A Muslim and Christian orientation to human rights: human dignity and solidarity

Abstract

On the far side of the terrifying abyss of World War II-the culmination of humanity's most horrific and deadly half century-nations came together and hammered out the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As any legal (or quasi-legal) 1 document of its kind, it truly was the product of an arduous process of negotiation and debate-two years, in fact. Of the forty-eight original signatory nations, none voted against it and only eight abstained, mostly communist bloc countries and one Muslim-majority State, Saudi Arabia. 2 As the Muslim world witnessed a resurgence of conservative religiosity starting in the 1970s, more criticism