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and intellectual bankruptcy. How can one talk of the rights of the human being without asking
what the human being is, who the human being is? How can we propagate human rights without
some understanding of the human being?The truth of the matter however is that Western human
rights doctrine does embody a certain notion of the human being even if it is not explicit.
Underlying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a
concept of the individual human being as the only true bearer of rights. Rights are due to the
individual qua individual. It is the individual who, in the ultimate analysis, is the measure of all
things. Rights must serve the individual if they are to have any legitimacy at all.This concept of
the individual as “the measure of all things” has major weaknesses. If man is the measure of all
things then he does not have to submit to a higher authority, to a transcendental force beyond
himself. He decides what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. This results
invariably in the erosion of absolute spiritual and moral values.Erosion of absolute spiritual and
moral values arising from the illusory liberation of man from a higher spiritual authority, is one of
the causes of the prevailing chaos and confusion in the moral domain in contemporary Western
society. The individual’s self-interest, the individual’s pleasure, has become the main criterion for
determining ethical standards.By making rights serve the individual, by placing the individual at
the centre of the universe, Western human rights doctrine has reinforced man’s ego. There is no
doubt that the selfishness and greed which have become pervasive in many Western and even non-
Western societies are linked, even if indirectly, to the growth of this egocentric concept of the
individual. It is also responsible, to some extent, for the spread of a hedonistic, sensate,
materialistic culture.When the human ego is given unfettered freedom, when the human ego is not
subjected to a higher moral authority, it sometimes seeks expression through destructive forms.
Tribe, community, nation, race, even religion can all be perverted by the ego to create antagonisms
and animosities which tear asunder the human family. This is yet another reason why the
individual should never be placed at the centre of the universe, why he should never be glorified as
the measure of all things.This also explains why Western human rights doctrine, centred as it is
around the individual, will never be able to furnish the basis for the unity of humankind. To
reiterate, it feeds the ego which leads to inter-group, inter-class, inter-state, inter-religious
conflicts. Of course, no one is suggesting that the unfettered human ego is the only or even the
main cause of social conflicts. But taming the ego through total surrender to a Transcendental
Reality, to God, would at least create the psychological attitude conducive for harmony and unity
within the human family.
Human Dignity
The inadequacies of Western human rights doctrine in contrast to the more comprehensive
Quranic vision of the human being presents a fundamental challenge to Muslim philosophers and
scholars. Is it possible, through reflections on the Quran and the Sunnah, to develop a truly
universal concept of human dignity which all human beings everywhere would be able to identify
with? For the Quran itself places great importance upon human dignity. It “declares that dignity, in
the broadest possible language, is the natural right of every human being. The Quranic diction that
`We bestowed dignity on the progeny of Adam (al-Isra’ 17:70) clearly transcends all the racial,
social, or religious barriers that divide humanity”. What contemporary Muslim scholars and
philosophers will have to do is to locate this universal notion of human dignity within the Quranic
worldview. More specifically through the universal spiritual and moral values and principles of the
Quran, human dignity will assume a certain colour and content which, in some respects at least,
will distinguish the idea from its secular variety. The rights, responsibilities, relationships and
roles associated with this essentially spiritual-moral concept of human dignity will undoubtedly
have greater meaning and relevance for humankind in the twenty-first century than human rights
as they are presently conceived and applied.However, to develop such a universal concept of
human dignity rooted in a spiritual-moral worldview Muslim philosophers and scholars —