The Authenticity Issue in the Interpretation of Human Rights:Critical Review of Mohammed Ghazali's Islamic View on UDHR

The contemporary debates, among religious thinkers, over the relationship between religion and politics necessarily involve the relationship between right and obligation. Mohammed Ghazali is among those thinkers who believe in the priority of right over obligation, contributing authenticity to the Islamic rather than western interpretations of Human rights. His failure in the mission is clear. He is much more concerned with showing the compatibility Islamic teachings with human rights principles than with the relationship of these principles with Islamic teachings. Apparently he tries to show the “authenticity”, of Islamic vis-àvis Western readings of human rights, however in practice he bases his arguments on the “authenticity” of the western reading of human rights putting his perceived Islam inferior to Western principles of human rights.