ASYLUM: A MORAL AND LEGAL RIGHT IN ISLAM

Muddathir Abd al-Rahim*

One of the most remarkable facets of the rich and highly sophisticated structure
of the human rights tradition in Islam,1 is the comprehensive and integrated
body of ethical teachings and legal injunctions pertaining to the protection and
treatment of refugees that is primarily enshrined in the Quran alongside the
directives and exemplary deeds (that is the Sunnah, in Islamic terminology) of
the Prophet Muhammad. As will be presently seen, this body of teachings and
injunctions both as originally stated in the Quran and the Sunnah, and as
subsequently elaborated in the great classics of Islamic law and jurisprudence is
characterized by remarkable compassion and practical concern for the interest
and welfare of refugees irrespective of differences in race, faith, culture, or social
status.
Before proceeding with a discussion of any of the particular details of the
subject under consideration, however, two general but fundamentally important
*

Dr Muddathir Abd al-Rahim is a political scientist with special interest in international relations, human
rights, Islamic political thought and institutions, minorities, and inter-civilizational dialogue. Since 1997 he
has been Professor of Political Science and Islamic Studies at the International Institute of Islamic Thought
and Civilization in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This article is partly based on three of the writers earlier
publications: Asylum and Sanctuary in Islam, paper presented at the Seminar on The Protection of
Refugees in Arab Countries, San Remo, Italy, 1619 January 1984; Islam and Questions of Asylum and
Refugees, Islam and Contemporary Social Problems, Amman, Jordan, Jordanian Royal Academy for Islamic
Civilization Studies, July 1997; and The Human Rights Tradition in Islam, in W. H. Brackney (ed.),
Human Rights and the Worlds Major Religions, Vol. 3, Westpoint, Connecticut and London, Praeger
Publishers, 2005.

See, for example, M. Abd al-Rahim, The Human Rights Tradition in Islam, in W. H. Brackney (ed.),
Human Rights and the Worlds Major Religions, Vol. 3, Westpoint, Connecticut and London, Praeger
Publishers, 2005.

Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2

UNHCR [2008]. All rights reserved.
For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
DOI:10.1093/rsq/hdn029

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The ethical teachings and juridical principles of Islam especially with regard to the
dignity of humans and the need to protect it under all circumstances coupled with
the personal example and directives of Prophet Muhammad concerning asylum and
the treatment of refugees, led to the development in Islamic civilization of a comprehensive and highly sophisticated system of ethical values and legal rules in the
context of which the granting of asylum and the protection of both migrants and
refugees have been universally and unequivocally regarded as moral and legal obligations, not only by states and governments, but also by individuals and civil society. In
this article, it is hoped that the nature and structure of these teachings and principles
are clearly, if briefly, explained. Aspects of the practical application of these norms and
principles in history are also highlighted.

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Muddathir Abd al-Rahim

Ibid., 2.

The Quran 17:70 (Surah Al-Isra). For English translations from the Quran in this article, M. Asads The
Message of the Quran, Gibraltar, Dar al-Andalus, 1980 and M. A. A. Haleems The Quran: A New
Translation, Oxfords Worlds Classics, Oxford University Press, 2005, have been used, at times in
combination.

The Quran 95:4 (Surah Al-Tin).

The Quran 15:2932 (Surah al-Hijr), 31:9 (Surah Luqman); 23:1214 (Surah Al Muminun).

The Quran 2:30 (Surah Al-Baqarah).

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points need to be made. First amongst these is that Islam, strictly speaking, is not
a religion as the term is generally understood in, for example, modern or contemporary Western societies, that is, as a basically spiritual relationship between
humans and God. Rather, Islam may more accurately be depicted as a religiously
based way of life, or din the Arabic word by which it is described in the Quran
and the Sunnah. The term din signifies a way of life in which the material and
the spiritual do not constitute dichotomous modes of experience, but are
regarded as a continuum and an integral whole in which all aspects of life
personal and social, economic and political, artistic and intellectual, spiritual and
sexual, creative or otherwise are not only interrelated, but are also sustained by
faith and endowed with religious meaning and ethical significance.2
It should be borne in mind, that for Muslims, the Quran is literally the
word of God, the final and most complete message of God to humanity.
Together with the Sunnah of the Prophet, the Quran is the spring from which
the spiritual and ethical teachings of Islam flow. The two, in conjunction, also
constitute the legal and juridical foundations of Islam as also of the ummah, or
the universal community of Muslims across time and space.
The ethical teachings and the legal injunctions pertaining to the treatment
of refugees like those that guide or inform the conduct of Muslims, individually and collectively, in all other aspects of the human experience are together
rooted in and, as a matter of principle, guided by the Quran and Sunnah.
The second important preliminary point that needs to be taken into consideration before proceeding with any discussion of the subject at hand is that, in
Islam as is indeed the case with the entire system of human rights in Islam
the seeking of asylum and the granting thereof are both anchored in the attribute
of human dignity which, according to the Quran, has been gratuitously conferred by God on the children of Adam [entire].3 Humans, the Quran points
out, are creatures of lowly origins, but they have been blessed with many favours.
God began the biological creation of humans out of dust and clay; then He
caused them to be begotten of a humble drop of sperm which was eventually
transformed by Gods love and grace into a new creation, one that was physically
and otherwise molded in the best conformation.4 At a crucially important
stage in the divine shaping of humans God breathed into him of His spirit,5
thus making man a creature truly worthy of being His vicegerent on earth.
Among the many favours that He conferred on Adam was that He imparted
unto him the names of all things6 namely knowledge and the power of
conceptual thinking: a major attribute with which not even the angels had

Asylum: A Moral and Legal Right in Islam

The Quran 2:30-34 (Surah Al-Baqarah).

The Quran 2:256 (Surah Al-Baqarah).

The Quran 18:29 (Surah Al-Kahf ).

10

A. Alusi, Ruh al-Ma
ani fi Tafsir al-Quran al-
Azim, Vol. 15, (n.d.), 117.

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been blessed.7 One of the greatest blessings that God has graciously conferred on
humanity in addition, and one that is certainly more germaine to the dignity
which He conferred on the children of Adam entire, is that of moral autonomy
or freedom of choice and conscience. Thus the evidently unparalleled Quranic
ruling that there shall be no compulsion in matters of faith8 absolutely overrules coercion in religious matters, and Prophet Muhammad was accordingly
instructed in the Quran to say The truth [has now come] from your Sustainer;
let then, him who wills, believe in it, and let him who wills, reject it.9
The freedom of choice that has thus been given to humans sets them apart
from all nature. For while the heavens and the earth and all that is in between
and beyond behave in accordance with set laws from which they cannot escape or
deviate, humans have been given the ability to freely choose between belief and
disbelief, good and evil, right and wrong. While the heavens and earth and the
mountains, along with the rest of nature, are thus involuntarily Muslim
(meaning obedient to God and acting in accordance with His will), the
challenge and the potentially great achievement of humans is to voluntarily
become Muslim, thereby fulfilling their potential as moral agents, by a conscious
and free choice of truth as against falsehood and good as against evil.
A point of fundamental importance throughout is that all these favours
along with innumerable others with which humans have been blessed have,
according to the Quran, been conferred on the children of Adam, not because of
their brilliance, distinguished services, or even because they happened to be
believers and good people, but merely because they are human. In the words
of Al-Alusi, one of the major commentators on the Quran in Arabic in recent
times, human dignity, nobility and honour have been conferred on all of humankind: the believers among them and the non-believers, the pious and the sinners
alike.10
It should be obvious therefore that, consistently with the teachings of the
Quran, it is a moral as well as a legal obligation on all discerning persons,
especially Muslims, of course be they individuals, groups or states and governments to treat all human beings, including refugees, and irrespective of differences in faith, race, culture or social status, with respect and due consideration
for the rights and dignity which have been conferred on them by the LordCreator of one and all. A necessary corollary of this categorical imperative is that
any oppression or maltreatment of human beings offends not only the individuals or groups directly concerned, but also humanity at large and, indeed, the
Lord-Creator Himself. Not surprisingly therefore the Quran repeatedly and
emphatically calls upon Muslims not only to desist from committing acts of
oppression and injustice against people but also, and no less importantly, to
actively and steadfastly resist such acts, whether the dehumanizing practices in

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Muddathir Abd al-Rahim

question happen to be perpetrated against themselves or against others. It

emphatically and almost vehemently asks:

No less significantly, the Quran then describes those who resign themselves to
passive acceptance of oppression and humiliation as people who have wronged
themselves. For, the argument continues, if they happened to be too weak to
put up effective resistance to tyranny and injustice, they should leave those lands
(or homes) in which they would otherwise be deprived of the dignity and freedom which define their very existence as humans. For, after all, the Quran
repeatedly points out, planet earth which God has created for all mankind is
so spacious and furnished with such resources that all those who strive in conscious devotion to God and with intent to abide by divine guidance will be able
to find other lands (or homes) in which they can then live in dignity and
freedom as they were meant to do by their Creator and Sustainer from the
very beginning. In the words of the Quran itself:
When the angels take the souls of those who have wronged themselves [the
angels] will ask, What was wrong with you? They will answer, We were
too weak and oppressed on earth. [The angels] will then say: But was
Gods earth not spacious enough for you to migrate to some other place?
. . . Anyone who migrates for Gods sake will find many a refuge and great
plenty on earth.12
Another Quranic verse states:
As for those who migrated in Gods cause after being wronged, we shall give
them a good home in this world, but the reward of the hereafter will be far
greater, if they only knew it. They are the ones who are steadfast and put
their trust in their Lord.13
Yet another verse says:
As for those who migrate (and strive) in Gods sake, and are then killed or
die God will most certainly provide for them a goodly sustenance [in the
life to come] for, verily, God He alone is the Best Provider. He will most
certainly admit them to a state [of being] that will please them well.14

11

The Quran 4:75 (Surah Al-Nisa ).

12

The Quran 4:97 (Surah Al-Nisa ).

13

The Quran 16:40 (Surah Al-Nahl ).

14

The Quran 22:5758 (Surah Al-Hajj ).

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how could you refuse to fight in the cause of God and of the utterly helpless
men and women and children who are crying: Our Sustainer! Lead us forth
to freedom out of this land whose people are oppressors, and raise for us,
out of Thy grace, a protector, and raise for us, out of Thy grace, one who
will bring us succour.11

Asylum: A Moral and Legal Right in Islam

15

Among the best and most accessible short studies of Prophet Muhammad are M. Lings, Muhammad His
Life Based on the Earliest Sources, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1983; K. Armstrong, Muhammad
A Biography of the Prophet, London, Victor Gollancz, 1991, and Phoenix Press, 2001; and M. H. Haykal,
The Life of Muhammad, trans. Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Islamic Book Trust, 2002.

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Abiding by these and similar teachings of the Quran, Prophet Muhammad

and his companions, having steadfastly withstood merciless persecution for
some 13 years (from about 610 C.E.) during which they patiently and peacefully
continued to preach the basics of Islam at Mecca, then resolved to leave their
intransigent and increasingly hostile homeland. First, a group of about seventy
men and women, including one of the Prophets daughters and her husband,
proceeded to Abyssinia where, in the face of considerable diplomatic pressure
on the part of the Meccans, the Christian Negus welcomed the Muslim immigrants as bona fide refugees to whom he accordingly extended his full protection.
Meanwhile the Aws and Khazraj clans of Medina, an agricultural oasis about
300 kilometres to the north of Mecca, had begun to increasingly embrace Islam
and thus welcome Muslim migrants and refugees from Mecca as brothers and
sisters in faith and destiny. In 622 C.E. Prophet Muhammad himself, accompanied by his closest friend, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, undertook the epoch-making
hijrah, or migration, to Medina: an act which resulted, inter alia, in the creation
of the first characteristically multi-ethnic and multi-religious Islamic State, which
then proceeded to receive many migrants and refugees and proved to be a
decisive landmark in the history, not only of Islam and Muslims throughout
the world, but also of much of the rest of humanity around the globe. Not
surprisingly therefore the day of the Prophets hijrah to Medina neither his
birthday, nor the commencement of the revelation of the Quran, nor his entry in
due course into Mecca as the magnanimous conqueror was adopted, only a
few years after his departure from this world in 632 C.E., as the beginning of
the Muslim calendar and the Islamic way of reckoning of time across the ages.15
By the same token, and equally unsurprisingly, the teachings of the Quran
together with the personal example of the Prophet and his companions concerning the seeking of asylum by Muslims under certain circumstances on the
one hand, as well as the granting of protection and asylum to migrants and
refugees by Muslim States and societies on the other, have since emerged not
only as integral parts of the comprehensive system of ethical and juridical teachings of Islam as a universal mission, but also as a prominent feature of the
Muslim way of life throughout the ages and around the globe. It is to this
that we now turn.
The linchpin of the entire corpus of teachings and laws concerning refugees
in Islam is the passage in chapter nine of the Quran (Surah Al-Tawba, 9:6) which
stipulates that: . . . If any [one, even] of the idolaters seeks thy protection, grant
him protection [forthwith] . . . and then convey him to a place where he can
feel safe . . .
This divine command, especially when considered in the context in which it
occurs in the Quran, clearly means and has been consistently thus understood

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Muddathir Abd al-Rahim

16

M. Hamidullah, The Muslim Conduct of State, 7th edn, Lahore, Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1973, 75.

17

M. Asad, The Message of the Quran, op. cit. 3, 256.

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by successive generations of eminent Muslim scholars and jurists throughout the

ages that protection should, without delay, be extended to all who request it, of
whatever faith, creed, culture, or origin they may be even if they happened to
be unbelieving enemy soldiers who had until then been actively engaged in
fighting against Muslims. In the late Professor Hamidullahs succinct phrase,
which effectively summarizes the detailed writings of such classic scholars and
commentators on the Quran (mufassirun) as al-Tabari, al-Qurtubi, and al-Razi,
the Quranic passage in question simply means that if any human being asks for
asylum, it can on no account be refused.16
Two expressions in the said Quranic passage are of pivotal importance and
call for some brief elaboration. First among these is the original Arabic term for
the key concept of seeking protection, namely, istijara, which is twice used at the
beginning of the Quranic passage in question, . . . If any [one, even] of the
idolaters seeks your protection, grant him protection [forthwith]. This term,
istijara, which literally means seeking to become someones neighbour, is a
metaphorical expression denoting a demand for protection. It echoes the ancient
Arabian custom of honouring and protecting a neighbour to the best of ones
ability.17 The cognate term ijara on the other hand is the act of giving protection or asylum. Like several concepts and practices of ancient Arabian origin
such as hospitality, valour, and chivalry which were found to be consistent
with the values and principles of Islam, ijara, and istijara (that is, demanding
protection and the granting of protection) were strongly endorsed by Islam. In
contrast, others including, for example, gambling, racial arrogance, infanticide
and the consumption of intoxicants which are at variance with the principles
and teachings of Islam have been uncompromisingly condemned and rejected.
The second expression of key importance in the Quranic passage under
consideration relates to the concluding phrase thereof, . . . then conduct him
[that is, the asylum-seeker] to a place where he can feel safe. The original Arabic
term for this is maman (of which is derived the cognate term aman), meaning
safe-conduct, sanctuary or the right to temporary residence, in due course
became the standard technical term universally recognized as such and commonly used by Muslim scholars, jurists and administrators as the official or
legal instrument by means of which protection is extended, not only to refugees
and asylum-seekers, but also to foreign traders, tourists, diplomats, and visiting
scholars.
Two distinctive features of the traditional Islamic system regarding the
treatment of refugees are indicative of its expansive and remarkably generous
nature and are worthy of special note at this juncture. First amongst these and
one which would seem to be almost incredible by the common standards and
practices of today but was perfectly normal and acceptable in the Islamic tradition going back to Prophetic times and before then is that aman, or safe
conduct, could be granted to asylum-seekers and others, not only by government

Asylum: A Moral and Legal Right in Islam

18

These points are discussed in considerable detail in such classic works as Al-Sarakhsis Al-Mabsut;
Al-Shaybanis Kitab al-Siyar al-Kabir and Al-Kasanis Badai al-Sanai. These are all used and discussed,
along with many others, by M. Hamidullah.

19

Ibid.

20

M. Asads comment on Quran 9:6 (Surah Al-Tawba), op. cit. 3, 256 of The Message of the Quran. For a more
detailed discussion of the rights and life experience of non-Muslims in Islamic states and societies see
M. Abd al-Rahims, The Human Rights Tradition in Islam, op. cit. 1 especially in chapters three and four.

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officials and accredited representatives of the state, but also by members of civil
society, ordinary men and women, and even, according to several classic jurists,
by discerning children.18
The second distinctive feature in question is that, the conferring or granting
of aman or safe conduct did not have to be documented whether in Arabic or
any other language. It could be given by word of mouth or even by a gesture
signifying approval or consent to a given request for aman. 19
Regardless of the methods or modalities whereby safe conduct was granted,
persons who were given aman whether they were refugees or others were
collectively described as mustaminun (mustamin, in singular form).
As such, mustaminun in general, and refugees in particular, would be
entitled, in traditional Islamic States and societies, to a number of crucially
important rights and privileges all of which are based on the teachings of
Islam as enshrined in the Quran and the Sunnah.
First amongst these is the right to protection and personal safety ijara and
aman for asylum once granted cannot ordinarily be revoked or withdrawn. The
cardinal principle of non-refoulement is thus unequivocally upheld. Should a
refugee subsequently wish to leave a countrys jurisdiction, the authorities in
charge would be ethically and legally obliged in accordance with the Quranic
commandment already discussed to conduct him or her to a place where he or
she would feel safe.
Apart from this option resettlement in a third country where they would
feel safe refugees in the Islamic tradition also had access to the two other
durable solutions that are known to us today, namely, voluntary repatriation,
as it is now known, along with the option of local integration in the country
which gave them asylum and aman in the first place.
In this latter case, refugees like other permanently resident non-Muslim
members of Dar al-Islam (that is, the Abode of Islam or Pax Islamica), would, of
course, continue to enjoy protection and safety, aman, as a matter of basic right
guaranteed for one and all under Islamic law. They will have the right to work,
and their property and monies will be safeguarded. They will be free to practise
their faith(s) unmolested and will also have the right to marry and to raise their
children, if any, in their own faith(s) as they may see fit. This is a further
reaffirmation, as Muhammad Asad reminds us, of the Quranic injunction that
there shall be no compulsion in matters of faith20 and a cardinal tenet in the
teachings of Islam as well as an evidently unique and unparalleled injunction in
the sacred texts of other world religions.

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Muddathir Abd al-Rahim

21

See, for example, H. Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal, a Political History of al-Andalus, Longman,
London and New York, 1996; J. F. OCallaghan, A History of Medieval Spain, Cornell University Press,
Ithaca and London, 1975; and S. J. Shaw, The Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic,
Macmillan, London, 1991.

22

S. P. Ramet (ed.), Religious Policy in the Soviet Union, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993, 3.

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Guided and inspired by the above indicated teachings and principles, it is

not surprising that Muslim societies and States around the globe have continued
to welcome successive waves of immigrants, both Muslim and non-Muslim,
down the ages. This process goes back to the epoch-making arrival of Prophet
Muhammad and other immigrants from Mecca in Medina in 622 C.E. and has
continued until recent times when the people of Malaysia welcomed survivors of
so-called ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, giving them protection in their homeland
tens of thousands of miles away from the theatre of savage massacres in the heart
of Europe.
In between these two events, three sets of events at different times and
locations serve to illustrate the development in history of the Islamic tradition
regarding the treatment of refugees across time and space.
First amongst these was the collapse on 2 January 1492 of the Kingdom of
Granada, the last Muslim foothold in the Iberian Peninsula at the hands of the
Western crusaders from Aragon and Castile led by Ferdinand and Isabella. This
was followed 2 months later by the eviction of the Jews at the hands of the two
Catholic monarchs, as Ferdinand and Isabella were known. Banished from
Spain, large numbers of the Iberian Jews then took refuge in various parts of
the Muslim world from Morocco and North Africa through Egypt to Syria and
Palestine and, in due course, in Constantinople and other parts of the extensive
Ottoman Empire from the Balkans to Iraq and elsewhere.21
Second, massive flows of refugees Jews, Christians, and Muslims from
the Crimea, the Caucasus, and Central Asia were later received in various parts of
the heartlands of the Muslim world in consequence, first, of Russian imperial
expansion in these territories, especially from the time of Ivan the Terrible
(153084), and later, as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the
launching thereafter of a 70-year long campaign of militant atheism during
which followers of all Abrahamic faiths were subjected to the rigours of
a sustained offensive against religion on a scale unprecedented in history.22
The third illustrative case is that of the Sudan during the 1970s and 1980s.
One of the least developed countries in the world and one which has moreover
been afflicted by prolonged instability and civil conflict, Sudan had nevertheless
continued to receive large numbers of refugees, from Chad to the west, Uganda
and the Congo in the south and, especially, from Ethiopia to the east.
By the mid-1980s the number of refugees across the country was well in
excess of 1.5 million while those in the eastern region bordering Ethiopia
accounted for 30 per cent of the regions population.
In 1974, regardless of the obvious challenges involved, Sudan promulgated
a law pertaining to the regulation of the affairs of refugees in the country, article 7

Asylum: A Moral and Legal Right in Islam

23

M. Abd al-Rahim, Asylum and Sanctuary in Islam, paper presented at the Seminar on The Protection of
Refugees in Arab Countries, San Remo, Italy, 1619 January 1984.

24

P. Nobel, Refugee Law in the Sudan, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden, 1982, 1.

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of which obliged the state minister in charge of refugee affairs and all others
concerned to give precedence to international laws and conventions to which
Sudan was party wherever there appeared to be a conflict or inconsistency
between the national and international laws and conventions in question.
Not surprisingly therefore, and in contrast in particular with the fact that several
developed countries frequently failed to honour their international obligations
by denying asylum to refugees, Sudans policy towards refugees was often
described as one of the most liberal in the world,23 while its 1974 legislation
on the subject was described by a distinguished Swedish lawyer and descendent
of Alfred Nobel as a model which other countries would do well to emulate.24
Needless to say, however, the laws and policies, which have understandably
continued to attract so much attention whether in the case of Sudan or in
other societies around the globe whose life styles and worldview have been to a
greater or lesser extent touched by Islam are, in large measure, reflections of
the ethical and juridical teachings of a faith system and a way of living, which
is characterized by profound human compassion and practical concern for
the interest and welfare of all humans including, especially, refugees and
other disadvantaged persons, wherever and whenever they may be found.

23