Alternative discourse on human rights: concepts of duties versus rights in the Islamic discourse

Abstract

The creation of modern nation states and the ascendancy of western liberal values in the post-Westphalian period have created a dilemma for societies that adhere to different sets of values and principles. Alongside the increase of modern nation states during the 20th century, the values of western liberalism such as freedom, democracy, rationalism, secularism, equality and human rights also proliferated. The acceptance or rejection of these values became a challenge for post-colonial societies, and this led to an internal search for these values, creating, in some cases, apologetic forms of responses. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations General Assembly 1948), owes its origins to enlightenment ideas based on individual rights, which makes its applicability to the non-western world questionable (Vroom and Reinders 1995). Muslim societies, emerging from long periods of colonial rule, faced similar dilemmas; they had difficulties coping with the concepts attached to liberalism and enlightenment theories but also found it difficult to develop their own systems based on indigenous concepts and values. This may have led to the tendency to view western liberal values as harmful for Islamic society and consequently efforts have been made to preserving their culture and values from the onslaught of westernisation.