By: Mas’ud Ra’i

An important feature that will be independent of the two fields of human rights and jurisprudence, first: that Islamic human rights cover all people, regardless of whether they belong to the same religion or not, and secondly, beyond protection, it is to love everyone, and after love, the discussion of “Waltakrrum Bihim”, in fact, kindness, respect, bowing, dignity, and the respect that citizens should receive! This is much more than the dignity that is mentioned in the words of human rights and citizenship today.

Note: Hujjat al-Islam is Dr. Mas’ud Ra’i, Faculty of Law, Theology and Islamic Studies, Islamic Azad University, Najaf Abad branch. Of course, in addition to teaching at the university, he has been teaching jurisprudence and related sciences in Isfahan seminaries for many years. Nearly two hundred scientific articles have been published by Mr. Ra’i. These points make him one of the best people to discuss the competitive advantages of the jurisprudence of Shi’ah citizenship rights in the international arena. The exclusive oral note of this professor of international law, in order to express the benefits of the jurisprudence of Shi’ah citizenship rights in the international arena are as follows:

At the beginning of the speech, it is necessary to mention a few points:

The first point is that our understanding of human rights must be clarified with citizenship rights or citizen’s rights. Regarding the relationship between these two areas, it seems that citizenship rights are tied to the relationship of citizenship, while human rights do not see such a relationship and do not need it. Thus, we can distinguish between these two.

The second difference is that according to the relationship of nationality, the obligation and in a sense the party to its duty in citizenship rights is the government, that is, a specific government that has the duty to identify, implement and observe certain behaviors towards its citizens. The meaning of compliance is that if these rights are criticized by someone, the sovereignty of the violators or violators will be subject to judicial prosecution.

But in human rights, the government is the party to the obligation, but not a specific government, but all governments may be the party to the obligation, and in some cases, the party to a particular obligation may not be a specific government at all!

Of course, this second difference is not very bold, but the first difference is worthy of consideration.

Thus, both human rights and citizenship rights can have many common instances. So, from the point of view of instance, we can have the general and specific ratio of the aspect, and also from the conceptual point of view, basically, we reach a conceptual contrast, not a general contrast, but a partial contrast.

The second point is that the existential philosophy of human rights and citizenship rights is a protective philosophy, supporting those who are eligible to benefit from these rights, If he is a human being, the human beings and if he is a citizen, the citizens of any country will benefit from these rights.

After these two preliminary points, we will enter the main discussion to find the difference between these two in the competitive approach. Now that it is clear that both have a supportive aspect, the question arises in the international arena, what is the difference between the two?

We know that human rights in the international arena enjoy a series of rights that are shared between the rights of the citizen and the rights of the citizen in addition to enjoying a series of internal rights of each country. For instance, minus the jurisprudential discussions of existing human rights, these rights are guaranteed to be implemented for they are included in the laws of the country and the legislative assembly of the country recognizes and approves them.

Thus, the protective feature in these cases is to assume the shape and image of the law. Of course, if the executive branch also considers another executive regulation for the implementation of these rights, this will be considered another protection.

Also, when the courts prosecute the violators, this is another way of protection, and when non-governmental and non-governmental organizations demand these rights, we see another feature of protection of these rights.

But why support? Because in citizenship rights, these people are citizens of a society, and naturally, citizens are equal before the law and equally benefit from the protection of the law, and as a rule, the government is obliged to protect its own citizens.

Now we compare these two with what exists in jurisprudence today and what religious text teaches us. In the words of Amir al-Mu’minin lmam Ali (‘a), if we want to start from the end, why these people are supported or why these people must be supported, maybe the first answer we will receive is that the people are trusts in the hands of the government. The people are entrusted to the government, and naturally, the government will be responsible for the trust that has been entrusted to it. On the other hand, in jurisprudence, we learn what are the conditions of trust, the rulings of trust and the customs of trust, and we also know that cheating in trust is also forbidden by Muslim jurisprudence.

Therefore, here we see the first comparative aspect in this issue, which expresses the strategic difference in the way of looking at the citizen, that the trust-oriented look is formed.

The second point that we learn in jurisprudence education is that sovereignty has no aspect other than servanthood: “The head of the nation is their servant” in fact, the dignity and status of the person who assumes the leadership of a community is nothing but servanthood.

The mission of serving is a religious mission, not a ceremonial mission, or a gift, or a wishful one.

The third feature that we see in our jurisprudence for this support package for the citizens is that, in addition to serving, the duty of the ruler is to create the necessary foundations for happiness. This point needs a little explanation. The ruler of the Islamic society is responsible for providing the necessary platforms for the growth and advancement of material and spiritual happiness, worldly and hereafter.

Of course, this statement does not mean forcing people to perform a certain behavior and we do not mean basically what is permissible is to create the necessary foundations. Necessary platforms are completely supportive platforms. These support platforms can then lead us to the happiness that guarantees and provides the fundamental rights of people in a society, for instance, the right to security is one of the rights of citizens. If there is no security, the shadow of rights will not have a clear meaning. The Commander of the Faithful (‘a) says: There are two blessings that people do not appreciate and may not understand their place unless they lose them. One of them is the blessing of security.

Therefore, in line with the creation of happy and happiness-creating foundations, the mission of guaranteeing citizenship rights gains meaning.

The next point is that in the eyes of jurisprudence, citizens are servants of God before they are citizens. The reason for this is the phrase that we express in tashahhud in prayer: “I testify that Muhammad is his slave and messenger (s)”, testifying that the Prophet of Islam was a slave and then testifying that he was a messenger. So, people are God’s servants before they are citizens, and God’s servants are obliged to bow down and be honored; For they are God’s creation, “And we showed mercy to the children of Adam, and carried them in the land and the sea, and provided them with good things, and bestowed their virtue on many of those who we created with virtue” God himself has honored His servants. Thus, in the first way, everyone who wants to do God’s work has the duty of honor.

And since in the Islamic view, man is defined as the caliph of God, then anyone who is supposed to do God’s work in relation to God’s servants, has the duty to honor and respect God’s servants, and this has nothing to do with even the relationship of citizenship.

Here, the Holy Qur’an teaches us a lesson: “And why you do not fight in the way of Allah and the weak among the men and women and the children who say, “Our Lord, take us out of this village whose residents are oppressors.” Qur’anic literature has considered the necessity of defense, even military defense, to support this group of people whom the Holy Qur’an describes as weak, “and why you do not fight in the way of God and the weak among the men.”

If this is not recognized as an objective obligation of a Muslim from a personal point of view, it is at least that guidance to a matter is desirable and can be regarded as a mustahab matter.

The next item is Imam’s letter 53 to Malik al-Ashtar, where the Imam (‘a) completely abandons the relationship of citizenship and depicts all people in a different way for Malik as the owner of Egypt.“People are of two types: either your brother in religion, or your equal in creation. They frequently slip, and ills are prone to them.” These are the two groups that you will face: Either they are like you in terms of faith, or they are like you in terms of appearance, and whatever it is, naturally you will be responsible for honoring them!

The next axis of Islamic brotherhood and religious brotherhood is “fa alslih thate bayne akhawaykum”, the task of correcting the existing thate bayne, the principle of thate bayne, not in the specific sense of the word that they are relatives or peace of mind, but in the general meaning of the word that “al-Mu’minun ikhwah” (the believers are brothers. They are brothers together, and in the world of brotherhood, the custom of support is accepted as a customary custom that has been approved by the Shari’ah.

Here, the point we should add is that in the eyes of our jurisprudential teachings and ideas, the discussion of support is drawn with more beautiful words. In human rights, what happens is protection. Support in the aforementioned areas that I presented, but in our religious teachings, we go one step further and that discussion is about love: “wa mahabbatan lakum” which is in letter 53.

Of course, in various places of Nahj al-Balaghah, the Commander of the Faithful (‘a) mentions this, but in letter 53, this matter is explained much more prominently. The word love becomes meaningful when a person is benevolent, sorrowful and familiar with the pain of the other party. If I want to summarize all these words, I will say that an important feature that will be independent of the two areas of human rights and jurisprudence is, firstly: that Islamic human rights cover all people, regardless of whether they belong to the same religion or not, and secondly, it goes beyond the protection. It is to love everyone, and after the love of the discussion of “And honor them”, in fact kindness, respect, bowing, dignity and the respect that citizens should receive! This is much more than the dignity that is mentioned in the literature of human rights and citizenship today.

The next axis is “wa ansif Allah”. It is mentioned again in Imam’s speech in letter 53 that fairness and equity can be a progressive element in regulating the relations between the state and the nation and can well manifest the dimensions beyond support, benevolence, compassion, companionship and actually giving oneself instead of taking sides. .

This is why the Imam (‘a) when he comes across a female citizen whose husband was martyred in the battlefield and the woman is also struggling to earn a living, he does all the necessary support measures for this woman and her children. He gives and then puts his blessed face in front of the fire and presents some words that have never been experienced by human rights today.

This interview is a part of the electronic magazine “Fundamentals of Civil Rights Jurisprudence” which was produced in collaboration with the Ijtihad Network website.