Islamic perspective of the rights of migrants, refugees

Everything on this earth has an aspect of movement. Islamic history by itself began with a movement (Hijra) from Mecca to Medina, just as there exists some forms of movements in the Islamic prayers (Salāt), alms giving (Zakāt) and pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Movement in Islam, therefore, implies freedom, which is centralised on two Qur’anic verses:

1) [Indeed, we honoured the progeny of Adam, and bore them across land and sea and provided them with good things for their sustenance, and exalted them above many of Our creatures] Qur’an 17:70; and

2) [When the angels seize the souls of those who have wronged themselves— scolding them: “What do you think you were doing?” they will reply: “We were oppressed in the land.” The angels will respond: “Was the earth not spacious enough for you to emigrate?] Qur’an 4:97

The first verse emphasises on movement, including freedom to enjoy what God has created and made available to human beings, while the second brings to the fore the wrongful behaviour of those who refused to move despite the oppressions they faced in their places of abode. In general, mobility and migration are essential aspects of human dignity and are interconnected with the opportunity to enjoy the bounties of God.

International law

The United Nations defines a ‘migrant’ as a person who has freely decided to leave his or her country of origin and relocate somewhere else. Article 2.1 of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families refers to a ‘migrant worker’ as “a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national”.

According to the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees (and its 1967 Protocol), a refugee is someone who ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country’.

Definition of migrants and refugees is problematic in that they often converge with respect to livelihood needs and rights. The distinction between migrants and refugees is that refugees, by international law, are deemed to be deserving of special protection and assistance; while the so-called economic migrants are not.

The concept of migrant - asylum nexus arose in the 1990s highlighting the common roots of movement, where economic factors were often connected to human rights abuses and violence, and recognition by multilateral agencies and governments in the Global North that the asylum system was being abused for other migration motivations.

Article 31 of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees, specifies that states should not impose penalties on refugees “coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened”. The provision means that there cannot be an ‘illegal refugee,’ or a refugee as an ‘illegal entrant’ into a country.

The Convention offers three ‘durable solutions’ for refugees, which include integration into the first country of refuge; resettlement to a third country that will accept them and finally, repatriation back to their home country, which must be voluntary.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) discourse insists that the distinction between migrants and refugees “does matter”, because “two terms have distinct and different meanings and confusing them leads to problems for both populations”.

Islamic context

Islamic tradition has much to say about migration and the importance of protecting migrants. Migration and flight from persecution have been an important part of the Islamic tradition. The Qur’an speaks of the migration experiences of many prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Lot, Jonah, Jacob and Moses.

And since Prophet Adam (A.S.), the father of humanity, migrated from heaven to earth, the tradition of Islam considers all human beings as immigrants.

Therefore, the primordial fatherland of humanity is heaven, while the earth is a place for temporary relocation.

The Arabic term hijrah (migration) and its derivatives are mentioned 27 times in the Qur’an, while there are 650 sayings of the Prophet that speak of protecting and assisting migrants.

The centrality of migration in the Islamic tradition is evidenced by the Islamic calendar system that uses the term hijriyya (inferring from hijrah (migration) of the Prophet (PBUH).

According to the Sharia, individuals have the right, both to seek and to be granted asylum in any Muslim state, and it is the duty of Muslims to accept and protect refugees for as long as they seek protection.

In comparison to international law, Islam offers a broader definition of a refugee, and gives individuals, rather than states, the right to determine asylum.

In Islam, asylum is a right of anyone seeking protection and it is an integral part of the Islamic conception of human rights. Its most important scripture, the Qur’an, speaks explicitly about the issue of asylum-seekers, and protection must be provided without discriminating between slaves and non-slaves, rich and poor, men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims: [And if anyone of the non-Muslims seeks your protection, then grant him protection …. and then escort him to where he will be secured] Qur’an 9:6.

The concept of Aman, which is intrinsic in Shariah, encompasses the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers and the duties incumbent upon their hosts. It also refers to the inviolate protection offered to non-Muslims even if they are at war with Muslims and requires that the host population (Muslims) facilitates their voluntary return to their places of origin when considered safe.

The Qur’an

The Qur’an provides a set of instructions in dealing with refugees and migrants, praising those who go to the assistance of people in distress [Qur’an 9: 100; 9: 117]. It entitles refugees and internally displaced persons to certain rights and to humane treatment [Qur’an 8: 72; 16: 41], and condemns those whose actions prompt mass migration, describing them as violators of the laws of God [Qur’an 2: 84].

The Qur’an also puts forth certain regulations to lend additional support to women and children who are considered more vulnerable during migration [Qur’an 4:2; 4:9; 4:36; 4:75; 4:98; 4:127, and 17:34].

Under the principle of justice, which is the basis of all Islamic regulations [Qur’an 42:15 and 16: 90], the aged and the sick, who are considered more prone to risk as a result of migration, should be offered extra support, even if they are non-Muslims or people who are known to be in violent opposition to the Islamic faith [Qur’an 5: 8].

Required alms, such as Khums (one fifth of income of Muslims required to be handed out as a charity) and Zakāt (a portion of property that Muslims are required to give away for charitable causes), as well as optional alms, constitute a fund that should be used to meet the basic needs of refugees and asylum seekers.

Leading Muslim jurists such as Fakhrud-Dīn ar-Rāzi (d. 1210) and Ibn al-Arabi (d. 1240) explained how the Sharia makes it obligatory for asylum to be granted those coming from states where there is injustice, intolerance, physical persecution, disease and financial insecurity.

According to these Muslim jurists, while the Qur’an implies that worldly consequences will befall states and individuals that do not offer humanitarian assistance to those in need, those who do provide protection and assistance will be accorded a special status in the hereafter.

See you here next Friday

The writer is the Founding President of the Centre for Islamic Thought and Civilisation.

citcghana@gmail.com