Minority right to freedom of religion in international legal instruments and the Shari'ah

摘要

The right of the minorities to the freedom of religion is at centre stage in human rights discourse. The right has been enshrined in many national and international legal instruments. Nevertheless, violations of the minorities' right to freedom of religion are widely witnessed across states. This paper analyses the minority rights to freedom of religion from international law and the Shari'ah perspectives. To enrich the legal analysis, many international legal instruments and the Qur'an and Sunnah of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and opinions of Muslim scholars are used. It finds that international law has not offered much protection to the rights of religious minorities as there are inadequate firm guidelines on the rights of minorities. More so, the available legal frameworks are not realistic to protect the rights of minorities across states. This has led to continuous violations of many minority rights to practise their religion across nations.