By Rudy
Barnes, Jr.
Human
rights provide and protect freedom. Since
the early 20th century, U.S. foreign policy has promoted civil and
political human rights that begin with the freedoms of religion and speech, but
in Islamic cultures Islamic law, or shari’a, denies those freedoms with
apostasy and blasphemy laws. That is a problem
for Islamic cultures and also for U.S. national security.
The
18th century Enlightenment transformed religion and politics in the
West with libertarian concepts of democracy, human rights and the secular rule
of law; but in the Islamic East, apostasy and blasphemy laws of shari’a continue
to deny the freedoms of religion and speech, and shari’a discriminates against women
and non-Muslims.
That
is not unique to Islamic nations. Blasphemy
laws and those denying equal rights for women once existed in America and
Europe, but they have long since been eliminated by civil rights protected by constitutions
in libertarian democracies and by the International Covenant of Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR). In Islamic
cultures, however, the 1990 Cairo Declaration takes exception to the ICCPR by making
shari’a the last word on human rights and justice.
Where shari’a asserts its supremacy over human rights, it
produces a tyranny of religious law by allowing authoritarian rulers and
Islamist terrorists to use oppressive forms of shari’a to silence their political
opposition. The freedoms of religion and speech would allow Muslims in
Islamic nations to challenge the legitimacy of political despots and terrorists,
and that would promote U.S. national security interests.
That pragmatic point has been lost on U.S. presidents
since 9/11. They have supported authoritarian regimes in Islamic nations
that deny human rights and freedom, including el Sissi’s military regime in
Egypt and Erdogan’s repressive regime in Turkey; and they have turned a blind
eye to Saudi Arabia’s export of Islamist fundamentalism (Sunni Wahhabism) that
has nurtured both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Islamist fundamentalism is a toxic mix of religion and
politics that denies human rights and freedom and aids and abets political
oppression and terrorism. When U.S. presidents ignore human rights and allow
political expediency to shape U.S. national security policy in Islamic nations
they give underserved legitimacy to oppressive rulers and terrorists, and in so
doing they undermine the credibility of the U.S. as a sponsor of democracy,
human rights and freedom.
The freedoms protected by human rights are a deterrent to
authoritarianism and sectarian violence. It is only when a free people
forfeit those rights that tyrants like Hitler and Mussolini can gain power.
Today the radical right is once again a threat to human rights and
freedom in libertarian democracies, but political tyranny cannot coexist with
human rights and freedom.
To promote human rights and freedom in Islamic nations
the U.S. should deny security assistance to any nation that denies fundamental
human rights, including the enforcement of apostasy and blasphemy laws and
discrimination against women and non-Muslims.
President Obama equivocated on human rights issues, and President Trump
has ignored them altogether.
Even without pressure from outside, Muslims in Islamic
nations will likely insist on human rights over time. That is evident in
the wide diversity of opinion among Islamic scholars on human rights.
Progressive Muslims now promote interpretations of shari’a that are
consistent with libertarian concepts of human rights, freedom and justice; but
fundamentalist Muslims continue to resist any change to their ancient religious
doctrines and laws.
Human rights and freedom are at the intersection of
religion and politics. The greatest commandment to love God and
our neighbors as we love ourselves is a common word of faith for Jews,
Christians and Muslims alike. Because Americans love their freedom, it
should be a moral imperative of their faith and religion to share their human
rights and freedom with their Muslim neighbors, and in the process promote U.S.
national security interests.
Notes
and Related Commentary:
On how geopolitical realignments and the rise of popular nationalism [including
the election of Donald Trump] have
unleashed a global backlash against human rights, see http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/07/welcome-to-the-post-human-rights-world/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FP&utm_term=Flashpoints.
On how political expediency has
been a rationale for ignoring the violation of human rights in Egypt, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/egypt-and-iran-have-the-same-problem--and-the-same-answer/2016/09/22/1b970644-8103-11e6-8327-f141a7beb626_story.html?utm_term=.80891d90de94&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1;
on
Egypt’s coming revolt of the poor,
see http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/31/egypts-coming-revolt-of-the-poor/.
On how the Obama administration rewarded oppression in Bahrain, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-obama-administration-rewards-repression-in-bahrain/2016/10/26/b21c4e58-9ae9-11e6-9980-50913d68eacb_story.html?utm_term=.2fe25024d195&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1. On how the Trump’s State Department dropped human rights as a condition for fighter jet
sale to Bahrain, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/state-department-drops-human-rights-as-condition-for-fighter-jet-sale-to-bahrain/2017/03/29/6762d422-1abf-406e-aaff-fbc5a6a2e0ac_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
On Erdogan’s repression of
fundamental freedoms in Turkey, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-cult-of-personality-dashes-turkeys-democratic-dreams/2016/10/31/5451c1f6-9f9c-11e6-8d63-3e0a660f1f04_story.html?utm_term=.88689f2b6613&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1;
on
Turkey as a dictatorship masquerading as
a NATO democracy at http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/29/the-dictatorship-in-natos-clubhouse-erdogan-kurds-turkey/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=Flashpoints.
On the danger of Wahhabism, see http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/opinion/mohammad-javad-zarif-let-us-rid-the-world-of-wahhabism.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0.
On the need for Islam to accept
fundamental human rights and equal protection of the law for all, see http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/726912/Muslim-Charlie-Hebdo-journalist-Zineb-El-Rhazoui-Islam-no-religion-peace.
On President Obama’s hypocrisy in
ignoring human rights in foreign policy, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-criticizes-past-presidents-foreign-policies-but-how-different-is-his/2016/09/14/5f0afcfa-7a96-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html?utm_term=.5d3a9ac0267d&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
On President Obama’s acknowledgement
that ISIS is a “twisted ideology” that cannot be defeated on the battleground,
see https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-islamic-state-will-inevitably-be-defeated-but-networks-will-persist/2016/08/04/18198978-5a5d-11e6-8b48-0cb344221131_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
On the conflict between the
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the 1990 Cairo
Declaration that makes shari’a the last word on human rights and justice in
Islamic cultures, see Religion, Law and
Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy, at page 7, notes 22 and 23, posted in
Resources at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/p/resources.html.
On religion, liberty and justice at home and abroad, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/11/religion-liberty-and-justice-at-home.html.
On the greatest commandment as a
common word of faith, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html.
On religion, human rights and national security, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/05/religion-human-rights-and-national.html.
On oppresso de liber: Where religion and military power intersect,
see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/05/de-oppresso-liber-where-religion-and.html.
On the relevance of religion to politics, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2016/04/the-relevance-of-religion-to-politics.html.
On the causes of religious violence and how to combat them, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2016/04/the-causes-of-religious-violence-and.html.
On religious violence and the dilemma of freedom and democracy, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2016/04/religious-violence-and-dilemma-of.html.
On the freedoms of religion and speech as essentials of liberty and law,
see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/08/the-freedoms-of-religion-and-speech.html.
On liberty in law: a matter of man’s law, not God’s law, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/09/liberty-in-law-matter-of-mans-law-not.html.
On the evolution of religion and politics from oppression to freedom,
see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/09/the-evolution-of-religion-and-politics.html.
On the differing perspectives of
Islamic scholars on concepts of justice, see Religion, Legitimacy and the Law: Shari’a, Democracy and Human Rights,
at pages 10-17, posted in Resources at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/p/resources.html.
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