Turkey), but the fact remains — theology affects culture.
This can be seen in Islam’s denial of rights to non-Muslims,
its acceptance of slavery, and its view of women as
secondclass citizens.
The Western notion that ‘‘all men are created equal’’ does
not find much place in traditional Islamic thought and
practice. According to Muslim journalist Amir Taheri, Sa’id
Raja’i Khorassani, the Permanent Delegate to the United
Nations from Iran, said that ‘‘the very concept of human
rights was ‘a Judeo Christian invention’ and inadmissible in
Islam. . . . According to Ayatollah Khomeini, one of the
Shah’s ‘most despicable sins’ was the fact that Iran was one
of the original group of nations that drafted and approved
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.’’[46]
Taheri goes on to say that Islam ‘‘divides human beings
into two groups: the Muslims and the non-Muslims. All male
Muslims are equal and enjoy the same individual and
collective rights and privileges. Non Muslims living in a
society where Muslims form the majority and control the
state, however, are treated separately.’’[47]
- What is the position of women in Islamic society?
Do they have the same rights as men?
It is interesting to note that Muhammad seems to have
actually improved the status of women compared to the
polytheistic culture of his time. In preIslamic Arabia, female
infants were often buried alive, a practice that the Koran
would come to strongly condemn.[48] The ancient Arabs
considered women as having no rights to inheritance; they