It has been about 23 years since the Organization of Islamic Conference "gifted" the world with their Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam. Here is a link to this "magnificent" piece of bigotry: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/cairodeclaration.html
I do need to inform the reader that this work has been criticized in the UN at the highest level. My goal in this article is not to reiterate the multiplicity of criticisms leveled at this document. Rather, I would like to take the reader on a journey through this document. It is a document that, in fact, documents how bigoted and supremacist Islam is. Do not take my word for it. Read my quotes below, and judge yourself.
The document starts with,
Keenly aware of the place of mankind in Islam as vicegerent of Allah on Earth;
Recognizing the importance of issuing a Document on Human Rights in Islam that will serve as a guide for Member states in all aspects of life;
It seems to me, right from the start, that the writers of this document assumed that Islam gives correct guidance regarding human rights. I assume that those writers thought that human rights truths in Islam are self-evident. However, this document did not address this issue, but stressed that Islam will serve as a guide for member states. One would expect that what follows will, in fact, enrich the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees equal human rights to every human being and all member states agreed on, decades before the OIC had a voice on the UN stage.
Let us continue with this quote:
Reaffirming the civilizing and historical role of the Islamic Ummah, which Allah made as the best community and which gave humanity a universal and well-balanced civilization, in which harmony is established between hereunder and the hereafter, knowledge is combined with faith, and to fulfill the expectations from this community to guide all humanity which is confused because of different and conflicting beliefs and ideologies and to provide solutions for all chronic problems of this materialistic civilization.
It seems to me that those writers of the document do not have a good grasp of the history of Islam. I have written a review – Having a Big MAK – about M A Khan's book "Islamic Jihad". This book is, in my view, a natural continuation of the late Anwar Shaikh’s “Islam: The Arab Imperialism”. I mention Khan’s book “Islamic Jihad” because it contains an extended history of the spread of Islam in most parts of the world. Reading that book, one get a complete grasp of the degree of “civility” Islam brought to the world. Examples are many. Whenever Khalif Umar invaded an area, famine followed the year after. The Muslims destroyed all agricultural activities in their paths. This well-balanced civilization that the OIC writers talk about can be seen clearly when Omar ordered the burning of Alexandria Library in Egypt. At the time, it was one of a handful of libraries in the world that contained a massive amount of human knowledge. This civilizing role of Islam can be seen clearly when the Muslims destroyed the great Persian civilization, and replaced it with asinine Islamic rules and values. Persia brought to the world the first human rights declaration [see here http://amilimani.com/2010/04/iran-islam-cyrus-the-great-3/ and http://www.iranchamber.com/history/cyrus/cyrus_charter.php] and Islam replaced it with asinine rules like whether one has to have his hands open to the inside or the outside during prayer, topping that with polygamy and reducing women to subhuman creature. On top of this, there were beheading rules, gouging eyes out rules, cutting of limbs rules,… One has to be a fool to believe that human culture and civilization always moves toward advancement of human society with the passage of time. This is a lie. In fact, Islam proved that this is a lie. Islam destroyed the great cultures of the Middle East, be it Hebrew, Christian, Phoenician, Aramaic, Persian, and yes, Arab culture too. You see, Arabs lived a tribal life and had their inner struggles. But they had some great elements in their society. They took into their families other’s children and young lads, and adopted them. Those became full members of the adopting families. Women before Islam had great roles – poets, business leaders, tribal leaders, etc. With the advent of Islam, great religious tolerance, which Arab tribes were known for, vanished. Adoption was canceled by Muhammad after lusted for and married his daughter-in-law Zainab Bint Jahsh, wife of his adopted son. Women were reduced to a level of domestic animals. The great variety of Middle Eastern cultures was put on a downward and vanishing spell for the last fourteen hundred years. Millions of people were killed, tortured, enslaved and raped in the last fourteen centuries, all over the world, because of Islam. The reader is advised to read M A Khan’s aforementioned book to learn the details of such Islamic atrocities throughout Islam’s history.
The above quote speaks about the Muslim Umma being the “best community”! One can’t but view this as an expression of Muslim bigotry. A Muslim thinks he is better than a non-Muslim by virtue of being a Muslim. This superiority concept is one piece of evidence that proves Ali Sina’s view of Islam being a cult correct. Cult members usually view themselves as the correct ones, the guided one -- the sole possessor of the truth, and everyone else being misguided, or gone astray. If this is not bigotry, I do not know what is.
Let us continue with the OIC’s Human Rights document. It states:
In contribution to the efforts of mankind to assert human rights, to protect man from exploitation and persecution, and to affirm his freedom and right to a dignified life in accordance with the Islamic Shari'ah.
A given assumption here is that man’s freedom and right to a dignified life has to be in accordance with the Shari’ah. Why? If the OIC’s claim has been proven elsewhere, then I have not seen it. If it is an assumption that all humans agree to that, then this is not the case. Far from it, most humans – including a majority of Muslims in many Islamic countries – despise Islamic Shari’a. It would be ridiculous to assume that most human beings like to see some Shari’a concepts being implemented. Examples can be many. Amputations of human limbs, beheadings, and public lashings are just a few examples of how evil Shari’a laws are. Most humans, most Muslims included, would hate to see Shari’a punishment rules being implemented.
The document continues:
Believing that fundamental rights and freedoms according to Islam are an integral part of the Islamic religion and that no one shall have the right as a matter of principle to abolish them either in whole or in part or to violate or ignore them in as much as they are binding divine commands, which are contained in the Revealed Books of Allah and which were sent through the last of His Prophets to complete the preceding divine messages and that safeguarding those fundamental rights and freedoms is an act of worship whereas the neglect or violation thereof is an abominable sin, and that the safeguarding of those fundamental rights and freedom is an individual responsibility of every person and a collective responsibility of the entire Ummah
The above quote is very troubling to anyone concerned about human rights. It establishes Islam as the source of Human Rights. It also denies any human being the right to ignore human rights as found in Islam. It sees the world with the eyes of a presumed divine entity, and derives human rights from that entity. This divine entity has to be the Islamic entity “Allah”. It totally excludes all other presumed divine orders – religions and belief systems. The quote above is actually no more than bigotry and discrimination by the OIC members against anyone, who does not believe in Islam or the Islamic divine entity. The quote above talks about the fundamental rights being the responsibility of the entire Ummah. Well, this seems like a document for Muslims and not a document of human rights for all people.
In part 2 of this work, I will delve into the declaration articles themselves of the OIC Human Rights Declaration.
>>> Read Part 2
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