ISLAM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Semester 2
Irish Centre for Human Rights
School of Law
Academic Year 2015-2016
Course Outline
Objective
The course aims at providing students with knowledge of the
relationship between Islam and human rights. It explores the
relationship between cultural relativism and universalism claims taking
Islam as an example. The course introduces students to relevant
theories and methodological tools for developing a constructive
dialogical attitude with regard to cultural claims. A brief introduction to
basic notions of Islamic law is followed by a study and critical analysis
of a series of apparent tensions between Islam and human rights:
Islamic criminal justice system and traditional punishments, Islam and
political violence, freedom of religion and treatment of minorities and
women’s rights.
Name
Lecturer(s)
Times
Overall Learning
Outcomes
Office
Dr. Ekaterina Yahyaoui
Krivenko
Ext
Room 32065
205
ICHR
E-mail
Ekaterina.yahyaoui@nui
galway.ie
Term Two
Day
Time
Venue
Lectures:
Other meetings:
Monday
By
appointment
10am to
1pm
Irish Centre for
Human Rights
Upon the completion of the course students should be able to:
 Find relevant applicable provisions of international instruments
relevant to a particular debate on Islam and human rights;
 Determine the most appropriate provision to use in a particular
case;
 Identify gaps and shortcomings of existing international
instruments and Islamic discourses on human rights;
 Propose possible ways for improvement either for human rights
law or for Islamic discourses;
 Present arguments in favour of the selected solution;
 Demonstrate awareness of and sensitivity to larger social and
political implications of their choices in relation to the aim of
engaging in a constructive dialogue on Islam and human rights.
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Methodology
Each subject is introduced through a short lecture presentation. The
students’ understanding of the subject is further developed through
participatory discussions based on required readings. Active
participation in discussions is essential to the successful acquisition of
knowledge and analytical skills.
Students will be required to make a 10-15min presentation on one of
the required readings. Prior to the presentation they shall distribute a 12 page summary. More details about the format of presentations will be
provided during the first class.
Programme(s)
LL.M. programmes, full-time and part-time.
Course Material
Essential Texts
Supplementary
Texts
Assessment
Required weekly readings form the basis for the course. These
readings are either accessible on the internet or at the university
library. These readings include relevant international instruments, case
law as well as scholarly articles. Students are encouraged to
supplement these required readings with some material mentioned
under “additional readings”.
Relevant international instruments, case-law and articles in international
journals as indicated for each course (see below)
International Law Journals, weekly readings (see below)
Presentation and participation in class discussions: 20%
Final essay: 80%
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WEEK 1
CULTURAL RELATIVISM V UNIVERSALISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS: NAVIGATING THROUGH
APPROACHES.
 Understand the basic questions underlying cultural relativism debate
 Main methodological approaches to cultural relativism – universalism
tensions
 Articulation of this tension with regard to “Islam and Human Rights” issue
Required readings
An-Na’im, A.A. “Islam and Human Rights” in J. Witte Jr. & M.C. Green (eds.)
Religion and Human Rights: An Introduction, Oxford: OUP, 2011, pp.
56-70.
Abu Loghud, L. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological
Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” 104 (2002)
American Anthropologist 783-790 Available free of charge at
http://www.smi.uib.no/seminars/Pensum/Abu-Lughod.pdf
Gunning, Isabelle R. “Arrogant Perception, World-Travelling and Multicultural
Feminism: The Case of Female Genital Surgeries” 23 (1991-1992)
Columbia Human Rights Law Review 189-248
Schubert, Lara K. “Harmonizing Particularity of Religions and Universality of
Human Rights: Critique of Traditional 'Top Down' Approach and
Proposed Alternative” 4 (2009) Religion and Human Rights 25-40
Additional readings:
Afkhami M., “Cultural Relativism and Women's Human Rights” in K.D. Askin, D.M.
Koenig (eds.) Women and International Human Rights Law, Vol. II, Ardsley:
Transnational Publishers, 2000, pp. 479-486
Albertson Fineman M.,”Equality Across Legal Cultures: The Role for International
Human Rights” 27 (2004) Thomas Jefferson Law Review 1-13
An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed (et al., eds.), Human Rights and Religious Values: An
Uneasy Relationship? Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 1994
An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed, Towards an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human
Rights and International Law, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990
Brems, E., Human Rights: Universality and Diversity, The Hage: Martinus Nijhoff, 2001
Cerna, C. ‘Universality of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity: Implementation of
Human Rights in Different Socio-Cultural Contexts’, 16 Human Rights
Quarterly 740 (1994)
Chase, Anthony, “Liberal Islam and 'Islam and Human Rights': A Sceptic's View” 1
(2006) Religion and Human Rights 145-163
Donnely, J. “Cultural Relativism and Universal Human Rights” 6 (1984) Human
Rights Quarterly 400-419 Available free of charge at
http://mym.cdn.laureatemedia.com/2dett4d/Walden/PSPA/3040/02/Donnelly.pdf
Emon, A.M., Ellis, M.S. and Glahn B. (eds.) Islamic Law and International Human
Rights: Searching for Common Ground? Oxford: OUP, 2012
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Frick, M.-L., Muller, A.Th. (eds.) Islam and International Law: Engaging Self-Centrism
from a Plurality of Perspectives, Leiden, Boston: Brill, Martinus Nijhoff
Publisher, 2013
Guichon, Audrey, “Some Arguments on the Universality of Human Rights in Islam” in J.
Rehman, S. Breau (eds.) Religion, Human Rights and International Law: An
Examination of Islamic State Practices, Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2007, 167194
Mayer, A.E., Islam and Human Rights: Traditions and Politics, 3d ed., Boulder:
Westview, 1999
___________________, “Universal Versus Islamic Human Rights: a Clash of Cultures or
a Clash With a Construct?” 15 (1994) Michigan Journal of International Law
307-404
Morgan-Foster, J., “Third Generation Rights: What Islamic Law Can Teach the
International Human Rights Movement” 8 (2005) Yale Human Rights and
Development Law Journal 67-116
O’Sullivan, D., “Is the Declaration of Human Rights Universal?” 4 (2000) International
Journal of Human Rights 25-53
Senturk, Recep, “Sociology of Rights: "I Am Therefore I Have Rights": Human Rights in
Islam between Universalistic and Communalistic Perspectives” 2 (2005)
Muslim World Journal of Human Rights Article 11
WEEK 2
BASIC NOTIONS OF ISLAMIC LAW AND PLACE
STATES
 Sources of Islamic Law
 Islamic Law as a methodology
 Modern States and Islamic Law
OF ISLAMIC
LAW
IN
MODERN MUSLIM
Required readings
Hallaq, W.B. An Introduction to Islamic Law, Cambridge: CUP, 2009 (chapters 1,
2 and 3)
Hallaq, W.B. “'Muslim Rage' and Islamic Law” 54 (2002-2003) Hastings Law
Journal 1705-1719
Additional readings
Abou El Fadl K., Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority, and Women, Oxford:
Oneworld, 2001, pp. 170-177
_____________, “A Distinctly Islamic View of Human Rights: Does It Exist and Is It
Compatible With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” in: S.T.
Hunter, H. Malik (eds.) Islam and Human Rights: Advancing a U.S.-Muslim
Dialogue, Washington D.C.: The CSIS Press, 2005, pp. 27-42
_____________, (with J. Waldron, J.L. Esposito, N. Feldman and others), Islam and the
Challenge of Democracy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004
Hallaq, W.B. “'Muslim Rage' and Islamic Law” 54 (2002-2003) Hastings Law Journal
1705-1719
_________, “Was the Gate of Ijtihad closed?” 16 (1984) International Journal of Middle
East Studies 3-41
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_________, A History of Islamic Legal Theories: An Introduction to Sunni Usul Al-Fiqh.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997
_________, “Can the Shari'a be Restored?” dans Y.Y. Haddad, B. Freyer Strowasser
(éd.) Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity, Walnut Creek: Altamira
Press, 2004, pp. 21-53
Holmes Katz, M., “The 'Corruption of Times' and the Mutability of Shari'a” 28 (2006)
Cardozo Law Review 171-185
Lombardi, Clark B., Brown, Nathan J. “Do Constitutions Requiring Adherence to Shari'a
Threaten Human Rights? How Egypt's Constitutional Court Reconciles
Islamic Law with the Liberal Rule of Law” 21 (2006) American University
International Law Review 379-435
Makdisi, J., “The Islamic Origins of the Common Law” 77 (1999) North Carolina Law
Review 1635Masud, M.K., Messick B., Powers D.S. (eds.) Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and
their Fatwas. Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press, 1996
Quraishi, Asifa, “Interpreting the Qur'an and the Constitution: Similarities in the Use of
Text, Tradition, and the Reason in Islamic and American Jurisprudence” 28
(2006) Cardozo Law Review 67-121
Sherif, Adel Omar, Boyle, Kevin (eds.), Human Rights and Democracy: the Role of the
Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, The Hague: Kluwer Law
International, 1996
Model Islamic Constitution adopted by the Islamic Council of Europe:
http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/muslim_community.php#ice
Selected periodicals dedicated to Islamic law and culture:
Arab Studies Quarterly
Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Law
Contemporary Islam
Der Islam
Islamic Law and Society
Journal of Islamic Law
Muslim World Journal of Human Rights
The Journal of Islamic Law and Culture
Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law
WEEK 3
FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND TREATMENT OF MINORITIES
ISLAMIC CRIMINAL LAW
ISLAM AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Required readings
Saeed A., “Pre-Modern Islamic Legal Restrictions on Freedom of Religion, with
Particular Reference to Apostasy and Its Punishment” in A.M. Emon et al.
(eds) Islamic Law and International Human Rights: Searching for Common
Ground? Oxford: OUP, 2012, pp. 226-246
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Weiss B. “Punishment, Retribution and Justice in Islamic Theology and Jurisprudence in
R. M. Andrews, ed., Perspectives on punishment: an interdisciplinary
exploration, New York : Peter Lang Pub., 1997, pp. 21-32
Abou El Fadl, Khaled, The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from Extrimists, New York,
HarperCollins, 2005, chapter eleven.
Additional readings
An-Naim, A.A. “Religious Minorities under Islamic Law and the Limits of Cultural
Relativism” 9 (1987) Human Rights Quarterly 1-19
An-Naim, A.A., “Islamic Foundations of Religious Human Rights” in J. D. van der Vyver,
J. Witte Jr. (eds.) Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, Vol. II:
Religious Perspectives, The Hage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1996, pp. 337-360
Arzt, D., “The Treatment of Religious Dissidents Under Classical and Contemporary
Islamic Law” in J. D. van der Vyver, J. Witte Jr. (eds.) Religious Human
Rights in Global Perspective, Vol. II: Religious Perspectives, The Hage:
Martinus Nijhoff, 1996, pp. 387-454
Berween M., “Non-Muslims in the Islamic State: Majority Rule and Minority Rights” 10
(2006) International Journal of Human Rights 91-102
O’Syllivan D. ”Egyptian Cases of Blasphemy and Apostasy Against Islam: Takfir alMuslim. Prohibition against Attacking those Accused” 7 (2003) International
Journal of Human Rights 97-137
Saeed A., Saeed H., Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, Aldershot: Ashgate,
2004
Senturk, R. “Minority Rights in Islam: From Djimmi to Citizen” in S.T. Hunter, H. Malik
(eds.), Islam and Human Rights: Advancing a U.S.-Muslim Dialogue, 2005,
67-98.
Bassiouni M. C. “Sources of Islamic Law and the Protection of Human Rights in the
Islamic Criminal Justice System” in Bassouni (ed.) The Islamic Criminal
Justice System, 1982, 3-53.
Holscher L.M., Mahmood R., “Borrowing from the Shariah: The Potential Uses of
Procedural Islamic Law in the West” in Delbert Rounds, ed., International
Criminal Justice: Issues in a Global Perspective, Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
1999, pp. 82-96
NNamani Ogbu O., “Punishments in Islamic Criminal Law as Antithetical to Human
Dignity: The Nigerian Experience » 9 (2005) International Journal of Human
Rights 165-182
Peters, Rudolph, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the
Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century, CUP: 2005
Siddiqi F., “A Comparative View of the Islamic Law of Sariqa (Theft) and the American
Law of Theft with Reference to the State of Maryland”, 2 (1997) Journal of
Islamic Law 179-208
WEEK 4
ISLAM AND W OMEN’S RIGHTS
 Status of Women in Islam and Exercise of Rights in the Public Sphere
 Women and Islamic Family Law (including the issue of polygamy)
 Dress Codes for Women
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Required readings
Abou El Fadl K. Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority, and Women, Oxford:
Oneworld, 2001 (parts to be determined)
Yahyaoui Krivenko, Ekaterina, “Islamic View of Women’s Rights: An International
Lawyer’s Perspective” 2 Journal of East Asia and International Law (2009), pp.
103-128
European Court of Human Rights, Leyla Sahin v. Turkey, 44774/98, judgement (merits),
10 November 2005
European Court of Human Rights, Dahlab v. Switzerland, 42393/98, decision, 15
February 2001
European Court of Human Rights, SAS v France, 43835/11, judgment, 1 July 2014
Additional readings
Abou El Fadl K. Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority, and Women, Oxford:
Oneworld, 2001
Afkhami, Mahnaz, “Cultural Relativism and Women's Human Rights” in K.D. Askin, D.M.
Koenig (eds.) Women and International Human Rights Law, Vol. II, Ardsley:
Transnational Publishers, 2000, pp. 479-486
Albertson Fineman, Martha, “Equality Across Legal Cultures: The Role for International
Human Rights”, 27 Thomas Jefferson Law Review (2004) pp. 1-13
Ammons, Linda L. “What’s God Got to Do With It? Church and State Collaboration in the
Subordination of Women and Domestic Violence”, 51 Rutgers Law Review
(1999), pp. 1207-1288
Bailey, Martha, Kaufman, Amy. Polygamy in the Monogamous World: Multicultural
Challenges for Western Law and Policy, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger
Publishers, 2010
Bakht N., “Family Arbitration Using Sharia Law: Examining Ontario's Arbitration Act and
its Impact on Women” 1 (2004) Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, article
7, 24 pages
Balz, Killian, “The Secular Reconstruction of Islamic Law: Egyptian Supreme
Constitutional Court and the 'Battle over the Veil' in State-Run Schools”, in B.
Dupret et. al. (eds.) Legal Pluralism in the Arab World, The Hague: Kluwer
Law, 1999, pp. 229-243
Barlas A. “Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the
Qur’an, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002
Cook, Rebecca J., Kelly, Lisa M. Polygyny and Canada’s Obligations under International
Human Rights Law. Ottawa: Department of Justice of Canada, 2006, available
at: http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/poly/poly.pdf
Cowan, Sharon “The Headscarf Controversy: A Response to Jill Marshall”, 14 Res
Publica (2008), pp. 192-201
Esposito J.L. Women in Muslim Family Law, Syracuse University Press, 1982 (2nd ed.,
with N. J. DeLong-Bas, 2001)
Fadel M. “Reinterpreting the Guardian's Role in the Islamic Contract of Marriage: The
Case of the Maliki School” 3 (1998) Journal of Islamic Law 1-23
Glander A., Inheritence in Islam: Women's Inheritance in Sana'a (Republic of Yemen).
Law, Religion, Reality. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1998
Halperin-Kaddari, Ruth, “Women, Religion and Multiculturalism in Israel” 5 UCLA J. Int'l
L. & Foreign Aff. (2000-2001), pp. 339Holtmaat, Rikki, Towards Different Law and Public Policy: The Significance of Article 5a
CEDAW for the Elimination of Structural Discrimination, Den Haag: Reed
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Business
Information,
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available
at
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Kelly, Lisa M. “Bringing International Human Rights Law Home: An Evaluation of
Canada’s Family Law Treatment of Polygamy” 65 U.T.Fac.L.Rev. (2007), pp.
1-25
Marshall, Jill, “Women's Right to Autonomy and Identity in European Human Rights Law:
Manifesting One's Religion”, 14 Res Publica (2008), pp. 177-192
Mashhour A., “Islamic Law and Gender Equality – Could There be a Common Ground?
A Study of Divorce and Polygamy in Sharia Law and Contemporary
Legislation in Tunisia and Egypt” 27 (2005) Human Rights Quarterly 562-596
Mayer, Ann Elizabeth, “Cultural Particularism as a Bar to Women’s Rights: Reflections
on the Middle Eastern Experience”, Women Living under Muslim Laws,
Dossier
16,
1996,
available
at
http://www.umass.edu/wost/syllabi/spring06/mayer.pdf
Mernissi F., The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in
Islam, New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1991
Musawah for Equality in the Family, CEDAW and Muslim Family Laws: In Search of
Common Ground, (2011)
Strowasser B., “Gender Issues and Contemporary Quran Interpretations” in Y. Yazbeck
Haddad, J. L. Esposito (eds.), Islam, Gender and Social Change, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 30-44
Siddiqui M., “Law and Desire for Social Control: An Insight into the Hanafi Concept of
Kafa'a with Reference to the Fatwa 'Alamgiri” in M. Yamani (ed.), Feminism
and Islam: Legal and Literary Perspectives, New York: New York University
Press, 1996, pp. 49-68
Sullivan, Donna J. “Gender Equality and Religious Freedom: Toward a Framework for
Conflict Resolution”, 24 New York University Journal of International Law and
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Vakulenko, Anastasia, “Gender Equality as an Essential French Value: The Case of
Mme M”, 9 Oxford Human Rights Law Review (2009), pp. 143-150
Yahyaoui Krivenko, Ekaterina, Women, Islam and International Law Within the Context
of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, Hague, Boston, London: Brill, Martinus Nijhof, 2009
Yahyaoui Krivenko, Ekaterina, “Muslim Women’s Claims to Refugee Status Within the
Context of Child Custody Upon Divorce Under Islamic Law” 22 International
Journal of Refugee Law (2010), pp. 48-71
Yahyaoui Krivenko, Ekaterina “Islamic Veil and Its Discontents: How Do They
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