Waves

It has been laid down in the Holy Quran: "If you apprehend breach of treaty from a people, then openly throw the treaty at their faces" (8:58). In this verse, Muslims have been prohibited from opening hostilities against their enemies without properly declaring war against them, unless of course, the adversary has already started aggression against them. Otherwise the Quran has clearly given the injunction to Muslims that they should intimate their enemies that no treaty exists between them, and they are at war with them. The present day 'inter- national law' has also laid down that hostilities should not be started without declaration of war, but since it is a man-made rule, they are free to violate it whenever it is convenient. On the other hand, the laws for Muslims have been framed by God, hence they cannot be violated.

3.8 Social Justice

We have actually covered part of this topic when we discussed human rights problems in Africa. However, for the sake of completeness and due to the importance of social justice in Africa today, we deem it wise to give it separate attention. We shall not be tired even to the point of repetition, as issues already mentioned in human rights may come up again. This is however, not to lose sight of the distinction between human rights and social justice which arises from the di-polarity of person and community, (person-in-the-community and community-of-persons). While human rights have, as its point of departure, the individual Cumper (2000): ―respect and concern of

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the state for the differentiation and dignity of citizens based on his personal worth,‖ social justice on the other hand takes off from the community aspect and is:

Concerned with the common good of groups and associations (imperfect societies) within the two perfect societies, state and Church… Some sociologists… intend social justice to promote law and justice in the state and human society, in this case, the term embraces not only legal justice but distributive and commutative justice as well (Doe, 2011).

Thus, by social justice we mean the respect for reciprocal rights by which: the individual renders to the state what is its due for common good (legal); the state assures its citizens of just distribution of common good and other necessities of life (distributive), individuals give one another their dues and respect their rights (commutative). We have just discussed peace. According to Vatican Council II, as we saw above, peace is an enterprise of justice. Our world is sick of social injustice and badly needs social-justice crusades. As we saw when we were discussing human rights, social injustice is the order of the day in many countries and is responsible for wars, social unrest, etc. social injustice is such that it can emanate from individuals, groups, classes, states. Christians are called upon to rise against this cancer which day by day renders our world more inhuman. The more powerful in particular, be they individuals or groups or states, are the worst offenders.

Again on the African scene, the picture is ever gloomy: the unjust economic structure by which the gap between the rich and the poor continues a widen because of unfair distribution of wealth; the civil war; the hoarding of essential commodities and the creation of artificial scarcity by unscrupulous businessmen; the clerk who must be paid a bribe in order to do what is his duty, tax evasion, strikes that are unjust and too prolonged or that deprive others of essential services and their rights, like health service, fire protection, school and transport are all issues that need attention of both Christians, Muslims and practitioners of other religions in Africa to fight against.

144 4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit, we have studied the concept of religion and human rights, respects for human rights, religion and the human rights movement, human rights in Islam, the basic human rights in Islam, and rights of enemies at war.

5.0 SUMMARY

Human rights are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled. They are inherent in all human beings regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. Human rights are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They require empathy and the rule of law and impose an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENTS

1. Examine the concept of human right

2. Explain the need for respecting human rights 3. Discuss religion and the human rights movement 4. Analyze human rights in Islam

5. Enumerate the basic human rights in Islam 6. Outline the rights of citizens in an Islamic state 7. Highlight the rights of enemies at war

8. Examine social justice in human right

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS

Cumper, P. (2000). ‗The Protection of Religious Rights under Section 13 of the Human Rights Act 1998‘, Public Law, 254.

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Cumper, P. (1999). ‗The Rights of Religious Minorities: The Legal Regulation of New Religious Movements, Minority rights‘ in the ‗New‘ Europe, 165-183, Kluwer Law International.

Daschke, D. and Ashcroft, W.M. (eds.), (2015). ‗New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader‘, New York University Press.

Deutscher Bundestag, Final Report of the Enquete Commission on ‗So-called Sects and Psycho-groups‘: New Religions and Ideological Communities and Psycho-groups in the Federal Republic of Germany, available at: < http://www.agpf.de/Bundestag-Enquete-english.pdf>.

Doe, N. (2001). ‗Law and Religion in Europe: a Comparative Introduction‘, Oxford University Press, 2011.

Evans, C., ‗Freedom of religion Under the European Convention on Human Rights‘, Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1st ed. 2001.

Evans, M.D. (2008). ‗Freedom of Religion and the European Convention on Human Rights:

Approaches, Trends and Tensions‘, in Cane, P., Evans, C. and Robinson, Z. (eds.),

‗Law and Religion in Theoretical and Historical Context‘: Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Founding Church of Scientology (1969). United States 409 F.2d 1146 (D.D.Cir. 1969).

Franz, D. (1997) ‗US Immigration Court Grants Asylum to German scientologist‘, New York Times, 8 Nov, at 13.

Garay, A. (1965). ―Liberte religieuse et proselytisme: 1’experience Europeene‖, Revue trimestriclle des droits de l‘homme 17.

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