Human rights (HAM) is not a new term in contemporary society. Today people are increasingly familiar with the term. Both the upper and lower levels of society begin to be familiar with human rights issues. Media is one of the factors that is increasingly known by this term.

Human rights are known in various divine religions even though with different terms, Islam is no exception. Islam highly upholds the human rights of every human being, even though in practice there are quite striking differences between human rights according to Islam and human rights according to the West. The difference sometimes becomes a polemic and becomes a material for attacking Muslims. Although in reality the difference is not a big problem, because Islam in its holy book clearly respects human rights.

Definition and History of Human Rights

human rightsAccording to the Big Dictionary of Indonesian Language, human rights are defined as basic rights or basic rights such as the right to life and to get protection. Human rights are rights that humans have in their nature, which cannot be separated from their essence and because they are sacred. While Jan, Materson interpreted human rights as inherent rights in humans, without which humans could not live as human beings.

The origin of the modern concept of human rights is associated with the philosophy of stoics. Zeno, the founder of this philosophy proposes a theory of natural law in which humans as living beings are said to have some universal rights everywhere and under whatever conditions they are. The Romans, under the influence of this philosophy also began to put pressure on human rights with the rise of Christianity in Rome, these rights were translated in the context of religion and its source from God.

After the European Dark Ages, the first example of the concept of HAM was mentioned in England when the Magna Carta Charter was issued in 1215 AD. The origin of the Magna Carta was an agreement between the king and the baron, to protect the privileges of the Barons. This right actually has nothing to do with real human rights. However, after a long time Magna Carta was finally interpreted in the context of human rights.

The concept of natural human rights arises in the 17th abd as a defense force from absolute power. The results of the movement which was influenced by Rousseau and others was a combination of various human rights which were proclaimed in several constitutions of various countries and finally realized in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on January 10, 1948.

The Declaration, which consists of 30 articles, has actually been defined by Islam much earlier for each human being as humanity. This was followed by several regional and international agreements by several European and American countries on an important aspect, namely the establishment of an international court to deal with cases of human rights.

The concept of human rights in Islam

There is a fundamental difference between the concept of human rights in Islam and human rights in the Western concept as accepted by the international world. Human rights in Islam are based on human activity as God's caliph on earth. While the Western world believes that behavior patterns are only determined by the laws of the country or a sufficient number of authorities to achieve safe and universal peace rules. Another fundamental difference is also seen from the way that human rights are viewed. In the West attention to individuals from anthropocentric views, where humans are a measure of the symptoms of something. Whereas in Islam, adhering to the theocentric view, namely God the Most High and man only to serve Him.

Based on the anthropocentric view, the main values ​​of Western culture such as democracy, social institutions and economic welfare as tools that support the establishment of human rights are oriented towards respect for humans. Different conditions in the theocentric Islamic world, prohibitions and orders are based more on the teachings of Islam originating from the Koran and Hadith. The Koran is a transformation of the quality of human consciousness. Man is commanded to live and work with full awareness that he must show his obedience to God's will. Therefore, recognizing human rights is an obligation in order to obey Him.

In the Western perspective, humans are placed in a setting where their relationship with God is not mentioned at all. Human rights are considered only as natural gains from birth. While human rights in the perspective of Islam are considered and believed to be a gift from God and therefore every individual will feel responsible to God. Thus, the enforcement of human rights in Islam is not only based on the rules n which is legal-formal but also to moral laws and morality. To prevent the possibility of human rights violations in society, Islam has a teaching called amar ma'ruf nahi munkar. Islam teaches three stages in carrying out these teachings: (1) through hands (power), (2) through verbal (advice), (3) through the movement of conscience, which is hating munkar while praying for the culprit to be aware. So as to overcome the occurrence of human rights violations, Islam does not only carry out repressive actions but emphasizes preventive actions. Because, repressive actions tend to rest only on legal-formal law that relies on material evidence. While preventive measures do not require legal evidence.