Human rights is no religion, it is bigger than that
How can you ask for freedom of those who abide by you, but not for those who do not?
Zurairi AR, The Malay Mail
These past few days have seen renewed attacks against human rights, with repeated claims that it is a new “religion” which poses a threat to Islam and its adherents in the country.
We also saw baffling attacks against ideas such as humanism, secularism, and oddly enough liberalism, which guarantees civil liberties, freedom and equality. Are these not lofty ideals that we should uphold?
These sentiments are, of course, not new. The Malaysian Islamic Religious Department (Jakim) in its sermons had previously singled out liberalism, pluralism, feminism, socialism and even positivism as global threats against Islam.
Similarly, Islamist groups such as Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) have steadfastly run down liberalism, among others, with its leaders labelling it a tool for neo-colonialists or the manifestation of Satan’s agenda.
Reading the list of supposedly dangerous ideas spouted by Islamic authorities and groups, one might conclude that critics of such ideas do not exactly understand what they actually symbolise.
Many critics of human rights and liberalism have fallen into the same pit, warning that it will lead towards “unfettered freedom” instead. Which is the same old argument used by some Muslims when they try to cherry-pick and apply liberalism or human rights only to things that they agree to.
How can you ask for freedom of those who abide by you, but not for those who do not?
Subscribing to human rights certainly does not mean that one has the right to do whatever one wishes regardless of how it will affect others.
Human rights as it is widely understood guarantees the right of life first and foremost, followed by freedoms of speech, of association, of religion and of movement, among others.
And it does come ready with restrictions in order to facilitate each man’s rights: that none can harm others, and none can encroach on the rights of others.
The slander against human rights, that it promises total freedom for debauchery and chaos, is just a cover-up for the many oppressions and discrepancies by the critics, which most of the time comes from religious practitioners.
