Decolonizing Human Rights by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim

“The point is not to say that Americans are violent or that Christianity is violent, but to say that some people do behave that way,” he said. “The point simply is that we are all human.”Īn-Na’im feels that the rising concerns and bubbling tensions of domestic issues are a result of the bystander effect. “Equally with other traditions, we tend to assume that we live up to the ideals of our religion and charge others with the wit and understanding of their religion,” An-Na’im said.

“The greeting that we routinely say every day is ‘peace to you all.’ ”īut, An-Na’im said, religion is not about what lies within the sacred texts it is rather about how people of a particular faith act. “I used to follow (these questions with) this statement, ‘Salaam alaikum,’ to say actually, as many Muslims do, Islam is about peace,” An-Na’im said. But once the Twin Towers fell, An-Na’im found himself faced with questions about Sharia law. Originally from Sudan, An-Na’im has led several research projects with a focus on advocacy strategies, and he teaches courses on international law, comparative law, Islamic law and human rights.Ī few months before 9/11, An-Na’im became a U.S. Yet, these rights are not equally accessible or guaranteed to all people.Ībdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im spoke on this predicament on Wednesday, July 13, with his lecture, titled “Beyond Platitudes of Interfaith Discourse,” to continue Week Three’s Interfaith Lecture Series and the discussion of the spirituality of human rights.Īn-Na’im, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory Law, associate professor in Emory College of Arts & Sciences, and senior fellow of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, is an internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human rights. Human rights are supposed to be universal and inalienable.

Decolonizing Human Rights by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim