ABSTRACT
A full concept of human rights did not emerge until the 18th century (though not as yet under that label explicitly), but important precedents were set in the many centuries that came before. Scholars have debated, and continue to debate, the claim of modernity, seeing significant rights statements in some of the major world religions and also in ideas of natural law that emerged in Roman society and elsewhere. The debate is not merely an academic exercise. Contemporaries who argue, for example, that the Quran stipulates important rights for women are actively contending that the more recent versions of human rights, derived from Western thinking, are not the only game in town; a wider perspective is essential both for historical accuracy and for contemporary inclusiveness.
