a legal system based on Sharia law “would diverge from the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly with regard to the rules on the status of women, and its intervention in all spheres of private and public life in accordance with religious precepts.”  Further, the European Court of Human Rights determined on July 31, 2001, that “the institution of Sharia law and a theocratic regime, were incompatible with the requirements of a democratic society.”  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the basis of the European Commission and UK Human Rights Act and says the following, in brief, and in italics a summary of Islamic breaches:

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Islamic nations following Sharia Islamic Law do not follow through on this basic right – neither towards its women, nor towards apostates, nor towards non-Muslims or gay people. The Koran teaches that non-Muslims are less than human and that the death penalty of apostasy is death. It has been shown that a portion of the Muslim population in the UK has systematically abused non-Muslim girls and boys (children) and had female genital mutilation performed on their girls either in the UK or by taking UK citizens abroad for the procedure. The rights of women are of particular concern in the UK but also the right of apostates to leave Islam without needing to fear for their lives. Similarly the right of anyone to criticise Islam without fearing death, and the right of soldiers to walk their own land in uniform without fear of being brutally murdered, as happened to Drummer Lee Rigby. Read the verses of violence here.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Sadly, examples of killing in the name of Islam are legion and have been from the life of Muhammad onwards – instances in the West since 9/11 include the 7/7 London bus and tube bombs which killed 52 people and the horrific hacking to death of Drummer Lee Rigby in London. Since the Paris Charlie Hebdo attacks and the Copenhagen killings anyone minded to draw a cartoon of Muhammad is risking their life but even more insidious is that each attack was followed by random killings of Jews – the victims being murdered simply for being Jewish. Today in the West Jews and critics of Islam live in fear because of the hatred generated by Islamic texts:

Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): “I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers:smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them.” This because they contended against Allah and His Messenger: If any contend against Allah and His Messenger, Allah is strict in punishment. (8:12-13)

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

The use of slaves in Islam is well documented throughout Islamic history is alive and well in Isis and other Muslim nations today and the Hadith shows that Muhammad himself owned and traded in slaves. The Koran provides Muslims with rules regarding sex with slaves. Isis are today enslaving the women and children of their self-declared ‘enemies’ such as the Yazidis, whilst killing and maiming their men. In Mauritania and Sudan Arab Muslims today still have slaves of among the Black Muslim people. 

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Islam uses the ‘revelations’ of Muhammad in the Koran and the example of his life in the Hadith as the foundation of the belief system. In theHadith it says: 

‘He (The Prophet) had their hands and feet cut off. Then he ordered that nails should be heated and passed over their eyes, and they were left in the rocky land of Medina. They asked for water, but none provided them with water till they died.’ [30.18]

There are numerous examples of Muhammad himself ordering stonings, beheadings and murders in the Hadith. Isis is simply copying the example of Muhammad in their barbaric treatment of human beings today – and Saudi Arabia still beheads and stones people to death, whilst Iran has public hangings of its people for such ‘sins’ as being gay or having committed adultery – as per the Koran and Hadith. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is another practice common in the Muslim world and sadly it takes place within the UK too. This is the barbaric, cruel, degrading and dehumanising practice of slicing a young girl’s clitoris and labia off without anaesthesia, then roughly sewing what is left back together, sometimes using thorns. Young girls often experience pain, infection, incontinence and terrible problems during urination, menstruation, sex and giving birth. The practice of child marriage again is rampant in the Muslim world, and is known to occur in UK mosques.

The Koran calls unbelievers ‘Kaffirs‘ and states they are only good as property (slaves), to pay taxes to Muslim masters or for death: 

“Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.” [5: 33]

It is no coincidence that crucifixion is used by Isis nor that non-Muslims are treated with contempt, killed and persecuted. 

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Muslim Sharia Law states that women are not to be treated equally to a man in any legal matter. If she is raped she requires witnesses (in fact women who have been raped or who have committed adultery are routinely given the death penalty by Sharia courts or killed by their family in ‘honour killings’ across the Islamic world. Honour Killings have featured as part of the Muslim experience in the UK, unfortunately). In Sharia the testimony of two women equal that of one man. Women who have been raped need the testimony of four men in order to be heard in Sharia court or the confession of the perpetrator. It is common for women to be denied justice or charged with fornication or adultery.

Scholars[126][127] claim Islamic law, such as verse 4:34 of Quran, allows and encourages domestic violence against women, when a husband suspects nushuz (disobedience, disloyalty, rebellion, ill conduct) in his wife.[128] Other scholars claim wife beating, fornashizah, is not consistent with modern perspectives of Quran.[129]Some conservative translations suggest Muslim husbands are permitted ‘‘Idribuhunna’’ (use ’’light force’’) on their wives, and others claim permissibility to strike, hit, chastise, or beat.[130][131]The relationship between Islam and domestic violence is disputed by some Islamic scholars.[130][132]

In practice, the legal doctrine of many Islamic nations, in deference to Sharia law, have refused to include, consider or prosecute cases of domestic violence, limiting legal protections available to Muslim women.[133][134][135][136]In Afghanistan, over 85% of women report domestic violence;[140] other nations with very high rates of domestic violence and limited legal rights include Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.[141] In some Islamic countries such as Turkey, where legal protections against domestic violence have been enacted, serial domestic violence by husband and other male members of her family is mostly ignored by witnesses and accepted by women without her getting legal help, according to a Government of Turkey report.[142]

The age of marriage in Islam for women varies with country. Traditionally, Islam has permitted marriage of girls below the age of 10, because Sharia considers practices of Muhammad, the Prophet, as a basis for Islamic law. According to Sahih Bukhariand Sahih Muslim, the two authentic hadiths, the Prophet married Aisha, his third wife when she was 6, and consummated the marriage before she reached the age of 10.[177][178]

Narrated ‘Aisha: that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his passing away).

—Sahih al-Bukhari, 7:62:64

All of these practices have been known to occur in the UK and there are even Sharia Councils operating in the UK Muslim community. Sharia is an infringement of UK Common Law and of the European Comnvention on Human Rights why the UK government allows this is a question which must be answered.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Apostasy carries the death penalty in Islam. Critics of Islam such as Ayaan Hirsi-Ali must live under constant protection. Other critics have been brutally killed – see Theo van Gogh. Jews have been targeted in European attacks by Jihadists which has resulted in UK Jews being advised not to wear outward signs of their faith and has resulted in Synagogues requiring special protection. It is completely intolerable for anyone to have to live in fear for their lives in the UK because of what they believe or what they think or say. 

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

See comment on Article 18, above. We should all have the right to go about our business and display any outward show of faith or allegiance we like without fear of violence. Critics of Islam receive death threats, Muslims have brought a petition to Downing Street demanding what would in effect be pro-Muslim blasphemy laws. 

And yet, extremist followers of Islam abuse this fundamental freedom to plot terror attacks using electronic communications, promote hatred in Mosques and in other public places, and to promote pro-Islamist propaganda openly. As with the ideas of Hitler, the ideas of Islam are hate-filled and lead to violence and oppression. “After all, wouldn’t the history of Christianity have been different – and Christianity’s history been even bloodier than it has been – if instead of saying ‘Turn the other cheek’ Jesus had said even just once ‘Slay the idolaters wherever you find them’ [Quran, Arberry trans, Chapter IX, verse 5]. Imagine if Jesus had beheaded people. There would be a lot of work to do to make sure no Christian anywhere followed his example” (Douglas Murray).

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

This Article seems too often forgotten when discussing Islam. Too often Islam’s rights and freedoms are prioritised when ‘securing…the rights and freedoms of others’ ought to be prioritised by our Politicians and Law Makers. In particular, our fundamental right to life which is threatened by those adherents of Islam which would kill us for being non-believers – Isis, Al-Quaeda and the supporters of various other Jihadi groups are some examples, ‘lone wolf’ jihadis are others. It has been shown thatMuslim extremist groups have been able to proselytise and ‘recruit’ would-be Jihadists – clearly this is something which should be stopped as a matter of urgency. 

Surely – the right to life MUST trump the right to free speech and religious freedom if those latter are used to spread ideas which lead to the killing and oppression and removal of the basic rights of non-Muslims. Many attacks on the UK have been foiled – but surely the cost of police time and the risk of attacks succeeding in the future is too high a price for the freedom of Islam’s violent messages to be preached? 

In the UK the Human Rights Act sets out how the Universal Declaration applies to UK citizens and the Equality and Human Rights Commission says this:

“However, most human rights are not absolute. Some of these rights can be limited in certain circumstances, as set out in the specified Article of the European Convention on Human Rights. For example, your right to liberty can be limited only in specified circumstances such as if you are convicted and sentenced to a prison term. Other rights can only be restricted when certain general conditions are met, for example where this is necessary to protect the rights of others or in the interests of the wider community. For example, the government may be able to restrict your right to freedom of expression if you are encouraging racial hatred.

Islam acknowledges its Sharia Law is inconsistent with the Universal Declaration:

The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) is a declaration of the member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference adopted in Cairo, Egypt, in 1990,[1] which provides an overview on the Islamic perspective on human rights, and affirms Islamic sharia as its sole source. CDHRI declares its purpose to be “general guidance for Member States [of the OIC] in the field of human rights”.

This declaration is widely acknowledged as an Islamic response to the United Nations‘ Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR), adopted in 1948. It guarantees many of the same rights as the UDHR (cf. liberal Islam), while at the same time reaffirming the inequalities inherent in Islamic law andtradition in terms of religion, gender, sexuality, political rights, and other aspects of contemporary society at odds with Islamic law and traditions.