INTRODUCTION

Equality and freedom are the most important principles upon which human rights are based. The modern democracies claim that the world is indebted to them for establishing the right to freedom, to equality and to the other rights that ensued. These countries took the credit for introducing human rights ; and England known for its inherited traditions, took the credit, whereas France claimed that human rights were the outcome of the French Revolution. Other nations denied England and France any credit in this respect and claimed the credit for themselves.

        It has been authentically verified that the Faith of Islam introduced and established human rights in its most perfect form and on the widest scale. During the life of the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and during the reign of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Islamic states were the first states to adopt the principles of human rights. The modern democracies of today have not yet attained what the Faith of Islam ordained fourteen centuries ago.

        In the following pages we will present Islam's role in introducing and establishing the most important principles of human rights, namely equality and freedom. 

Ali Abel Wahid Wafy.