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    called upon to use these  powers.  This  was  acknowledged by Hazrat Abu
    Bakr who said in his very first  address:  "Cooperate  with me when I am
    right but correct me when I commit  error;  obey  me so long as I follow
    the commandments of Allah and His Prophet;  but turn away from me when I
    deviate." 


    6. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: 

    Islam gives the right  of  freedom  of  thought  and  expression  to all
    citizens of the Islamic state on  the  condition  that it should be used
    for the propagation of virtue and  truth  and not for spreading evil and
    wickedness. The  Islamic  concept  of  freedom  of  expression  is  much
    superior to the concept prevalent  in  the  West. Under no circumstances
    would Islam allow evil and wickedness to be propagated. It also does not
    give anybody the right to use abusive  or offensive language in the name
    of criticism. It was the  practice  of  the  Muslims to enquire from the
    Holy Prophet whether on a certain  matter  a  divine injunction had been
    revealed to him. If he said that  he  had received no divine injunction,
    the Muslims freely expressed their opinion on the matter. 


    7. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: 

    Islam has also given people  the  right  to  freedom  of association and
    formation of parties  or  organizations.  This  right is also subject to
    certain general rules. 


    8. FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND CONVICTION: 

    Islam has laid down the injunction:  "There should be no coercion in the
    matter of faith." (2:256) 

    On the contrary, totalitarian societies  totally deprive the individuals
    of their freedom. Indeed, this  undue  exaltation of the state authority
    curiously enough postulates a sort  of  servitude, of slavishness on the
    part of man. At one time slavery  meant  total control of man over man -
    now that type of slavery has  been  legally  abolished  but in its place
    totalitarian  societies  impose   a   similar   sort  of  control  over
    individuals. 


    9. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS: 

    Along with the freedom of  conviction  and  freedom of conscience, Islam
    has given the right to the individual that his religious sentiments will
    be given due respect and nothing will be said or done which may encroach
    upon his right. 


    10. PROTECTION FROM ARBITRARY IMPRISONMENT: 

    Islam also recognizes the right of the  individual not to be arrested or
    imprisoned for the offenses of others. The Holy Quran has laid down this
    principle clearly: "No  bearer  of  burdens  shall  be  made to bear the
    burden of another." (35:18) 


    11. THE RIGHT TO BASIC NECESSITIES OF LIFE: 

    Islam has recognized  the  right  of  the  needy  people  for  help  and
    assistance to be  provided  to  them:  "And  in  their  wealth  there is
    acknowledged right for the needy and the destitute." (51:19) 


    12. EQUALITY BEFORE LAW: 

    Islam gives its citizens the right to  absolute and complete equality in
    the eyes of the law. 


    13. RULERS NOT ABOVE THE LAW: 

    A woman belonging to a high and noble  family was arrested in connection
    with theft. The case was brought to  the Prophet, and it was recommended
    that she might be spared the  punishment  of theft. The Prophet replied:
    "The nations that lived before you  were  destroyed  by God because they
    punished the common man for their offenses  and let their dignitaries go
    unpunished for their crimes;  I  swear  by  Him Who holds my life in His
    hand that even if Fatima, the  daughter  of Muhammad, had committed this
    crime, I would have amputated her hand." 


    14. THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE AFFAIRS OF STATE: 

    "And  their  business  is  (conducted)   through   consultation   among
    themselves." (42:38) The  "Shura"  or  the  legislative  assembly has no
    other meaning except that the  executive  head of the government and the
    members of the assembly should be elected by free and independent choice
    of the people. 

    Lastly, it is to be made  clear  that  Islam  tries to achieve the above
    mentioned human rights and  many  others  not  only by providing certain
    legal safeguards but mainly by  inviting  mankind to transcend the lower
    level of animal life to be able to  go  beyond the mere ties fostered by
    the kinship of blood,  racial  superiority,  linguistic  arrogance,  and
    economic  privileges.  It  invites  mankind  to  move  on  to a plane of
    existence where, by reason of his inner  excellence, man can realize the
    ideal of the Brotherhood of man. 




 Announcements ................................................................


 8. Archive Info .............................................................. 


    This FAQ is archived  at  several  sites  and  is  available  for public
    retrieval thru anonymous FTP, E-MAIL, Gopher & World Wide Web. 


                              -- Anonymous FTP --
    


	Login: anonymous
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                                  -- E-MAIL --
    

    Send E-mail to: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu 

    Text of E-mail Message: 


    send usenet/news.answers/islam-faq/part8
    quit



                                  -- GOPHER --


        Site:         gopher.caltech.edu 70
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                              CCO anonymous ftp archive/
                              pub/
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        Site:          latif.com 70
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                                Soc.Religion.Islam




                           -- World-Wide-Web (WWW) --
    

    One recommended interface is 'mosaic,' below are mosaic 'home pages.' 



URL at USENET Archive site:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/islam-faq/faq.html


URL at Caltech MSA site:
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~calmsa/links.html






 9. Credits ................................................................... 


    The author wishes to thank all those who contributed in any capacity for
    the original one part FAQ or this multi-part FAQ. 


                                 -- SOURCES --
    

    The basic  introduction  and  literature  presented  in  the FAQ is from
    brochures on Islam distributed  by  Institute  of  Islamic Information &
    Education (III&E). These  brochures  were  typed  in  electronic form by
    Ms.M.Ahmed. 

    The  information  on   soc.religion.islam  forum  (in  Part  2) has been
    compiled  from   USENET   archives   and  administrative  logs  of
    Soc.Religion.Islam moderator panel. 

    What is III&E? 

    III&E is an acronym for the Institute of Islamic Information & Education
    which was  established  in  Chicago,  Illinois  in  1985.  The  III&E is
    registered in the  State  of  Illinois  and  recognized  by the Internal
    Revenue Service (IRS) as a not-for-profit religious organization. 

    More information can be obtained by  contacting Dr. M. Amir, III&E, P.O.
    Box 41129, Chicago, IL  60641-0129,  U.S.A.;  Tel:  (312)  777-7443 Fax:
    (312) 777-7199.



                                  -- FORMAT --
    

    The format of the FAQ series  has  been  done  by utilizing resources of
    Islamic Information & News  Network  (IINN).  A  custom program, Nebula,
    written by editors of IINN for generating newsletters has been used. 


    What is IINN? 

    Islamic Information & News Network  is  a forum dedicated to educate the
    network community on issues relating to Islam and Muslims in an academic
    & non-political environment.  Weekly  digest is available on internet by
    subscribing to  MUSLIMS@ASUACAD.BITnet  (A  Bitnet listserv list) and on
    USENET: bit.listserv.muslims. 



                               -- Permissions --
    

    Permission to  post  this  multi-part  FAQ  has  been  obtained  by  the
    following: 

	o	Institute of Islamic Information & Education (III&E)
	o 	Islamic Information & News Network (Muslims@PSUVM.bitnet) 
	o 	Moderator(s) of News.Answers (Thomas Khoenig & P.Huang)


# End of Islam FAQ Part 8 #

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