Religious Minorities under Islamic Law and the Limits of Cultural Relativism

In: Human rights quarterly: a comparative and international journal of the social sciences, humanities, and law, Band 9, Heft 1, S. 1-18

Abstract

The international human rights movement has succeeded in establishing universal human rights standards for religious minorities based on moral as well as pragmatic arguments. Modern Muslim countries have had to participate in the formulation & adoption of these standards at the regional & national as well as international levels. However, extremely serious tensions exist between these standards & Muslim historic religious law -- Shari'ah. Muslims cannot, & should not be allowed to, justify discrimination against & persecution of non-Muslims on the basis of Islamic cultural norms; however, the cultural relativist position can be adapted to shape attitudes & inform policy regarding fundamental human rights. A reform methodology for reconciling Shari'ah with the full human rights of religious minorities is summarized. Modified AA