An Investigation of Islamic Thinkers' Views on the Principle of Non-Discrimination

The prohibition of discrimination in the enjoyment of rights based on sex, race, color, social class, place of birth, belief, religion, and wealth is recognized as an international principle. In Islam, there are seemingly discriminatory rules. Islamic scholars have different ideas about non-discrimination depending on their ideology whether traditionalist or neo-traditionalist or liberal. Some believe that rules such as the rights of religious minorities or women are not discriminatory and try to show them fairly based on developmental and legislative differences. While some believe that the rules are discriminatory based on time and place conditions in today's society. And they suggest dynamic ijtihad to resolve the conflict between religiosity and non-discrimination. The necessity of executing Islamic rules on the one hand and the inherent ugliness of discrimination on the other hand raises a question of how can execute these discriminatory rules. In this article, firstly the prohibition of discrimination is investigated in the international system of human rights and Islamic thought. Then, according to the most important characteristics of Islamic thought, the opinions of different Islamic thinkers on the prohibition of discrimination are discussed.