Justification for Human Rights

Most of us seem to agree that equality (metaphysical) and equity (material) are dependent on a sense of justice, and that this sense is a faculty of the human soul. Negar raised a good question in her response regarding whether this faculty requires education, the same as, say, reason does. In trying to formulate an answer, I realized something that worries me: currently the world does not share the sense of justice that we have all been describing, the implications of which can be seen in the suffering of the human race.

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This, I believe, is why Baha’u'llah wrote, “Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight, and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of oppression.”1 However, He also offered the road map to comforting these twin Guardians of men: “It is incumbent upon every man, in this Day, to hold fast unto whatsoever will promote the interests, and exalt the station, of all nations and just governments.”2 Upon reading these words I could feel how tenuous the notion of human rights is in the world, even in those countries that are party to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights!?

Let me see if I can make my thoughts clear. As Baha’is, the reason for our belief in and upholding of human rights is our knowledge that we were created from the same dust and that none of us should exalt ourselves over another. With the understanding in our hearts that we are created from the same substance, then we have no choice but to accept to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land. From our inmost being, by our deeds and actions, oneness and detachment are made manifest through our sense of justice.3 In the rest of the world, however,

Justice

“…By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. …”

Justice and thinking independently

Reading the well-known quote from Baha’u’llah regarding Justice while reflecting on this subject focused my thoughts on the phenomenon of “thinking for oneself” and what it means to be an “independent thinker”.

Set it then before thine eyes.

I remember when I was young thinking that this Hidden Word was about not cheating. Like, “keep your eyes on your own paper”! What fresh meaning I derived from these words when I began to understand Baha’u’llah’s imagery of a person who has formed her opinions by herself. I wonder whether this illustrates a cause-and-effect relationship between independent thinkers and a just society. Implicit in this independence is the imperative to investigate reality and the inability to blindly imitate others. Imagine if there were no cultural hegemony, no media campaigns and no weekly sermons to shape the way someone sees and knows…