URDU-THE UN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

اقوام متحدہ کے حقوق انسانی کا عالمگیر اعلامیہ کے دفعہ۱۶ کا اسلامی نقطہ نظر سے جائزہ

Abstract

According to the United Nation’s (UN) universal declaration of human rights, men and women of full age can marry, without force, and formulate a family with no consideration towards race, nationality and religion of the partners, as highlighted in the article 16. In doing so, they are entitled to equal rights with regards to marriage and its dissolution, if required. This and other relevant statements indicate that they can't marry before the age of maturity. This also indicates that both male and female have equal rights while marrying. It means that as the male is free to choose or marry a female spouse, so is the female. The declaration also points out that both male and female have the equal rights to dissolve the marriage. In total, there are thirty articles in this declaration which deal with a variety of areas including education, marriage, status of people in society and other aspects. However, the focus of our research is the article 16. In this paper, we have accordingly analyzed this article in the light of Islamic teachings and its potential implications on Muslim societies across the world.