Sanctity of Human Right
Mir Nawaz Khan Marwat

It is a universally recognised fact that all religions of the world have great regard for human dignity and preservation of human rights. There is a common pivotal point of love for mankind amongst all faiths. If we strictly follow our religions in true perspective, then there would be no chances of human rights violation. All the apostles of God and great religious personalities have preached love, tolerance, peace and respect for each others’ rights. If we study the teachings and sermons of Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad and other religious reformers, it would be crystal clear that all of them advised their followers to respect human values, human blood and human rights. They were great exponents of human rights and were deadly against usurpation of those rights by any one. They tried to set the man free from the bondage of slavery and preached universal brotherhood.

Take the case of Lord Buddha, he being a prince by birth, sacrificed all the boons and comforts of life and took upon him the sufferings of the downtrodden and subjugated human beings. He preached mercy, forgiveness and respect of human rights. He instructed human beings to show mercy not only to humans but even to animals. His message for respect of human dignity is applicable to all ages. Unfortunately instead of following religious dogmas, people have started following their self seeking desires and ambitions which have led them to transgress into the rights of others by ignoring their duties and responsibility towards fellow human beings. This resulted in the violation of human rights. I would love to discuss human rights provided by different religions of the world but due to paucity of space it is not possible to pen down all of them in this article. At present I would confine myself to human rights provided and guaranteed by Islam.

Islam means peace and is a great exponent of human rights. It believes in preserving, promoting and safeguarding human rights all over the world without any distinction and discrimination. Islam believes in the equality of mankind and strongly projects the human rights enshrined in the holy Quran, preached and practiced by the holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). He strictly followed the command of God as revealed through holy book. He laid great emphasis on the protection of human rights without any discrimination of caste, creed, colour or religion.
In his last sermon of Hajja Tul Wida (last Pilgrimage), he addressed a large gathering of Muslims and conveyed his message to the entire mankind. He said that all men are equal by birth. The white has no superiority over the black nor the black over the white. Similarly the Arabs have no superiority over non Arabs and vice versa.

He said that standard of greatness and superiority is piety and righteousness and not caste, creed and colour. The prophet of Islam always preached human brotherhood and said on various occasions that human beings have a common parentage and are members of the one large family. He always advised his followers to show mercy to poor, destitutes, orphans and widows and help them in distress. According to Islam if one’s neighbour sleeps hungry and he having means to help him, fails to do so, his very faith is in danger. The neighbour may be of any faith. Islam fully protects the rights of neighbours. One should not raise construction in a way which may block the passage of air and light etc of his neighbours or violate their privacy. Islam gives the preferential right of purchase of property to the immediate neighbour and in the case of any such violation or deviation, the neighbour has legal right of pre-emption and can acquire the sold property through the court of law.

Similarly, while giving alms and charity the preference should be given to most deserving who ever they may be. Zakat is one of the most important organs of Islam. According to Islamic law the poor people have a share in the wealth of wealthy persons, Every Muslim has to distribute two and a half percent of his annual savings and One Tenth of his yield from the crops amongst the poor, orphans, destitutes and disabled persons as Zakat. Islam does not believe in caste segregation and an ordinary servant can stand side by side with his master in the prayer’s congregation. They are equal in the eyes of law. Islam does not permit killing or torturing of women, children, sick, infirm and aged persons of the enemy camp even in war. It preaches pardon, fortitude forgiveness and mercy without any discrimination. In Islam human rights are inalienable as the same have been granted and guaranteed by Almighty God.

These rights are eternal and everlasting as the same can not be taken away by any human decree or statute. To respect these rights, is the religious obligation of every Muslim.

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