Human Rights Commitments of Islamic States: Sharia, Treaties and Consensus

✍ Scribed by Paul McDonough

• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 293
• Series: Studies in International Law, volume 79
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book examines the legal nature of Islamic states and the human rights they have committed to uphold. It begins with an overview of the political history of Islam, and of Islamic law, focusing primarily on key developments of the first two centuries of Islam. Building on this foundation, the book presents the first study into Islamic constitutions to map the relationship between Sharia and the state in terms of institutions of governance. It then assesses the place of Islamic law in the national legal order of all of today's Islamic states, before proceeding to a comprehensive analysis of those states'adherences to the UN human rights treaties, and finally, a set of international human rights declarations made jointly by Islamic states. Throughout, the focus remains on human rights. Having examined Islamic law first in isolation, then as it reflects into state structures and national constitutional orders, the book provides the background necessary to understand how an Islamic state's treaty commitments reflect into national law. In this endeavour, the book unites three strands of analysis: the compatibility of Sharia with the human rights enunciated in UN treaties; the patterns of adherence of Islamic states with those treaties; and the compatibility of international Islamic human rights declarations with UN standards. By exploring the international human rights commitments of all Islamic states within a single analytical framework, this book will appeal to international human rights and constitutional scholars with an interest in Islamic law and states. It will also be useful to readers with a general interest in the relationships between Sharia, Islamic states, and internationally recognised human rights.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contents
Introduction
I. Background
1. The History of the Caliphates
I. The First Islamic State
II. Rule by the Prophet
III. The Rashidun Caliphate
IV. The Dynastic Caliphates
2. Islamic Law, International Law and Human Rights
I. Islamic law
II. Islamic Law and International Law
III. The Islamic Law of Human Rights
3. Islamic States
I. The Caliphate
II. Ideas of an Islamic State
III. Islamic States in the International System
4. Islam, Constitutions and Democracy
I. Principles of Islamic Governance
II. Assigning the Governing Power
III. Dividing the Governing Power
IV. Courts and Constitutional Interpretation
V. Conclusion
Appendix
5. Islamic Law and International Law in Islamic Constitutions
I. Limiting Legislation through Sharia
II. Sharia in Secular and Religious Courts
III. The Integration of Islamic Law and National Law
6. Islamic States and the UN Human Rights Treaties
I. The International Bill of Rights
II. UN Human Rights Treaties
III. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
IV. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
V. Conclusion
7. Islamic International Human Rights Law
I. An Islamic Human Rights Consensus
II. Human Rights Commitments of Islamic States: A Three Layer Analysis
III. Reconciling Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law
IV. Conclusion
Glossary
Index