Islam and Human Rights

This subject is not offered in 2008.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

In the last half-century, some Muslim governments and their opponents have asserted the need to bring about truly Islamic government. Much of the argument has centred on the need for an Islamic system of human rights. A discourse has developed drawing on ideas unique to Islam expressed in the Qur'an and other religious sources, and on other concepts founded in the universalising ideas of modern international law. These are immediate and powerful issues for governments and oppositions, and also for very many refugees fleeing human rights abuses. This subject focuses on the tensions and contradictions underlying modern Muslim discourse on human rights. It concentrates on the mid-twentieth century to the present, but situates the arguments in the context of the Qur'an and of early Islam. It examines Islamic ideas about human rights and the engagement of Muslims in the debate as theoreticians, lawyers and victims. It discusses the challenge of the modern international human rights discourse and its universalist claims.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• be familiar with research methods; thinking in theoretical and analytical terms;

• understand social, political, historical and cultural contexts and international awareness and openness to the world;

• communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically, confidence in self-expression.