Why should Muslims abandon Jihad ? Human rights and the future of international law

Abstract

This article examines the basis and reality of international legality and the universality of human rights from an Islamic perspective. The author calls for principled commitment and systematic respect for the institutional framework of international legality and the rule of law to encourage Muslims to abandon traditional notions of jihad. Similarly, since the institutional framework of legality and the rule of law in international relations is necessary for the protection of human rights as well, the absence of this framework would undermine the credibility and viability of human rights norms.

Notes

1 Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, ‘Islamic ambivalence to political violence: Islamic law and international terrorism’, German Yearbook of International Law, 31, 1988, pp 307 – 336.

2 ‘A strike at Europe's heart’, Time Europe, 22 March 2004; ‘Four from Britain carried out terror blasts, police say’, New York Times, 13 July 2005; and ‘London hit again’, Daily Telegraph, 22 July 2005.

3 CIA, The World Fact Book, at http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html, select ‘World’, last updated 18 December 2003. Reference to a country as Islamic can only mean that the majority of its population are Muslims, and not that the state itself is Islamic, which is an incoherent claim. See Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, ‘Shari'a and positive legislation: is an Islamic state possible or viable?’, in Eugene Cotran & Chibli Mallat (eds), Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, 5, 1998 – 99, pp 29 – 42.

4 Arjun Appadurai, ‘Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy’, in Dimon During (ed), The Cultural Studies Reader, London: Routledge, 1993, pp 220 – 230.

5 Jonathan I Charney, ‘Universal international law’, American Journal of International Law, 87, 1993, p 529.

6 Eva Brems, Human Rights: Universality and Diversity, The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2001, pp 17 – 25.

7 Ibid, pp 194 – 206. For debates around these issues among Muslim scholars, see, for example, Mashood A Baderin, International Human Rights and Islamic Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003; Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad & Barbara Freyer Stowasser (eds), Islamic Law and Challenges of Modernity, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2004; and Ausaf Ali, Modern Muslim Thought, Vols 1 – 2, Karachi: Royal Book Company.

8 See, for example, Roland Inglehart & Pippa Norris, ‘The true clash of civilizations’, Foreign Policy, March/April 2003, pp 62 – 70.

9 See, for example, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and International Law, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1990; and An-Na'im, ‘Islamic foundations of religious human rights’, in John Witte, Jr & Johan D van der Vyver (eds), Religious Human Rights in Global Perspectives: Religious Prospectives, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1996, pp 337 – 359.

10 For competing interpretations of the role of women, see Ausaf Ali, Modern Muslim Thought, Karachi: Royal Book Company, Vol 1, pp 226 – 227, 256 – 263 and Fatima Mernissi, Women in Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry, trans Mary Jo Lackland, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991, pp 49 – 81.

11 ‘Muhammad cartoon row intensifies’, bbc News, 1 February 2006, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4670370.stm.

12 ‘Protesters burn consulate over cartoons’, cnn , 5 February 2006, at http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/cartoon.protests.

13 Ibid.

14 ‘Bush condemns violence in protests over cartoons’, Boston Globe, 9 February 2006, at http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/02/09/bush_condemns_violence_in_protests_over_cartoons.

15 ‘Thousands of protestors march to mark Iraq war’, USA Today, 20 March 2004, at http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-03-20-world-war-protests_x.htm; ‘Italy protests greet Bush visit’, bbc News, 5 June 2004, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3777281.stm; ‘Million march against Iraq’, bbc News, 16 February 2003, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2765041.stm; and ‘Bush orders intelligence review’, bbc News, 2 February 2004, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/3450151.stm.

16 See, for example, ‘Remarks by the President on Iraq and the war on terror’, United States Army War College, 24 May 2004, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/new/releases/2004/05/20040524-10.html; and Phyllis Bennis, ‘Talking points: the US begs for UN backing in Iraq’, 29 June 2004, at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2261.