Islamic Law and Human Rights Revisited: Toward a Transformative Framework for Harmonization in the 21st Century
Published:
2025-12-31Downloads
Abstract
The relationship between Islamic law and human rights has long been framed within a polarized discourse of compatibility versus conflict, resulting in analytical stagnation and normative fragmentation. This study challenges such binary frameworks by proposing a transformative paradigm of harmonization that reconceptualizes the interaction between Islamic law and human rights as a dynamic and co-evolutionary process. Drawing on Islamic legal theory, critical human rights scholarship, and socio-legal analysis, this research develops a novel model termed the Transformative Harmonization Framework (THF). The findings demonstrate that both Islamic law and human rights are internally plural, interpretive, and historically contingent systems, capable of mutual adaptation and normative transformation. By foregrounding principles such as justice, human dignity, and public welfare, the study argues that Islamic law can function not as an object of compatibility assessment but as an active normative contributor to global human rights discourse. The proposed framework shifts the analytical focus from static comparison to processes of epistemic negotiation, ethical convergence, and institutional adaptation. This study advances a significant theoretical departure from compatibility-based approaches toward co-evolutionary legal transformation, offering a more inclusive and pluralistic foundation for human rights governance in the 21st century.
Keywords:
Islamic law human rights harmonization legal transformation maqasid al-shariah socio-legal theoryReferences
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