Human Rights
Mohammed Khaku (Allentown, USA) is the past president of Al Ahad Islamic Center in Allentown. He is a Social and criminal justice writer and regularly writes for a number of international publications
T
he concept of justice and human rights in Islam is rooted in God’s Divine nature. The Qur’an states, “Verily, God does not do even an atom’s weight of injustice” (Qur’an 4:40).
Types of Advocacies:
There are many advocacies such as Evangelical advocacy by Christian Rights in the USA which are more aggressive in spreading the faith it preaches.
While political campaign advocacy involves advocacy with voters. Lobbyists and pressure groups advocate, appealing to the legislature, for and against the enactment of specific laws.
Social justice advocacy involves prison reforms and mass incarceration. Labor advocacy involves contract negotiations, including labor and employment contracts.
Litigation advocacy involves lawyers contesting partisan viewpoints before juries and judges for their clients.
Health advocacy involves in special interest groups for insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and many others
While reformist (human rights) advocacy is part of Islamic tradition.
Imam Hussain: I am not rising (against Yazid) as an insolent, or an arrogant, or a mischief-monger or as a tyrant. I have risen (against Yazid) as I seek to reform the ummah of my grandfather. I wish to bid the good and forbid the evil, and to follow the way of my grandfather and my father, ‘Ali bin Abi Talib.
Islam, shared by one-quarter of the world’s population, has a profound tradition of advocacy for human rights that is rooted in piety and spirituality, seeing humankind as custodians of this world, divinely entrusted with the duty to always stand on the side of the oppressed and speak truth to power.
Advocates work to change the world. While their responsibilities and focuses can vary widely, they are all engaging in advocacy, which comes from the word advocatus.
In Latin, this means “a pleader on one behalf” or “one called to aid. The Anglo-Saxson Imperialism Zionist have been exploiting the advocacy of human rights and social justice to fulfill its political goals and one such lobby is the gun lobby.
Gun Lobby
Fear is a powerful emotion. It evokes a need to survive and protect and drives instinctive, visceral actions. The gun lobby has, for decades, seized on the power of this basic human emotion and manipulated it to sell firearms.
By exacerbating feelings of insecurity, they have linked firearms with self-defense. By manipulating the concept of human rights, they have embedded in the minds of far too many people the idea that they have a fundamental right to self-defense, even if it comes at the cost of others’ right to life.
The common thread running through gun advocates’ claims of rights violations is the belief that people have a fundamental right to use lethal force to ensure their own self-preservation. Put bluntly by Marion Hammer, NRA lobbyist and former NRA president, “We do not shoot to kill, we shoot to live.
This is absolutely true with the Zionist occupying regime which advocates the rights of defense without considering any human rights for Palestinians and furthermore any criticism against Zionist regime is antisemitic.
Advocacy for human rights also involves exposing and highlighting the sins of the United States systemic and widespread human rights violations recorded both domestically and internationally.
It is like when my children do wrong or commit something evil, I have the right to reprimand and criticize but it does not mean I do not love my children. Hence, I have every right to speak against my country, the USA, and I do love and respect all the laws of the land.
American policymakers, under the guise of promoting human rights advocacy, have consistently facilitated illegal interventions worldwide. While the American Congress controlled by Zionist enacts laws or sanction countries that do not align with their political interests. Such actions, which contravene international regulations, and violate international human rights treaties.
Advocacy of Human Rights against Sanctions
The U.S. government has unilaterally enforced economic sanctions which are human rights violations. Many countries currently face American sanctions such as Iran, Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, China, Pakistan, Türkiye, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, and the list goes on.
The United States is committing gross human rights violations through unilateral use of economic sanctions without United Nations authorization. Such actions have had detrimental effects on global human rights, exacerbating economic stagnation and violation of international laws.
The use of sanctions is used as a tool to pressure politically independent countries that oppose US hegemony. The US has used the use of sanctions for decades resulting in the death of young children.
The former US Secretary of State, who once publicly admitted that she thinks the deaths of half a million Iraqi children were ‘worth it.’ It is not only sanctions but proxy and arbitrary wars, backing despotic governments, and violating the rights of oppressed peoples, including Palestinians.
Any type of advocacy ethics in the Islamic tradition has embraced moderation while the western advocacy has use militancy and threat of war. However, when a system is unjust, advocacy of human rights can be a strong shield to defend its victims. Speak Up! Silent No More!
In the United States, human rights advocacy has turned to manipulation using social media to divide, dominate, disorient, and ultimately demoralize the underprivileged and colored people.
Every human life has inherent value and dignity, and every person has the right to life, liberty, and personal security. These rights are codified in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), but also in the Risalat al-Huquq – Treaties Of Rights by Imam Sajjad (as).
One of advocacy for human rights is letter-writing/petitions, calling elected lawmakers and protests and rallies. Writing letters and signing petitions are tried-and-true advocacy methods.
Both allow people to raise awareness, clearly articulate their stance on an issue, and present solutions. In the case of petitions, it is a relatively convenient way for lots of people to express their support for a cause.
Amnesty International, which is a human rights advocacy NGO, has run “Write for Rights” for over 20 years. Amnesty supporters can get a kit with items like case cards and template letters.
Over the years, supporters have written advocacy letters on behalf of prisoners of war, torture victims, political prisoners, and human rights violations.
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