Human Rights of Religious Minorities and of Women in the MiddleEastGhanea-Hercock, Nazila.Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 26, Number 3, August 2004,pp. 705-729 (Article)Published by The Johns Hopkins University PressDOI: 10.1353/hrq.2004.0035For additional information about this article Access Provided by University of Maryland @ Baltimore at 06/06/11 10:06PM GMThttp://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hrq/summary/v026/26.3ghanea-hercock.htmlHUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYHuman Rights Quarterly 26 (2004) 705729 2004 by The Johns Hopkins University PressHuman Rights of Religious Minoritiesand of Women in the Middle EastNazila Ghanea*ABSTRACTThisarticleconsidersthehumanrightssituationofreligiousminoritieslivingintheMuslimMiddleEast.Itnotesthecommonthreadofhumanrights abuses that they face, and analyzes this in the light of Muslim legalconceptsandstandards.ThearticlethenexploreswhetherornottheimprovementofthehumanrightssituationofreligiousminoritiesintheMiddle East could be attempted from within a Muslim religious framework.Can the emancipatory interpretation of Islamic traditions and laws be usedto eliminate the obstacles to the realization of their rights? This examina-tioniscarriedoutinthelightoftheliteratureandactivismonthepromotion of the rights of women under Muslim and Middle Eastern rule.I. INTRODUCTIONNovember2003witnessedthebombingoftwoIstanbulsynagoguesinjuringandkillingover300victims.October2001sawthekillingofeighteen Christians during worship in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Attackers drewaconnectionbetweentheexistenceofChristiansintheirmidstandthealliedbombingsinAfghanistan.Theweekendof31December1999* Nazila Ghanea is the MA Convenor at the University of London, Institute of CommonwealthStudies. Her research has focused on freedom of religion or belief, religious minorities in theMiddleEast,thehumanrightsofwomen,andtheUNhumanrightsmachinery.Herpublications have included a monograph Human Rights, the UN and the Bahs in Iran (TheHague: Kluwer Law, 2003) and an edited collection The Challenge of Religious Discrimina-tion at the Dawn of the New Millennium (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2003).Thanks are extended to Professor Tim Shaw, Dr. Katarina Dalacoura, and Tarja Martikainenfor their comments on earlier drafts of this article.Vol. 26 706 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYthrough 2 January 2000 saw the killing of twenty-one Coptic Christians inthe village of Al-Kosheh in Egypt. This was carried out by mobs as securityofficials stood by and did nothing to stop the attacks. March 1999 saw theimprisonment of thirteen Jews in the Iranian city of Shiraz. The thirteen wereaccusedofespionagefortheUnitedStatesandIsrael.1July1998sawtheexecution of a Bah in Mashhad.2 This latest execution was allegedly duetothevictimconvertingaMuslimtotheBahFaith,butthousandsofBahs in Iran have been executed over the past century and a half accusedof all kinds of religious and political crimes.3 These examples provide justaglimpseintothenumerousrangeofcasesintheMiddleEastofgovernmentsturningablindeyetowardsorbeingdirectlyinvolvedinattacks on non-Muslims.This article is focused on the human rights of religious minorities4 in thecontemporaryMuslimMiddleEast5andthedilemmasfacedbythesereligious minorities6 living alongside Muslim majorities. This article beginsanalysisinthesecondpartbyexploringthebasisofthetermMuslimpoliticsanditsrelationshiptothestudyofthehumanrightsofreligiousminorities in the Middle East. The term is utilized to refer to the symbolic1. This event was covered widely by the international press. See, e.g., John F. Burns, ArrestsShake Ancient Roots of Irans Jews, N.Y. TIMES, 17 October 1999, available at www.la.utexas.edu/chenry/aip/press99/101799iran-jews.html.Foranoverviewoftheinterna-tionalresponseseealsoArielAhram,JewishSpiesonTrial:AWindowonHumanRights and Minority Treatment in Iran, WASH. INST. NEAR E. POLY, RES. NOTE 7 (Aug. 1999),available at www.washingtoninstitute.org/junior/note7.htm.2. NAZILA GHANEA, HUMAN RIGHTS, THE UN AND THE BAHS IN IRAN 378 (2003). This victims namewas Mr. Ruhollah Rawhani. His execution added to the 20,000 Babs and Bahs killedin Iran in the 1800s and the more than 200 killed over the 1980s and 1990s.3. For a further discussion see id.4. MARIO APOSTOLOV, RELIGIOUS MINORITIES, NATION STATES AND SECURITY: FIVE CASES FROM THE BALKANSANDTHEEASTERNMEDITERRANEAN17(2001).Despitethedistinction,thetermreligiousminorities is used interchangeably with the term non-Muslim minorities in this article.Thefocusisnot,therefore,onMuslimminoritygroupssuchastheShiaincountrieswheretheSunniareinthemajority,orviceversa.Apostolovproducesdifferentcategorizationsforthestudyofreligiousminorities,suchasclassificationintermsof,their origin, existence of an ethnic element in their identity, dominant or non-dominantpositioninsociety,degreeoftensionoroppressionbytheregime,andthedegreeofcommunal fragmentation. Focusing on their position in society, religious minorities canalsobedistinguishedaccordingtothosethatare,dominant,tolerated,anddiscrimi-nated. Id.5. ThefocusofthisstudyisonlyontheMuslimMiddleEast,asseriousconsiderationofeither Middle Eastern secular states or those with other religious dominance (e.g. IsraelandJudaism)ornon-MiddleEasternMuslimstateswouldmovethisstudybeyondthelimitations and scope of this article.6. ThetermreligiousminoritiesusedinthiscontextcouldalsoincludeMuslimminorities,suchasShiiminoritiesinSunnimajorityareasandSunniminoritiesinShiicommunities.However,toallowsufficientfocus,attentionwillbeonnon-Muslimreligious minorities.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 707capital and the shared ideas and practices of Muslims that can be mobilizedtoimpactthehumanrightsofreligiousminorities.Oncethearticlehasnoted the common thread of abuses of the human rights of non-Muslims inthe Middle East, the linkage is explored between this situation and MuslimlegalconceptsontheonehandandanumberofrecentMuslimtextsonhuman rights on the other.Having established that Islam continues to be utilized and exploited intheMiddleEastasalegitimatingfactorbehindrepressivepoliciesagainstreligiousminorities,thethirdpartofthisarticleexplorestheassertionthatonly the removal of religion from the Middle Eastern public sphere can hopetoremedythesituation.Thisisintegraltothemainpremiseofthearticle,which is that improvement in the human rights situation of the Middle Eastsreligiousminoritiesisnotdependentontheattemptedobliterationofthereligious framework, due primarily to pragmatic considerations. The articlethen shifts to the fourth part, comparing the literature and activism promotingtherightsofwomenunderMuslimandMiddleEasternrulewiththatofreligious minorities. This comparison points to the utility of the Muslim pointof reference as a leverage towards the emancipation of women. The articlefinallyconcludesthatreligiousminoritiesmayhavemuchtogainfromsimilarapproachesofmobilizationwithinMuslimterminologyandframe-workstowardtheiremancipation.Creatingsuchacceptabilitywithinthereligiousframeworkofthemajorityisactuallypresentedasthemostamenableoptionatpresent,asthenumbersandstandingofreligiousminorities in the Middle East today do not allow for other alternatives.This study faces a number of dilemmasthat of not essentializing thevast divergence in the situation of human rights in Muslim contexts, whilenoting the thread of human rights abuse against its religious minorities; thatof examining the human rights of religious minorities in the Middle Eastwhere the term is strongly contested by the states of the region;7 and that ofdefining and delimiting what is meant by the term Muslim politics.7. Apostolov puts the dilemma in a wider context, arguing that The logic of contemporaryinternational relations, centred on the national state, hampers the recognition of nationaland,evenmoreso,religiousminoritiesassubjectsofinternationallaw.Someexpertsstress the necessity of such recognition in order to give minorities in divided societies asay in determining their fate. APOSTOLOV, supra note 4, at 174.Vol. 26 708 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYII. MUSLIM POLITICS AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIESA. The Human Rights of Religious Minorities in the Middle EastThe starting point of this analysis is human rights standards as agreed andenshrinedininternationalhumanrightstexts8andtheresultingUNmachinerythathasbeensetuptomonitorcompliance.Throughthesestandardsandthismachinery,MiddleEasternstateshavevoluntarilyacceptedlegalobligations9toupholdthefreedomofeveryindividualtohold,practice,andmanifestthereligionorbeliefsofhischoice.10Thesestandardshavehumanrightsimplicationsforbothreligiousminoritiesascommunitiesandforreligiousminoritiesastheindividualmembershipcomposing them.11From the reports of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religionor Belief from 1995 to 2003, it can be noted that the human rights dilemmasfacing religious minorities in the contemporary Middle East range from civil8. Internationally agreed human rights standards regarding religious minorities are primarilyencapsulatedintheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRights,adopted10Dec.1948,G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess., (Resolutions, pt. 1), at 71, U.N. Doc. A/810(1948) art. 18, reprinted in 43 AM. J. INTL L. Supp. 127 (1949); International Covenant onCivil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21stSess., Supp. No. 16, art. 18, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered intoforce 23 Mar. 1976); Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and ofDiscriminationBasedonReligionorBelief,adopted25Nov.1981,G.A.Res.36/55,U.N. GAOR, 36th Sess., Supp. No. 51, U.N. Doc. A/36/51 (1981), reprinted in RICHARD B.LILLICH, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS 490.1 (1990).9. Thoughthe1981DeclarationontheEliminationofAllFormsofIntoleranceandDiscriminationBasedonReligionorBelief,supranote8,arguablysetsoutthemostthoroughandfocusedtextonfreedomofreligionorbelief,itsstatusasaDeclarationmeans that it is not legally binding.10. See William Barbieri, Group Rights and the Muslim Diaspora, 21 HUM. RTS. Q. 907, 926(1999).ItisinterestingtocomparethislistofhumanrightschallengesfacingreligiousminoritiesintheMiddleEastwiththerightsthatarebeingpursuedbyMuslimsintheEuropeancontext.Barbierinotesthatanumberofprospectivegrouprightsareintimated by the agenda of recognizing the human right to religious freedom of Muslimminorities in the countries of Western Europe. These include: collective rights, such asthe right to wear head scarves even in self-consciously laicized public schools, the rightto take time off from work to engage in prayer and the celebration of holy days, and theright to polygamous marriage; and corporate rights, such as the right to institute publicprayer calls, the right to receive public funding for religious instruction on par with otherestablished religious groups, and the right to carry out the ritual slaughter of animals forreligious purposes. Barbieri distinguishes between collective and corporate rights,and between nondomination rights and rights of self-determination. Id.11. Relevantcaseswillbeputinfootnotes1226fromthereportsoftheUNSpecialRapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. These cases are by way of illustration anddonotclaimtobeeitherexhaustivenornecessarilyrepresentativeofincidentsthatexclusively occur in the Muslim Middle East in relation to religious minorities.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 709and political rights, to economic, social and cultural rights. Because there isinsufficient opportunity to explore detailed empirical examples, this articlewill rely on the following select, but representative, range from the SpecialRapporteur regarding the categories of human rights challenges facing non-MuslimminoritiesintheMiddleEast.Thechallengesthataffectreligiousminoritiesasindividualsinclude:violationsofphysicalintegrityandtheright to life;12 denial of citizenship13 and denial of certain civil rights, such asregistrationofmarriagesorbirths;14discriminationinthejudiciary;15exclusion from employment in certain government sectors, particularly fromthearmy,judiciaryandsenioreducationalposts;16prohibitionofthe12. See Report submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance withCommission on Human Rights resolution 1996/23, U.N. ESCOR, Commn on Hum. Rts.,54th Sess., Agenda Item 18, 60, 66, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1998/6 (1998) In Iraq, twoChristians were reportedly killed in response to a fatwa to that effect issued by an imam.Thefollowingreportswerealsonoted:reportsofmistreatmentinAfghanistan,Iran,Pakistan,andUnitedArabEmirates;reportsofarrestsanddetentionsinIranandPakistan;reportsofmurdersinIran,Iraq,andPakistan;andallegationsthatsecurityforces murdered two Assyro-Chaldean suspects without proof for allegedly murdering aMuslim in Iraq. See also Report submitted by Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, inaccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsresolution1995/23,U.N.ESCOR,Commn on Hum. Rts., 52d Sess., Agenda Item 18, addendum, 79, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1996/95/Add.2(1996).InIran,201Bahswereassassinatedandfifteendisappearedandwerepresumeddeadbetween1979and1996.ThreeProtestantpastorsweremurdered in 1994, leading to a great sense of trauma in the Protestant community.13. See Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance withCommission on Human Rights resolution 1996/23, supra note 12, 58, discussing thedenial of citizenship to non-Muslims in Kuwait.14. SeeReportSubmittedbyMr.AbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteuronFreedomofReligion and Belief, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/40, U.N. ESCOR, Commn on Hum. Rts., 59th Sess., Agenda Item 11(e), 53, U.N. Doc.E/CN.4/2003/66(2003).InJordan,aChristianmotherwasdeprivedofcustodyofherchildrenbecauseherlatehusbandhadconvertedtoIslampriortohisdeath.TheSupremeCourtrejectedherappealandauthorizedtheremovalofherchildrentoherbrothers custody because he too had converted to Islam. See also Report Submitted byMr.AbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteuronFreedomofReligionandBelief,inaccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsresolution2000/33,U.N.ESCOR,Commn on Hum. Rts., 58th Sess., Agenda Item 11(e), 71, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2002/73(2002). In Egypt, birth certificates were denied to children born to a Bah couple.15. See Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance withCommissiononHumanRightsresolution1995/23,supranote12,45.InIran,thecourt system reportedly often discriminates against non-Muslims and decides in favor ofMuslims, especially in the lower courts.16. See id. 44. In Iran, religious minorities do not have professional access to the army andjudiciary,generallylackaccesstogovernmentposts,andarelimitedintheircareerdevelopment to the rest of the administration. Non-Muslim owners of grocery shops arerequiredbythegovernmenttoindicatetheirreligiousaffiliationonthefrontoftheirshops.Id.44.Bahsreportedtohavenoaccesstopostsinthegovernmentadministration.Id.64.Bahswerealsoseverelyaffectedintheprivatesector.Id. 65.Vol. 26 710 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYmarriageofanon-MuslimmanwithaMuslimwoman;17restrictionsonfreedomofmovement,particularlyregardingleavingthecountry;18andsevererestrictionsonmissionaryactivities.19Thehumanrightschallengesthat affect non-Muslim religious minorities as communities include: denialof recognition as a religious community and a resulting denial of any kind ofpolitical representation;20 denial of education;21 difficulties faced in attempt-ingtorunseparateeducationalfacilities(minorityreligiousschools)orinhavingtheirreligiontaughtinpublicschools;22restrictionsonfreedomofworshiporotherreligiousactivities;23confiscationorthreatsonreligious17. See Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance withCommission on Human Rights resolution 1996/23, supra note 12, 68. A Christian wasreportedly arrested, imprisoned, and punished by lashes in the United Arab Emirates dueto his marriage to a Muslim woman; his arrest was followed by the forced annulment ofthe marriage.18. SeeReportsubmittedbyAbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteur,inaccordancewithCommission on Human Rights resolution 1995/23, supra note 12, 62. In Iran, Bahsreportedly face major obstacles to obtain passports and exit visas due to the requirementthatreligiousaffiliationbestatedinapplicationformsforboth,thusrestrictingtheirfreedom of movement.19. See Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance withCommission on Human Rights resolution 1994/18, U.N. ESCOR, Commn on Hum. Rts.,51stSess.,AgendaItem22,II,U.N.Doc.E/CN.4/1995/91(1995).InUnitedArabEmirates,therewerereportsofabanonthedistributionofreligiousliterature,proselytizing by non-Muslims, and a case of arrest and imprisonment for proselytizing.20. See Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance withCommission on Human Rights resolution 1996/23, supra note 12, 56, 57. In Iran, theBahsweredeniedrecognitionasareligiousminorityandwereaccusedofbeingpolitical and counter-revolutionary. Id. 56. Furthermore, Bahs were denied any kindof political representation. Id. 61.21. Id. 59. In Iran, Bahs have been denied the right to enter any university from 1979 tothe present day.22. SeeReportonCivilandPoliticalRights,IncludingIntolerance,SubmittedbyMr.AbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteur,inAccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsResolution2000/33,U.N.ESCOR,CommnonHum.Rts.,57thSess.,AgendaItem 11(e), 160, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2001/63 (2001). In Turkey, there were reports ofthe banning of religious seminaries. Id. In Iran, the directors of religious minority schoolshadtobeMuslims.ReportsubmittedbyAbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteur,inaccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsResolution1995/23,supranote12, 42.23. See Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in Accordance withCommission on Human Rights Resolution 1996/23, supra note 12. In Kuwait, Mauritania,Oman, Qatar, and Yemen, restrictions were placed on religious matters for non-Muslims.Id.58(d).InKuwaitandQatar,thepracticeofreligionbynon-Muslimshastoberestricted to the confines of the homes of members. Id. 63(f); In Iran, restrictions wereplaced on the religious activities of Protestants; churches were ordered closed and thenumberofservicesheldwaslimited.ReportsubmittedbyAbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteur,inaccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsresolution1995/23,supranote12,73.TherewerealsoreportsofpressureandclosesurveillanceofMuslim converts to Protestantism, in attempts to coerce such converts to abandon theirreligious practices. Id. 74.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 711property,land,andplacesofworship;24interferencewiththeelectionofleaders and representatives;25 and denial of freedom of expression.26Havingnotedthecommonalityofabroadthreadofsharedhumanrights challenges facing religious minorities in the Middle East, both in theindividual and collective aspects, the question still remains of what this mayhavetodowiththefactthatsuchreligiousminoritieshappentoliveinapart of the world where the majority are Muslims, and where the leadershipmaybejustifiedbyreferencetoIslam?DotheminoritygroupshumanrightsdilemmashaveanythingatalltodowithMuslimpolitics?ThisquestionofthepossiblelinkagebetweenthehumanrightssituationofreligiousminoritiesintheMiddleEastandMuslimpoliticsiscrucialtoexamining the context and framework of analysis of this study.24. SeeReportontheEliminationofAllFormsofReligiousIntolerance,PreparedbyAbdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Freedomof Religion or Belief, U.N. GAOR, Hum. Rts. Commn., 57th Sess., Agenda Item 111(b), 29, U.N. Doc. A/57/274 (2002). In Egypt, eleven Copts were injured and fifteen homeswereburnedduetotheringingofChurchbells.Id.InTurkey,religiouspropertywasconfiscated. Report on Civil and Political Rights, Including Intolerance, Submitted by Mr.AbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteur,inAccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsResolution2000/33,supranote22,160.Restrictionsonreligiousminoritieswere also reported in Kuwait and Pakistan. Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor,Special Rapporteur, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1996/23,supranote12,64.InIran,BahpropertieswereconfiscatedandBahholyplaces were desecrated and destroyed by the authorities. Report submitted by AbdelfattahAmor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution1995/23,supranote12,59,61,62.AlsoinIran,propertybelongingtoIranianProtestants was confiscated and their bank accounts were frozen. Id. 76.25. SeeReportonCivilandPoliticalRights,IncludingIntolerance,SubmittedbyMr.AbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteur,inAccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsResolution2000/33,supranote22,160.InTurkey,therewerereportsofinterference with procedures for electing religious dignitaries. Id. In Turkey, non-Muslimsreportedly live under the threat of losing their places of worship. Report Submitted by Mr.AbdelfattahAmor,SpecialRapporteur,inaccordancewithCommissiononHumanRightsResolution1994/18,supranote19.InIran,theBahshaveexperiencedthedenialofthepracticeoftheirFaithandtheprohibitionofBahorganizationssince1983, resulting in the denial of the right to elect and operate administrative institutions.Report submitted by Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance with Commis-sion on Human Rights Resolution 1995/23, supra note 12, 59.26. See Report Submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in Accordance withCommission on Human Rights Resolution 1996/23, supra note 12, 63(d). In Kuwait,Oman, and Yemen, the local publication of non-Muslim religious materials is prohibited.InIran,bibleswereconfiscated,aprohibitionwasplacedonthesaleofbibles,andrestrictionswereplacedonallreligiouspublications.ReportsubmittedbyAbdelfattahAmor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution1995/23, supra note 12, 73.Vol. 26 712 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYB. Is There Such a Thing as Muslim Politics?The term Muslim politics is itself problematic on a number of grounds. Tobegin, it is criticized for implying a monolithic portrayal of not only the vastdiversityofMuslimpeoplesacrosstimeandspace,butalsothevarietyofpoliticalcontextsthathaveemergedacrossthisspectrum.Anumberofthinkers have, quite rightly, criticized studies that rely on such essentializingassumptions. However, it is also true that the understanding of the critiqueof Orientalism has become so pervasive that:no criticism, be it of despotic regimes ruling the Middle East, of fundamental-ism, or of the Islamic pre-modern view of the world, can go unscathed withoutbeingdisputedtobeanexpressionofOrientalism...MiddleEasternersandMuslims also condemn critical comparisons and believe to see in them sinisterpolitical objectives.27Nevertheless,numerousMuslimbelievers,leaders,andcommunitiesarebuttressedbythissameessentializingsupposition,thattheirwaysareauthenticallyandexclusivelyMuslimandthatothersarenot.Suchpresumptions are precisely where the Muslim majority draws its ideologicalsupport and confidence from, so to dismiss them entirely would neglect thevibrancyoftheclaimofMuslimlaworpoliticsasaunifyingfactor.Eickelman and Piscatori define this reading of Muslim politics as relyingonitsintimateconnectionwiththeprocessofsymbolicproduction.28Withinthiscontext,thecompetitionisovertherighttomanipulatethesymbolic capital of Islam.29This article accepts the duality in the implications of Muslim politics.ThetermshouldnotbetakentojustifycollapsingallMuslimsandtheirpolitics into one inevitable path. However, dismissing it entirely would alsobe foolishas the clarion call of Muslim politics does indeed provide aplatform for various leaders to mobilize Muslims across numerous politicaland ethnic divides. Tibi explains this duality as follows:[A]subtletyinthestudyoftheIslamiccultureneedstobehonored.TheassumptionthatthereexistsamonolithicIslamicculturalstandardisutterlywrong.Inculturalterms,Islamcanbefoundinadiversityoflocalcultures,however, a sweeping generalization of this observation leads to overlooking thebasic elements of Islamic civilization. . . . Scholars who exclusively stress thediversity of Islam often ignore that Muslims, be they in the Middle East, SouthAsia,orsub-Saharan Africa,shareavirtuallyconsistentcommonworldview.27. BassamTibi,IslamicLaw/Sharia,HumanRights,UniversalMoralityandInternationalRelations, 16 HUM. RTS. Q. 277, 294 (1994).28. DALE F. EICKELMAN & JAMES PISCATORI, MUSLIM POLITICS 28 (1996).29. Id. at 153.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 713Without taking this world view into consideration, one may fail to understandproperly the obstacles of establishing the universal concept of human rights inthe non-Western societies described as Islamic.30Whilethisquotationmayhaveactuallyoverstatedthecase,theargumentremainsthatonemayperceivethecommontraceofpositivereactiontothecouchingofpoliticalgoalsinreligiousterminologyacrossvarious Muslim societies. Eickelman and Piscatori argue that [A] constantacrosstheMuslimworldistheinvocationofideasandsymbols,whichMuslimsindifferentcontextsidentifyasIslamic,insupportoftheirorganizedclaimsandcounterclaims.31Onesuchunfortunateinvocationhasbeentherecurringinfringementontherightsofreligiousminorities.PerhapsinthemobilizationofthesymboliccapitalofwhatconstitutesIslamistheconcurrentunderlyingsearchforwhatIslamisnothencethe utility of non-Muslims as a necessary counterbalance to the generationof Muslim politics.Inthisarticle,whiletheessentializingpresumptionsbehindMuslimpoliticsarerejected,thebenefitofthenotionofMuslimpoliticsasasymbol containing a powerful platform for mobilization is not. It is this samesymbolic capital of Islam that can be utilized to impact the rights of religiousminorities.Thoughthusfarthiscapitalhasbeenmanipulatedtothedetrimentofreligiousminorities,itcanberecastinordertoencouragerespect for their rights.ReferenceisthereforeintentionallymadeinthisarticletoMuslimrather than Islam when referring to the body of widely shared, althoughnot doctrinally defined, tradition of ideas and practice32 emerging from thebelievers of Islam. This is in order to distinguish such practices and ideasfrom Islam as a religion, and to avoid linkage between such practices andthe theology of Islam.33 The only thing that is Muslim about such practicesis the language employed to sustain them and the claim of their associationto that religion.34 It is not the role of this author to judge the authenticity ortheological merit of such assertions about proposed linkages to Islam as a30. Tibi, supra note 27, at 295.31. EICKELMAN & PISCATORI, supra note 28, at 4.32. Id.33. However,thetermIslamismaintainedwheretheoriginalsourcebeingquotedhasused this term, or when reference is being made to original religious texts or to those whoare alleging a linkage between their practice and the religion of Islam.34. In the context of womens rights under Islam, for example, emphasis is also placed on theuseofreligionasnationalorcommunalcementandthecontroloverwomeninthenameofreligion.Marie-AimeeHelie-Lucas,StrategiesofWomenandWomensMovements in the Muslim World vis--vis Fundamentalisms: From Entryism to Interna-tionalism, in THE RIGHTS OF SUBORDINATED PEOPLES 251, 266 (Oliver Mendelsohn & UpendraBaxi eds., 1994).Vol. 26 714 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYreligion, but solely to examine the consequences of such assertions for non-Muslim religious minorities.C. Muslim Practice and the Treatment of Religious MinoritiesWithin this understanding of Muslim politics we are able to examine theMuslimrecordonthetreatmentofreligiousminorities,widelyheldassumptions about the questionable ultimate loyalties of non-Muslims, andthe asserted justifiability of the unequal citizenship of non-Muslims in manyMuslim states, resulting in their problematic de jure or de facto status. Thisunderlying inequality and vulnerability primarily comes into focus at timesofeconomicandpoliticalflux,whentheunderlyinguneasewiththepresence of non-Muslims within Muslim states is brought to the fore mostvividly.35Thisindicateseitherafundamentaldiscomfortwiththenon-Muslim presence or their propensity for being exploited in order to providedistractionintimesoftrouble.Thisexploitationmayinvolvearangeofactors,dependingontheparticularitiesofthecaseathand.Fromthefivecases given at the outset of this article it can be seen that the first and secondexamplesresultedfromindividualactionandnotgovernments,thethirdrelatedtomobactionandtheclearlackofresponsebygovernmentalofficials,andthefourthandfifthexclusivelyinvolvedgovernmentalac-tion.36Theseexamplesoccurredattimesofseveresocialdisruption,heightened political tension, and periods involving serious societal disjunc-ture between liberals and conservatives.The gravity of the situation, as well as a historical pattern of discrimina-tion against religious minorities, has led writers like Arzt to argue that suchminorities in Muslim lands deserve more support from international humanrights movements.37 Esposito has concluded that the rights of non-MuslimminoritiesinanIslamicstateremainsanunresolvedissue.38FurtherAn-35. For example, see the work of Michael Fischer describing this phenomenon in Iran. HeaddressestheperiodicattacksonIransreligiousminoritiesasareligiouslyphrasedprotestorpoliticalprotestinIslamicidiom.M.J.FISCHER,IRAN:FROMRELIGIOUSDISPUTETOREVOLUTION 18486 (1980).36. ForthecaseofthethirteenJewsofShirazseeBurns,supranote1.Governmentculpability in the case of Ruhallah Rawhani is clear from the fact that he was executedin prison in Mashhad. For details see, Voice of America, Voice of Americas Editorial ontheExecutionofBahinIran(27July1998),transcriptavailableatwww.uga.edu/bahai/News/PRVOA1.html.37. Donna E. Arzt, The Treatment of Religious Dissidents under Classical and ContemporaryIslamic law, in RELIGIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES 387, 452(John Witte Jr. & Johan D. van der Vyver eds., 1996).38. JOHN L. ESPOSITO, ISLAM AND POLITICS 291 (3d ed. 1991).2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 715Naimhasarguedthatitisimperativethatthepreciseimplicationsofreligiouslibertyandtherightsofreligiousminoritiesbeauthoritativelydiscussed and settled within the Islamic tradition.39 This is not to argue thatthere is just one universal Muslim position that is inherently against respectfor the human rights of religious minorities, but that resort to any religiousammunition in the repression of others needs to be resisted. In this case itseems to be particularly preponderant and entrenched.D. Debates Regarding Human Rights and Muslim PracticeAlidelineatesthreemaintypesofargumentsinthediscourseofhumanrights in the Islamic tradition:Therearethose(usually)MuslimscholarswhoengageinthedialogueasapologistsfortheIslamictradition,andareunwillingtotakeonboardthediversitywithinthatlegaltraditionandwillonlyuseintheirarguments,traditional, conservative opinions. Then there are writers who, though conced-ing some reference to human rights in Islam, argue that there is no worthwhilediscoursetoengagein.Suchwritersprimarilyuseasexamplestheliteral,traditional,simplisticapproachofMuslimwritersonthesubjectcitinglegaldocumentsofcountriessuchasSaudiArabiaandtheSudanwhicharenotrepresentativeofthetruespiritofIslam,being,inthiswritersopinion,unrepresentative authoritarian regimes. The category of scholars who write in atrue comparative spirit willing to explore the diversity of Islamic jurisprudenceandattemptingtocomprehendtheconceptofhumanrightsintheIslamictradition is a very small minority when compared to the total number of Islamicjurists.40Aliaccuratelyhighlightsthedearthofscholarswritinginthistruecomparative spirit regarding human rights and Islam in general. Literatureon non-Muslims under Muslim rule can be compared with literature on thehuman rights of women under Islam, because both bodies of literature canbe classified into Alis three types: apologetic, rejectionist or, true compara-tivespirit.41TheliteraturefocusingonthehumanrightsofwomenunderMuslim rule is increasing in depth, volume, and complexity, and has led toactivism,scholarlydebate,andeffortstoremedythepatternsofabusewomensuffer.Incontrast,however,thereisnocomparabledebateon39. AbdullahiA.An-Naim,ReligiousMinoritiesUnderIslamicLawandtheLimitsofCultural Relativism, 9 HUM. RTS. Q. 1, 14 (1987).40. SHAHEENSARDARALI,GENDERANDHUMANRIGHTSINISLAMANDINTERNATIONALLAW,EQUALBEFOREALLAH, UNEQUAL BEFORE MAN? 40 (2000).41. Id.Vol. 26 716 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYreligiousminoritiesunderMuslimrule.42Suchscholarlydebatewouldbeparticularly timely because of the increasingly rigid challenge crystallizingagainstreligiousminorities,aswillbeexaminedbelow,aswellastheinvisibility of the pattern of abuse against them.E. Human Rights of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule:Standards and DistinctionsHaving highlighted a thread of common abuses of the rights of non-Muslimsin the Middle East, clarified the reasons for reference to Muslim politics, anddiscussed the dearth of serious debate on this issue, we turn to the questionof what, if any, are the underlying factors for distinctions between Muslimsandnon-Muslims?ConsiderationoflegalanalysisandtextinIslamiclawrevealsthatthetheoreticaldistinctionspertainingtothehumanrightssituationofnon-Muslims43restontwokeyquestions:whetherthenon-Muslims are People of the Book (Ahl-al Kitb)44 or not, and the even morefundamentaldistinctionofwhetherthenon-MuslimisconsideredanapostateonewhohasconvertedfrombeingaMuslimintoanotherreligion.45ThoughthehumanrightsofPeopleoftheBookalsosufferinfringementintheMiddleEast,referencetothemintheQuranmeanstheirstatuscanatleastbetheoreticallyestablishedasprotectedpeople.46Thestatusofothersismuchmoreproblematic.Onewriterholdsthataccording to Sharia, pantheists, pagans, and nonbelievers have no rights.Inshort,theyhavetheoptionsofconversionordeath.47Thelegal42. Human rights studies on the Middle East often raise the human rights of women as wellasreligiousminoritiesintheiranalysis.However,therearenumerousstudiesfocusingsolely on the human rights of women, but none focusing solely on the human rights ofreligious minorities.43. For a more traditional categorization of non-Muslims, see ABDUR RAHMAN I. DOI, SHARIAH:THE ISLAMIC LAW 42627 (1984).44. Also known as dhimmis.45. Space does not allow this article to engage in a thorough discussion of Islamic law andthe understandings about ranking systems between believer and nonbeliever that may bededuced from Islamic Law. For more information, reference can be made to Arzt, supranote37,at40016;An-Naim, supranote39,at1113;ANNELIZABETHMAYER,ISLAMANDHUMAN RIGHTS: TRADITION AND POLITICS 12629 (2d ed. 1995). For an analysis of apostasy andfreedomofreligionorbelief,seeNazilaGhanea,ApostacyandFreedomtoChangeReligionorBelief,inFACILITATINGFREEDOMOFRELIGIONANDBELIEF:PERSPECTIVES,IMPULSESANDRECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE OSLO COALITION (W. Cole Durham et al. eds., forthcoming).46. However,thisprotectedstatushasbeencriticizedforbeingembeddedwithinaframeworkofinequality.Arzt,forexample,referstothisasasecond-classstatusandoutlines the restrictions that remained on them. Arzt, supra note 37, at 41415.47. DANIEL E. PRICE, ISLAMIC POLITICAL CULTURE, DEMOCRACY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS, A COMPARATIVE STUDY16162 (1999). He goes on to contribute a puzzling definition of non believers, stating2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 717consequencesofapostasyoftenextendtocivildeath,beingunabletoinheritfromeitheraMuslimoranon-Muslimindividual,dissolutionofmarriage,48 the continued application of Muslim laws to the apostate, andthe possible threat of the death penalty.49Itisnotonlytheoreticaldistinctionsinoriginaltextsthatareatissue.Non-MuslimsarealsoconspicuousintheirabsencefromrecentIslamictexts on human rights generated from modern day Muslim states. In fact, itcanbenotedthatthespiritoftheQuranicverseonnocompulsioninreligion50 finds little or no reflection in such texts. The three documents thatwillbeexaminedherearetheUniversalIslamicDeclarationofHumanRightsfrom1981,theCairoDeclarationonHumanRightsinIslamfrom1990, and the Arab Charter on Human Rights from 1994.51TheUniversalIslamicDeclarationofHumanRightsomitsreferencetodiscrimination on the basis of religion or belief in its preambular paragraph6(g)(i),whichreferstoestablishinganIslamicorderinwhichallhumanbeingsareequalandshouldsuffernodisadvantageordiscriminationbyreason of race, colour, sex, origin or language. Furthermore, it contains noenforcementproceduresforanyofitsprovisions.TheDeclarationreferstoequality before the law and to equal protection before the law in Article III(a),and Article XII(e) forbids inciting public hostility on the ground of religiousbelief, stating that respect for the religious feelings of others is obligatory onall Muslims. Its reference to the Right to Freedom, Article II(b), states, Everyindividualandeverypeoplehastheinalienablerighttofreedominallitsformsphysical, cultural, economic and politicaland shall be entitled tostruggle by all available means against any infringement or abrogation of thisright. Article X refers to the Rights of Minorities, and asserts that:thatThisconcernregardingthetreatmentofnonbelieversissupportedbythepersecution of the Bahai in Iran and guest workers in Saudi Arabia. It is not clear whymonotheistBahsandparticularlyguestworkersmanyofwhomareChristianarecategorized as non-believers. See id. at 162.48. For a discussion about apostasy, the marriage contract, and maintenance for the wife, seeJAMAL J. NASIR, THE STATUS OF WOMEN UNDER ISLAMIC LAW AND UNDER MODERN ISLAMIC LEGISLATION 69(2d ed. 1994).49. FortheexaminationofanumberofEgyptianStateCouncilrulingsonapostasy,seeAhmed Seif Al-Islam Hamad, Legal Plurality and Legitimation of Human Rights Abuses,ACaseStudyofStateCouncilRulingsConcerningtheRightsofApostates,inLEGALPLURALISM IN THE ARAB WORLD 219, 22128 (Baudouin Dupret et al. eds., 1999).50. See Quran 2:256.51. UNIVERSAL ISLAMIC DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 19 Sept. 1981, available at www.alhewar.com/ISLAMDECL.html;CAIRODECLARATION ONHUMANRIGHTSINISLAM, ORGANIZATIONOFTHEISLAMICCONFERENCE,5Aug.1990,availableatwww.humanrights.harvard.edu/documents/regionaldocs/cairo_dec.htm; ARAB CHARTER ON HUMAN RIGHTS, COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF ARABSTATES,CAIRO,adoptedon15Sept.1994,availableatwww.humanrights.harvard.edu/documents/regionaldocs/arab_charter.htm.Vol. 26 718 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY(a)TheQuranicprinciple[t]hereisnocompulsioninreligionshallgovernthe religious rights of non-Muslim minorities.(b)InaMuslimcountryreligiousminoritiesshallhavethechoicetobegovernedinrespectoftheircivilandpersonalmattersbyIslamicLaw,orbytheir own laws.Bothoftheseprovisions,however,wouldseemtobecontingentonpriorrecognition by the state of a community as constituting a recognized non-Muslimminority.ArticleXIIIontheRighttoFreedomofReligionisveryvague, and states that [e]very person has the right to freedom of conscienceandworshipinaccordancewithhisreligiousbeliefs.Somepotentialproblems are highlighted in Article XXIII, which is insufficient with regard tothe Right to Freedom of Movement and Residence of non-Muslims. ArticleXXIII(a) states, every Muslim shall have the right to freely move in and outof any Muslim country. Section (b) continues, No one shall be forced toleavethecountryofhisresidence,orbearbitrarilydeportedtherefrom,withoutrecoursetodueprocessofLaw.Thisabsenceofanydirectreferencetonon-Muslimsmaywellbeconsideredominous,thoughtheprovisionsofArticleX(a)maygosomewaytowardsfillingthisvoid.Thewritings of Ann Elizabeth Mayer highlight the significance of the fact that theArabictextofthisDeclarationisconsideredtheoriginal.52Thesignificantdivergences between the English and the Arabic versions of this Declarationare considered intentional by Mayer,53 but merely as suggesting likelihoodthat the drafters of the Declaration held divergent views, by Rehman.54Thereisnomentionoftherightsofnon-MuslimsintheCairoDeclarationonHumanRightsinIslam,adoptedbytheOrganisationofIslamic Conference. This Declaration was adopted in 1990 and presented tothe Preparatory Committee of the UN World Conference on Human Rightsin1993asacontributiontotheViennaWorldConference.55Article1isgeneral in its claim that [a]ll men are equal in terms of basic human dignityandbasicobligationsandresponsibilities,withoutanydiscriminationongroundsofrace,colour,language,sex,religiousbelief.However,this52. As noted in the Explanatory notes of the Declaration in the English version. See MAYER,supra note 45, at 7374.53. She also notes that the provisions of the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rightsare deliberately obscure and that many of the rights contained in it are qualified. MAYER,supranote45,at102.Forathoroughdiscussion,seeid.at108.Foranoteonthedifferences in the implications of the Arabic original and English translations, see id. at132, 14951.54. JavaidRehman,AccommodatingReligiousIdentitiesinanIslamicState:InternationalLaw,FreedomofReligionandtheRightsofReligiousMinorities,7INTLJ.MINORITY&GROUP RTS. 139, 154 (2000).55. ContributionoftheOrganisationoftheIslamicConference,WorldConferenceonHumanRights,PreparatoryCommittee,4thSess.,U.N.Doc.A/CONF.157/PC/62/Add.18 (1993).2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 719equality is arguably conditional because it is followed by the words, Truefaith is the guarantee for enhancing such dignity along the path to humanperfection. Article 18(a) may implicitly cover religious minorities: Every-oneshallhavetherighttoliveinsecurityforhimself,hisreligion.However,otherstatementsmaywellcauseconcernamongnon-Muslims,suchasArticle2sclaimthatlifecanonlybetakenawayforaShariahprescribedreason56andArticle10sclaimthatIslamisthereligionofunspoilednature.Itisprohibitedtoexerciseanyformofcompulsiononmanortoexploithispovertyorignoranceinordertoconverthimtoanother religion or to atheism.The Arab Charter on Human Rights was adopted in September 1994 buthas not yet entered into force.57 Article 2 provides that State Parties shouldensuretheenjoymentofalltherightswithintheCharterwithoutanydistinctiononanumberofgrounds,includingreligion,toallindividualswithin their territory. Article 9 reiterates the equality of all persons before thelaw and their right to a legal remedy. Article 26 states that [e]veryone hasa guaranteed right to freedom of belief, thought and opinion. Article 27 isthe most expansive in relation to the human rights of religious minorities. Itstatesthat[a]dherentsofeveryreligionhavetherighttopracticetheirreligiousobservancesandtomanifesttheirviewsthroughexpression,practiceorteaching,withoutprejudicetotherightsofothers.Norestric-tionsshallbeimposedontheexerciseoffreedomofbelief,thoughtandopinion except as provided by law. This final clause, except as providedbylaw,rendersthewholeprovisionvulnerabletothisloopholewithoutanylimitationorrestriction.Furthermore,Rishmawihasnotedthattheabsence of any mention in the Charter of the right to change ones religionisoneofthemostglaringomissions.58ShefurthercommentsthattheCharterminimisesthescopeofmanyoftherightsitrecognises.59Thisanalysis is certainly highly relevant to the reduction of Article 27s mandateofreligiousfreedomtoaflexiblestandardlefttothewhimofnationallegislators.The above discussion demonstrates how recent decades have generatedwhatArjomandhastermedanofficialIslamicalternative60thatclearly56. See UNIVERSAL ISLAMIC DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, supra note 51. The concern here beingthe possibility that this includes apostasy.57. ARABCHARTERONHUMANRIGHTS,supranote51,art.42(b)(accordingtothisarticle,theCharter will enter into force two months after the seventh ratification has been registeredwith the League of Arab States).58. Mona Rishmawi, The Arab Charter on Human Rights: A Comment, 10 INTERIGHTS BULL. 8,810 (1996).59. Id.60. ThistermisusedbyArjomandtodescribehowatransnationalIslamicresurgencerejected the universality of human rights and embodied such rejection in particular textsVol. 26 720 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYchartsadeteriorationofinternationalhumanrightsstandardsregardingfreedom of religion or belief. It is of particular concern that this weakeningis increasingly and consistently established in legal and political Islamicdocumentsthateitherdonotmentionordonotadequatelycatertothehumanrightsofnon-Muslims.61Thishasledtothelargelyinvisibleconditionofsystemicdiscriminationagainstnon-Muslims.Suchsystemicdiscrimination and inequality of condition has been described as the mostdamaging form of discrimination62an apt description of the condition ofnon-Muslims in the Middle East.III. THE VIABILITY OF SECULARISMS SOLUTIONA. Secularism as the Framework of Guarantee for theHuman Rights of Non-Muslims in the Middle EastIt is observances such as those above that have led many to the conclusionthatonlytheimplementationofasecularframework,throughremovingreligionfromtheMiddleEasternpublicsphereasawhole,canhopefullydrain religion of its potential to serve as the basis of human rights abuse. IntheMiddleEastcontext,issecularismthesolutiontothedilemmaofthehuman rights of religious minorities in the region? Would the human rightsrecordofMiddleEasterngovernmentsimproveiftheywerebasedonsecularism, or does this neglect some of the complexity of the relationshipbetween Islam and human rights?Thisauthorconcurswiththeargumentthathumanrightsasavaluecanbeincorporatedwithinareligiousframework(includinganIslamicframework),63 and that [i]t is more fruitful in thinking about human rightsto draw the dividing line elsewhere: not between a secular and non-secularworld-view.64 This article does not rest on the assumption that human rightssuchastheCairoDeclarationonHumanRightsinIslam.SeeSaidAmirArjomand,ReligiousHumanRightsandthePrincipleofLegalPluralismintheMiddleEast,inRELIGIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: LEGAL PERSPECTIVES 331, 34546 (Johan D. vander Vyver & John Witte, Jr. eds., 1996).61. For a discussion of how more recent Islamic texts, such as the CAIRO DECLARATION ON HUMANRIGHTS IN ISLAM, supra note 51, and the UNIVERSAL ISLAMIC DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, supranote 51, are inadequate in protecting the rights of non-Muslims, see MAYER, supra note45, at 8485, 131.62. RebeccaJ.Cook,WomensInternationalHumanRightsLaw:TheWayForward,inHUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 3, 9 (Rebecca J. Cook ed.,1994).63. KATERINA DALACOURA, ISLAM, LIBERALISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS 203 (1998).64. Id. at 39.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 721standardsnecessarilyneedtobesecularizedinorderforthemtoberenderedeffective.65Thismay,however,glossoverthecomplexityoftheissue of what is meant by secularization in this context. If the claim is forthe independence of the judiciary and respect for human rights regardless ofreligious affiliation, then clearly this author would support such manifesta-tions of secularization. However, the outright rejection of the possibility ofgarnering support for human rights from within a religious framework is notsupported.It has been asserted that:[T]heissueofsecularismliesattheheartbothofthejustificationofhumanrightsanddemocracy,andofthedifficultiesthatIslamicsocietiesfaceinformulating and implementing policies in this regard. . . . The central issue isnot...oneoffindingsomemoreliberal,orcompatible,interpretationofIslamicthinking,butofremovingthediscussionofrightsfromtheclaimsofreligion itself.66Pricedisputesthispositionwithonecompellingargument,that[s]ecularauthoritarian regimes in Muslim countries have also not been generous ingranting civil liberties to citizens. It is likely that the spread of democracy,not the secularization of politics, will sharply reduce these practices.67 Theexamples of widespread human rights abuses in Syria and Algeria go someway to supporting this point.68B. Secularisms Quick Fix SolutionThis article does not, therefore, promote secularism as a quick fix solutiontohumanrightschallengesintheregion,primarilyduetothepragmaticreasonsthatwillnowbeaddressed.Thisarticleinsteademphasizesthe65. OLIVIER ROY, THE FAILURE OF POLITICAL ISLAM 199 (1999). Roy adds an interesting twist to thosewho starkly contrast Islam with secularism in arguing that Islamism is actually anagent in the secularization of Muslim societies because it brings the religious space intothe political arena: although it claims to do so to the benefit of the former, its refusal totakethetruefunctioningofpoliticsandsocietyintoconsiderationcausesitinsteadtofollow the unwritten rules of the traditional exercise of power and social segmentation.The autonomous functioning of the political and social arenas wins out, but only after thereligious sphere has been emptied of its value as a place of transcendence, refuge, andprotest, since it is now identified with the new power. Id.66. FRED HALLIDAY, ISLAM AND THE MYTH OF CONFRONTATION, RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST157 (1995).67. PRICE, supra note 47, at 174.68. Fordetailssee,forexample,theHumanRightsWatchAnnualReports,thelatestonebeing HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 2003 40596, available atwww.hrw.org/wr2k3/mideast.html(includeslinkstocountrysectionsprovidingmoredetails).Vol. 26 722 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYpossibilitiesofastruggleforhumanrightsfomulatedwithinaMuslimframework.The imposition of some kind of absolute secularism as the prerequisiteto any progress would axe the dialogue between Islam and human rightsto an early death. If one looks at the situation of women in Saudi Arabia, forexample,itisclearthattheIslamicframeworkistheonlyoptionatthemoment, and that the belief that more equitable recognition of their rightscan be founded on Islamic credentials is fueling a new generation of womenin the Kingdom.69 In the case of the human rights of women, Ali argues thatthe emancipatory writings of scholars can amount to a political lever andas a point of reference, when attempting to articulate specific demands bywomeninMuslimsocieties.70Alicallsonstrategicandtheoreticalarguments for an emancipatory struggle from within a Muslim framework.She argues that a struggle based entirely within a secular framework wouldnot only be extremely unlikely to succeed, but could alienate and excludewomen,andevenunleashextremistreaction.71Couldthismethodologyalso hold promise for the human rights of religious minorities?IV. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THEMIDDLE EASTS WOMEN AND ITS RELIGIOUS MINORITIESA. What Next? Responses for Rights in the Middle EastParallelscanbedrawnbetweentheattempttopromotetherightsofreligiousminoritiesandothercampaignsforhumanrightsintheMiddleEast.Allsuchcampaignsstruggleagainstcommonchallenges.Thesechallenges include the abuse of the frameworks of religion and culture andof states courting popular sentiment by taking a conservative stance againstdemandsforhumanrights.TheconcertedcampaignsfortherightsofwomenintheMiddleEastinrecentyearsofferaveryusefulmodelforanalysis in light of efforts to promote the rights of religious minorities in theMiddle East.69. See Mai Yamani, Muslim Women and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, Aspirations of aNew Generation, in THE RULE OF LAW IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD, HUMAN RIGHTSAND THE JUDICIAL PROCESS (Eugene Cotran & Mai Yamani eds., 2000).70. ALI, supra note 40, at 284.71. Id. at 28384.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 723B. Levels of EngagementWhilewomenparticipate,albeittoalimitedextent,inthecontestover[Islamic]authority,72religiousminoritieshavelargelybeeneithernearlyexcluded or only allowed to participate in closely scrutinized and managedprocessesoflimitedcooption.73Unlessthepoliticsofsilenceitselfisconsideredasaformofengagement,thenthespacepermittedreligiousminoritiesinMuslimcountriesforparticipationinthepoliticallifeofthecommunityevenitsculturallifehasbeenseverelylimitedinmostMiddle Eastern countries.Each country may be able to point to the token member of a religiousminoritycommunityinapositionofprominencetheChristianForeignMinister, the Ahmadiyya UN representative, the Coptic diplomat, decadesago.However,tokenismisnotasignifieroftheequalengagementandacceptance of communities into the mainstream. In fact, tokenism is preciseproof of the minority communitys absence form the mainstream. This is nottosuggestthatthereisabsoluteexclusionofreligiousminorities,asnocommunitycanlivedecades,centuries,ormillenniaamongstamajoritycommunity without at least some tacit understandings and bargaining beingestablishedbetweenthem.74However,bargaininginsuchacontextisnotbased on full respect for human rights and equal dignity with the rest of thecommunity.Basically,religiousminoritiesoftenlackagency.Thatis,religious minorities in the Middle East are largely denied the opportunity ofintervening, or choosing freely not to intervene, in events. They are unabletomakenoticeableandsustainedcontributionstotheoutcomeofeventsand structures that influence them, whether in the legal, political, or culturalsphere.72. EICKELMAN & PISCATORI, supra note 28, at 76.73. See ELIZ SANASARIAN, RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN IRAN 71 (2000).74. Aninterestingexampleofthecreativeinteractionsthatareestablishedbetweennon-Muslim religious minorities living in the Muslim world comes from the detailed study ofthe applications of a Jewish family to Muslim courts in Yemen spanning four decades inthe early 1900s, despite the existence of Jewish courts. As Hollander argues,Litigants would apply to a Muslim court when opponents refused to appear in the Jewish court orwhenunsuccessfulthere.Indeed,individualsby-passedJewishcourtsaltogetherandinitiatedproceedings in Muslim courts when the law applied there was advantageous to them.IsaacHollander,Halakha,ShariaandCustom:ALegalSagafromHighlandYemen,19001940,inISLAMICLAW,THEORYANDPRACTICE157,157(RobertGleave&EugeniaKermeli eds., 1997).Vol. 26 724 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYC. From Mobilizing Women to Emancipating Religious MinoritiesWhat has been the record of those campaigning for the status of women inthesesamecountries,andwhohavecampaignedfortheirrightsthroughsuchinternalreligiousdiscourse?Whatarethelessonsforreligiousminoritiesfromthisexperience?Onevividrealizationthathasemergedfrom an engagement of the issue of women under Islam and other feministanalysis has been an emphasis on the positive duty of states. Such reasoningcalls for the accountability of states for the actual treatment that is meted outto women in practice, not just the theoretical chimera of their legal equality.Inthecaseofthebatteryormurderofwomeninthecontextofreligiouslaws,forexample,astatesfailuretoactinthesetypesofabusecasesmakesthestatecomplicite...becausethestatehasfailedtoprovideaneffectiveremedyforthesystematicviolationofhumanrights.75Howlandargues that the affirmative duty of states in such circumstances stretches tooutlawingpracticesthatsystematicallyviolatelibertyandequalrights,providing legal remedies for such violations, and ensuring womens accessto and knowledge of these remedies.76 Similarly, the excuses that states haveput forward, such as that their laws offer full equality regardless of religiousaffiliation, or that they repress religious minorities in order to protect themfrom the majority, are not acceptable in light of international human rightsstandards.Thestatesresponsibilitystretchestotheneedtoprovidelegalremediesandtooutlawpracticesthatviolateminoritiesrights.Whenthestate does not fulfill these responsibilities it is complicitous in all continuingviolations.Another strategy feminists have used is that of highlighting differencesinMuslimculturalpracticesfortheirownadvantage.77Byestablishinginternational links and exposing the diversity of the treatment of women invariousMuslimcountries,atellingdisjunctureiscreatedbetweenmereculturalpracticeandculturalelementsthatarepresentedasauthenticMuslim religious practices. The myth of one homogeneous Muslim worldexplodes, and the differences appear.78 In the case of religious minorities,75. CourtneyW.Howland,WomenandReligiousFundamentalism,inWOMEN ANDINTERNA-TIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW 533, 615 (Kelly D. Askin & Dorean Mo Koenig eds., 1999).76. Id. at 61516.77. A particularly interesting response in this context has been the setting up of the networkWomenLivingUnderMuslimLaws(WLUML).ThisnetworknotesinitsmissionstatementthatlawsformallyconsideredMuslimvary,sometimesradically,fromoneculturalcontexttoanother.Theselaws,incombinationwithcustomarylawsandpractices,arerecognizedasvitallyimportanttowomen,particularlyinfamilyandpersonal life. WLUML notes that [t]hese affect women disproportionately and usually inamannerthatunderminestheirrightsandautonomy. SeeWOMENLIVINGUNDERMUSLIMLAWS, ABOUT WLUML, available at www.wluml.org/english/about.shtml.78. Helie-Lucas, supra note 34, at 273.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 725thegoalwouldnotonlybetodemonstratethisdiversityinternallytothediscriminated group (in this case, religious minorities), but also to demon-strate the diversity to the community at large. Further consequences of suchnetworksforwomenhavebeenthestrengtheningofresistance,theestablishmentofsolidarity,andtheprovisionofempowermentfromthesense of unity.Religiousminorities,too,couldstronglybenefitfromsuchsolidarity.The pattern of minorities internalizing the inferior status imposed on themover time, and thus being coopted, is a well-established phenomenon. Thiscanactasaself-imposedlimitation,impoverishingtherightsofreligiousminoritiesintheMiddleEastyetfurther.Theneedforsolidaritynetworksacross borders and engagement in discourses that can liberate creative butpeacefulpatternsofresistancearethereforehighlynecessary.Therisk,however, is that like many women under Muslim rule religious minorities intheMiddleEastnolongerhavetheenergyoraudacityforpeacefulresistance.Thismaybedescribedastheemergenceofastateoffalseconsciousness and internalized oppression by victims. In his study, Cohendiscusses how denial can be a habitual coping strategy. He examines howintolerable facts and images shift from being disturbing to becoming normalandtolerable.Whilehisexcellentstudyofthedenialandnormalizationandroutinizationoftheintolerableisfocusedonperpetratorsoforbystandersinatrocities,itraisesissuesthatareallthemorepertinenttovictims themselves.79 The easier option of adapting to the existing circum-stances,howeverconstrained,orofescapingtherepressionthroughimmigration,hasproventemptingformanyoverthedecades.Resistancetowards an unsubstantiated goal may prove too risky to such communitiesinthefinalanalysis.Adaptingtothecircumstances,unfortunately,canprove vastly preferable to taking a stance.D. Strategies and Frameworks AdoptedWomensrightscampaignerswhohaveadoptedMuslimframeworkshavestrongly rested on the creative potential of efforts at revising and reformingIslamiclawtowardsliberalinterpretations.However,Anwarhasreserva-tionsaboutthismethodologyofarticulatinghumanrightsfromwithinanIslamicperspective.Hermaincriticismsarethatsuchreformersfailtoarticulate a theological basis for a secular state, that they are too committedtotheauthorityoftheQuranandhadith,thattheyseriouslyhamperthe79. See STAN COHEN, STATES OF DENIAL, KNOWING ABOUT ATROCITIES AND SUFFERING 54 (2001); NazilaGhanea, Repressing Minorities and Getting Away With It? A Consideration of Economic,Social and Cultural Rights (unpublished manuscript, on file with author).Vol. 26 726 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYcapacity of Muslims to critique their own norms by idealizing early Islamichistory,andthattheyareselectiveindrawingfromthepastfortraditionsand practices that support their goals. She argues that this puts reformists inline with fundamentalists in a number of crucial ways and, in the long-term,thismodelhindersthepossibilityofatrue,stableandequitablemodelofIslam.80 However, she also concedes that choosing to opt out of the religiousframework also carries its own costs, as this option may lack the capacitytospeaktotheheartsofthelaymasses,includingtheunletteredruralists,the urban working class, and Western-educated Muslims seeking to recon-necttotheirspiritualroots.81Afsharsupportsthechoiceofthereligiousframework while acknowledging the compromises it entails. Her stance isthattheanalysisofMuslimwomenthinkersseekingareturntoapureroriginalQuranwillfacilitatediscardingthetraditionswhichhavehard-ened into a profoundly anti-female ideology.82There is a methodological contradiction here. Why refer to Islam as thebasisofrightsifpracticeacrosstheMuslimworldshowscontradictorydiversity?83 This leads us to the distinction highlighted by Helie-Lucas, thatfeministswhofeeltheneedtorefertotheQurantojustifytheirstandsbelongtotwoimportantcurrents:thebelievers,forwhomIslammustconstitute its own theology of liberation, and the unbelievers who operate atthe level of strategic alliances.84 Clearly, religious minorities would choosethe option of discourse within the Muslim framework for the latter strategicreason.Theircurrentperilousstatuslendsforcetotheutilityofsuchanapproach.Anyothersecularandpoliticalactivismwouldonlyservetoreinforcetheallegationsofdisloyaltythatarealreadyroutinelytargetedtowardminorities.Furthermore,religiousminoritiesdonothavethenumbersorthewidersupporttocompeteonthesegrounds.Creatingthespace for their acceptability within the religious framework and traditions ofthe majority therefore provides a far more amenable option, at least at thepresent time.80. Ghazala Anwar, Reclaiming the Religious Center from a Muslim Perspective: Theologi-cal Alternatives to Religious Fundamentalism, in RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISMS AND THE HUMANRIGHTS OF WOMEN 303, 30405 (Courtney W. Howland ed., 1999).81. Id. at 305.82. Haleh Afshar, Fundamentalism and Women in Iran, in THE RIGHTS OF SUBORDINATED PEOPLES,supra note 34, at 276, 277.83. Helie-Lucas, supra note 34, at 274.84. Id. at 267.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 727E. Where the Comparison EndsHaving delineated the variety of challenges and lessons to be extrapolatedfrom efforts to enhance the rights and status of women under Muslim rule,we should remain cognizant of the limitation of such an analogy. The mostpertinent differential is that of population. Whereas women compose half ormore of the population of all the Middle Eastern countries under discussion,thepopulationofnon-Muslimreligiousminoritiesstretchesfromabout10 percentinEgypttoabout1percentintheIslamicRepublicofIran.Womens larger numbers allow broader and stronger coalitions in favor ofthecauseofthehumanrightsofwomen.Thismakestheircasemorecompelling,butperhapsalsomorechallengingandintrusive,thanthatofreligious minorities in the Middle East. A second self-evident differential isthat Muslim women are obviously believers, and this leads to very differentpotentialities with regard to their textual and social accommodation withinthe wider Muslim community.However, analogizing the efforts towards the advancement of womenshuman rights to the struggle for the rights of religious minorities continues tohighlight pertinent lessons. Both groups have historical and textual ambigu-itiesweightedagainstthembyconservativereligiousinterpretationsofIslamictextsandtraditions.Thisoffersthepossibilityofemancipatoryinterpretationsinfavorofboth.Inbothcasesexposingthediversityofpractice within different parts of the Muslim world and in different periodsofhistoryoffersapotentwayofchallengingingrainedassumptions.Themajority has distored social structures in order to oppress both women andreligiousminorities.Thisstructureisunderstoodaspatriarchywhendiscussingtheoppressionofwomen.Thehierarchicalsocialstructuresingrainedagainstreligiousminoritiescanbeseenasanalogoustopatriar-chy. More simply, the two groups are faced with very similar disadvantagesanddiscriminationintermsoftheirvalueasalegalwitness,theirinheritancerights,andtheirability,orrathertheirinability,toclimbthesocialladdertowardsvariouspublicandleadershiprolesratherthanaccepting merely to exist in the private realm. Hassans call to the challengeof resisting abuse of the human rights of women is equally applicable to thatofreligiousminorities.Muslimculturehasreducedmany,ifnotmost,womentothepositionofpuppetsonastring,toslave-likecreatures....Despite everything that has gone wrong with the lives of countless MuslimwomenthroughtheagesduetopatriarchalMuslimculture,Ibelievestrongly that there is hope for the future.8585. Riffat Hassan, Rights of Women Within Islamic Communities, in RELIGIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS INGLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, supra note 37, at 361, 386.Vol. 26 728 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLYF. Towards a Synthesis of the Two CampaignsTreadingthehumanrightspathwithintheframeworkofIslamdoesnotprovide a smooth and unproblematic option. In fact, it has been described astortuous.86However,thestridesmadebyacademicsandactivistsinchallengingtherightsofwomen,indicatesapromisingpathforreligiousminorities under Muslim rule. Both share the challenge of withdrawing themonopolyofinterpretationfromthepoliticalorreligiousleadershipandproviding the space for the exploration of alternative interpretations beyondtraditionalandauthoritarianperspectives.Bothreligiousminoritiesandwomen under Muslim rule share many similar human rights infringementsthe denial of leadership, inequality in legal standing, and levels of exclusionfrom public life. Both face the challenge of capturing the limelight towardsrational,egalitarianandjustice-orientedideals,87restingonthepremisethat there is no great division between an authentic Islamic view and respectfortheirhumanrights.Itisthereforeparticularlyregrettablewhenthoseactive in countering repressive measures against women in Muslim states areindifferent, even hostile, to extending this insight to the situation of religiousminorities.Oneexamplecomesfromanacademicwhostridentlydefendsthe justifiability of the persecution of a religious minority community whilerejectingthesubjugationofwomeninthenameofIslam.88Whileinthelong-term other less constrained options may emerge for religious minoritiesintheMiddleEast,thisarticlesuggestsengagementwiththediscourseofreform within the framework of Muslim legal resources to provide the mostpromisingfirststepalongthepathoftheiremancipationandtowardsenjoyment of their full and equal human rights.V. CONCLUSIONThis article calls for a more attentive study of the human rights situation ofreligiousminoritiesintheMiddleEast.ItalsocallsforanemancipatoryinterpretationofIslamictraditionsandlawswithregardtoreligious86. ArztreferstothemodernrelationshipbetweenIslamiclawandinternationallawastortuous. Arzt, supra note 37, at 423.87. JAMILA HUSSAIN, ISLAMIC LAW AND SOCIETY, AN INTRODUCTION 58 (1999).88. This comes from Azar Nafisis chapter, in which she champions the rights of women inIranthroughusingtheexampleofareligiousfigurefromBab-Bahhistory,butsimultaneously argues that the persecution and destruction of Babs and Bahs was andis justified! See Azar Nafisi, Tales of Subversion: Women Challenging FundamentalismintheIslamicRepublicofIran,inRELIGIOUSFUNDAMENTALISMSANDTHEHUMANRIGHTSOFWOMEN, supra note 80, at 257, 259.2004 Human Rights of Religious Minorities 729minorities, analogous to the emerging literature and activism in the field ofhumanrightsofwomenunderIslam.WhiletherehavebeensomereferencestothesituationofreligiousminoritiesunderMuslimrule,thiscoveragehasbeeninsufficientinlightofthecomplexitiesandrangeoffactorsfacingthem.Manyoftheacademicconsiderationsofreligiousminorities in the Middle East have rested on apologetic, polarized, or largelyempirical perspectives. A more comprehensive, thorough methodology, andmore attention from both scholars and activists is long overdue in this field.Thisarticlehasanalyzedthedualpossibilitiesandthedouble-edgedswordofmobilizingMuslimresourcestowardsboththerepressionandaccommodation of religious minorities in the Middle East. While the formerhasunfortunatelybecomeawell-establishedphenomenon,thelatterisbeingproposedasaroutecomparabletoexistingstrugglestowardswomenshumanrightsintheMiddleEast.TheroleofMuslimpoliticstowards social mobilization is offered as a useful platform and antidote torepressive interpretations of Islam, but can such an opposition be mobilizedin defense of non-Muslim communities living under Muslim rule?ManyMiddleEastexpertsmaybereticenttosuggestaliberationmovementforthebenefitofreligiousminoritieslivingwithinMuslimcountries through engaging in the competition over Islamic symbols andtheirinterpretation.Thisisduetotheironythatforsolongreligiousminoritieshavesufferedundertheguiseofthoseself-sameIslamicsymbols and language. Religious minorities may have long concluded thatIslam does not possess the willingness or capacity to uphold their rights. Indoingso,minoritieshaveperpetuatedthereificationofessentialdiffer-encesandfedintothehandsofthosewhoarepoliticallymanipulatingreligiousdifferencetoreinforcetheirownpopularity.Suchaconclusioncontributes to entrenching the gap between Muslim and non-Muslim. Thereligious minorities have become locked in a situation of being outsiders tothe religious symbolism and interpretation under which they are presentlybeing repressed, but which also holds the most potent key to guaranteeingtheir rights and status.The extent to which religious minorities can be taken into considerationor become participants within the project of encouraging the reexaminationofMuslimresourcesabouttolerancebetweencommunitiesremainsachallengingquestion.CanreligiousminoritiesadoptMuslimframesofreference strategically in order to play a more mainstream role, or are theytoremainpawnsandbystanderstotheprocessesofnationbuilding,democratization,andfosteringacultureofhumanrightswithintheircountries?TheaimisnottopushreligiousminoritiestodominateIslamicdiscursive frameworks, but rather to examine whether they can be partici-pants in this process alongside their compatriots. If successful, the benefac-tors of such a process would be both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.