The question of whether Islamic laws are compatible with the principles which informs the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has preoccupied many scholars of Islam and human rights for decades. The ensuing debate on this question, however, has yet to result in a definitive answer. On the one side are scholars, particularly those with a legalistic approach, who see the two as fundamentally in conflict, pointing at matters such as the Islamic penal code, discriminatory laws against women, and precepts about religious minorities (note 1). On the other side of the debate, are scholars who challenge the legalistic approach and tackle the question from a historical or a multi-variant perspective (note 2). By doing so they pay more attention to the differences among Muslims, including Muslim scholars, who offer varied interpretations of, and approaches to, Islamic laws, ethics, and philosophy and therefore complicate the incompatibility thesis. To contribute to this debate, this paper studies the positions of two prominent Shii Ayatollahs, Mohammed Taqi Mesbah Yazdi and Hossien Ali Montazeri, on the relationship between Islam and human rights. The approaches of these two Muslim scholars to Islamic laws and human rights have certain elements in common but also reveal some profound and consequential differences. While the position of Mesbah Yazdi on Islam and human rights lends its support to the incompatibility thesis, the position of Montazeri, especially in the last three decades of Montazeri’s life, definitely cast a deep shadow of doubt on that thesis. The overall judgment of this paper, despite the complication that the case of Mesbah Yazdi creates for it, is that the second group, in the above mentioned debate, have provided a more suitable approach for understanding the totality of Islamic experience in its meeting with the contemporary norms of human rights. 1. See, Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Islam and Human Rights, Boulder, 1995, Reza Afshar, Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism, Philadelphia, 2001, and Nazila Ghanea Hercock, Human Rights, the UN and the Baha’is in Iran, Oxford, 2002. For a recent collection of short articles on Islam and human rights go to: http://www.iranrights.org/english/library-86.php 2 See Katerina Dalacoura, Islam, Liberalism, and Human Rights, London, 1998 and Irene Oh, The Rights of God: Islam, Human Rights, and Comparative Ethics, Washington, D.C., 2007.

Following in the steps of Michel Cuypers, Mathias Zahniser, and others, in this paper I conduct a structural analysis of the story of Solomon in s?rat al-Naml (27), vv. 15-44, using Semitic Rhetorical figures. My main premise is that close analysis of the structure of this s?ra reveals layers of meaning which are otherwise not evident. The passage under consideration appears to draw parallels between the various protagonists in this narrative and the Prophet's Meccan audience, highlighting certain similarities between their reactions to his message. Investigations of Solomon's encounter with the ant, the hoopoe, and the Queen of Sheba have raised many questions. Muslim exegetes are for example unsure about whether the Queen converted to Islam before or after she stepped into Solomon's palace. Jacob Lassner considers that Solomon's reaction to the hoopoe's absence was too severe. Structural analysis may shed light on such questions. Structural analysis reveals three types of reactions to various messages. In the story of Solomon, a parallel symmetry is formed by the repetition of the verb "na?ara," highlighting the theme of rational analysis. Solomon investigates the veracity of the hoopoe's report on the idolatry of the Queen of Sheba (sa-nan?ur). He also commands the hoopoe to weigh the Queen's reaction to his message (fa-n?ur). The Sheba people trust their Queen to evaluate the entire situation (fa-n?ur?). Finally, the Queen looks into Solomon's truthfulness as a prophet (fa-n??iratun). All characters, whether male or female, human or nonhuman, seem to adopt a careful and inquiring attitude toward the information that reaches them. The story of Solomon is framed by a series of messenger stories that depict people's forthright rejection of their messengers. These groups hardly pause to consider the messages they receive. They fail to apply "na?ar." In stark opposition, Solomon's ant, who, similar to the human "rejecters", does not apply "na?ar," appears to be more than willing to give this Prophet the benefit of the doubt, acknowledging his Prophetic status and righteousness (even if he and his army crush the ants it is only because they will not perceive them). A concentric symmetry places the ant at the center, perhaps presenting her as the epitome of faith. This narrative appears to denote that rationality and spirituality cross gender and species, or even that traditionally undermined groups (women and nonhuman animals) are more prone to use reason and accept faith when offered the opportunity.

Abu al-Hakam Ibn Barrajan (d. 536/1141) was hailed as the “al-Ghazali of al-Andalus” for good reason. He authored the most important Andalusian works of Sufi Qur’an commentary and theology of the intellectually formative 6th/12th century, and certainly left his mark on later generations of Muslim scholars. Having lived at the end of the Almoravid dynasty (r. 454-541/1062-1147), this pioneer of Ash‘arism represents a particularly unknown yet crucial period of cosmological thought in Andalusia, and links the early Sufi tradition of Ibn Masarra (d. 319/931) with that of Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 638/1240). Despite his unmistakable significance both politically and in the formation of Sufism, theology, and other religious sciences of the Muslim West, Ibn Barraj?n has been almost completely neglected by modern scholarship. This paper will explore Ibn Barrajan’s intricate and hierarchical symbology, which is closely tied to Qur’anic verses and hadiths, and which relates natural phenomena as contemplative passageways into the unseen world. Based on my recently completed critical edition of his 600-page Qur’an exegesis entitled Idah al-hikma bi-ahkam al-‘ibra (Rendering Wisdom Apparent Through the Properties of the Contemplative Gateway), this paper will highlight two key thematic strands of Ibn Barrajan’s work. The first, is his concept of divine symbols (ayat khassa), in which certain natural phenomena, for instance the sun and the moon, exclusively manifest God’s presence. Alongside these uniquely divine self-disclosures, the natural world contains a second category of signs that are ontologically rooted in celestial or infernal states, and reflect phenomena such as the archetypal day, heavenly trees, or infernal beings. This twofold distinction within Ibn Barrajan’s symbology of the natural world is so central to his thought that the Idah may be described as a guidebook to envisioning the cosmos as a theater of these two types of otherworldly manifestations. This paper will emphasize how these intellectual contributions by Ibn Barrajan were incorporated into Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futuhat al-Makkiyya and reinforced the centrality of the natural world as an opening unto the supernatural in Sufi cosmology.