ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the human rights in general and more particularly among the Abrahamic religions. The reasoning that morality necessarily derives from religion has been reviewed and rejected by many philosophers, for example, by Richard Dawkins and Herman Philipse. There are also modern theologians who argue for the divorce of religion and morality, a case in point being Richard Holloway, erstwhile Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. In Britain, faith-based organizations (FBOs), especially those of Evangelicals, have used the tool of human rights legislation to challenge contemporary law and practice, arguing that Christians are being repressed. The most widely accepted interpretation of human rights in Islam stems from the basic idea that there is no such thing as a personal right to freedom and other claims, but that, on the contrary, such rights arise out of people's fulfillment of their obligations to God under Islamic law, shari'a.
