Islamic law ‘basis of present refugee law
Islamic law and traditions toward people feeling persecution has had more influence on modern-day international refugee law than any other historical source, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Addressing a press conference held yesterday at the Doha Four Seasons, Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who was presenting a recently released book on the influence of Islam and Arab tradition on modern-day international refugee law, said the book served a positive purpose of correcting some of the misconception on Islam in the West.
“The book presents a vision that Islam is a humanistic and human-rights minded religion and, hence dismisses some of the misconceptions exist in the world and Europe today about it,” he added.
The UNHCR-sponsored book titled The Right to Asylum between Islamic Shari’ah and International Refugee Law is a comparative study made by the Cairo University law professor and dean of the law faculty, Ahmed Abu al-Wafa.
The UN high commissioner hailed the book, saying that it would help the UNHCR in its mission especially in Muslim countries.
“Having translated it into English, it would be also translated into Persian and Urdu since it would support our efforts to protect refugees in the Muslim nations,” he said, while observing that two thirds of refugees around the world are Muslims.
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