The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

asylum

The concepts of asylum and sanctuary go back to antiquity, especially among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Phoenicians. Migration, sanctuary, and asylum are perennial features of religion. Almost every prophet of the world’s religious traditions experienced abandonment, displacement, or exile. Hospitality toward strangers was a deep source of pride in pre-Islamic Arab and Bedouin cultures, and solidarity with one’s neighbors was necessary for survival in the harsh Arabian desert. According to the Qur’an, the Ka‘ba (meaning “cube” in Arabic—a place of prestige and honor) in Mecca was built by the Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael as the first house to be dedicated solely to the worship of God. The Ka‘ba was a sanctuary because God established a sacred precinct (ḥaram) around it. Violation of a person’s claim to immunity within the sacred confines of the Ka‘ba was considered a sacrilegious act. The concept of asylum in Islamic thought developed out of earlier frameworks of sanctuary in Judaic, Christian, and Arab custom and practice and the specific experiences of the Prophet Muhammad himself.

Pre-Islamic Arab custom recognized various rights and duties related to asylum, as seen in the concepts of istijāra, which is the requesting of protection of a benefactor on the grounds of proximity (a form of territorial asylum), and ijāra, which is the granting of protection by the benefactor in such a case. This culture of granting asylum was built on the ideals of Arab morality, driven by honor, chivalry, bravery, and generosity—qualities celebrated in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. The Prophet Muhammad preached in this cultural milieu, and despite the Meccans’ disapproval of his message, Muhammad was, for many years, protected from danger by ‘aṣabiyya (clan solidarity); any harm to Muhammad against the wishes of his powerful uncle Abu Talib would have dishonored his entire clan, the Banu Hashim, and would have provoked serious reprisals.

Many verses in the Qur’an address the imperative of active resistance to oppression and advocate, when that is not possible, migration to more peaceful lands (4:97, 100; 16:41; 22:58–59). In addition, two significant events in early Islamic history led to the development and institutionalization of asylum within the precepts of Islamic law. Around 615, in response to early persecution of the Muslims in Mecca, Muhammad instructed some of his followers to migrate (as muhājirūn, or migrants) to the lands of the Christian king, or Negus, of Abyssinia. Overwhelmed by the Negus’s generosity, a group of Meccan ambassadors, bearing numerous gifts, attempted to convince him to extradite the Muslims to Mecca. The Negus’s magnanimous response and his rejection of the ambassadors’ request are thought to have had a profound impact on the development of the legal sanctity of asylum in the Constitution of Medina and subsequent Islamic law. Following the death of Abu Talib, the Meccans’ hostility toward the prophetic mission could no longer be contained, and the Prophet Muhammad lost the protection of his own clan. When it became clear that the fledgling Muslim community would not be viable in Mecca, Muhammad and his followers emigrated to and sought refuge in the northern Arabian city of Yathrib (present-day Medina), where they were warmly received by the anṣār, faithful Islamic partisans who resided in that town. This migration, called the hijra, marks the beginning date of the Islamic calendar.

The institution of asylum in Islam is founded on two central principles: amān (safety), or a grant of protection, guarantee of safety, or pledge for safe passage, and dhimma (pact), an agreement extending temporary or permanent protection to those requesting it. Asylum is a legal right and duty in Islamic law. Any person within the territory of Islam (called dār al-islām, or the abode of Islam), and not just state elites as in modern times, was capable of offering protection to a musta’min (beneficiary of safeguard), rendering the musta’min sacred and inviolable for a minimum of a year. This action was considered part of the ethical obligation to honor a guest. The musta’min had full rights to protect life, family, religion, and property; to undertake economic activity; and to marry people of beneficiary status. A musta’min who wished to reside in dār al-islām after a year’s time was transferred to the status of dhimma (permanent guest). Dhimma is often called perpetual amān, a duty of protection incumbent on all Muslims and the Muslim state. Within the spirit of Islamic law, the concept of amān and the sacred rights afforded to the musta’min mandated the rule of nonextradition. Islam was one of the first political and religious systems to adopt the principle of nonrefoulement (protection of refugees fearing for their lives) and the prohibition on extradition for all political émigrés.

Contemporary application of international law divides asylum seekers into various categories, including refugees, stateless persons, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, returners, and persons at risk of displacement, and endows them with differing rights. While some migrants traverse borders freely under peaceful conditions, the “forced migrant” (muhājir) is the migrant displaced by war or strife (i.e., on account of violence, political or religious persecution, or instability). The universalist message of Islam facilitated the granting of equal rights to all migrants under Islamic law, with some provisions for those who had committed crimes in their former lands.

The development of the principles of amān and nonextradition were likely influenced by the early Muslim experience in Abyssinia. Islamic thought on the issue of asylum was also built on the general Islamic principle of respect for difference—toleration and generosity toward all people regardless of race, religion, nationality, and gender—expressed, for example, in the verse of the Qur’an that prohibits compulsion in religion (2:256) and in the final sermon of the Prophet Muhammad concerning the unwavering humanity of all people. Voluntary repatriation, or the breaking of amān before the end of a year, was only possible by the spontaneous decision of the musta’min or by proper and sufficient notice of the benefactor.

Islamic ideology and indeed the spirit that characterized the Islamic golden ages in Spain and India, for example, were premised on the sacredness of asylum and justice. The Mogul Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605) in India advanced progressive policies toward his disparate population through the ideals of unity and ecumenical spirit. A great deal of Islamic history was marked specifically by a lack of xenophobia; the political subject of Islam was, for the most part, comfortable with difference. One model of this respect for difference was the Constitution of Medina (622), which attempted to bridge the various Muslim and Jewish groups of Medina under a single community structure. Another model was the Convention of Najran (632), which ensured the Christians of Najran protection and freedom from humiliation. This spirit is quite unlike that of the modern-day nation-state, which attempts to regulate with mechanical precision the inflow and outflow of strangers. The 1981 Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights, especially article 9, was a contemporary attempt to mandate a rule consonant with the Islamic rule of asylum.