Are human rights a universal norm, or a "western" value and therefore inappropriate and irrelevant for other cultures? How does Islam influence the understanding of human rights in Muslim societies? Is there an inherent antithesis between Islam as a religion and the value of human rights? How do we evaluate proposals for a particularly "Islamic" conceptualization of human rights? These questions are addressed in an international context in this book, which focuses especially on the interaction between human rights as a value and norm in international relations, and Islam as a constituent of political culture in particular societies.