Topic 10 Analysis

Part III | Expanded Analysis

Category B | Principles

Topic 10 | Equal citizenship

Equal citizenship is the political manifestation of the moral principle of human dignity. It refers to the idea that all citizens should be equal in status and rights, without regard to their religious identity or other identity differences. In 2016, 300 Islamic scholars and leaders issued the Marrakesh Declaration, a consensus document that affirms equal citizenship as an Islamic principle and a framework principle for constitutional governance in Muslim-majority countries.²⁹¹

Citizenship and equal citizenship

Citizenship is a privileged form of legal status for members of a political community (such as a nation) that comes with basic rights and duties. Citizenship rights may include the right to vote in elections, the right to run for and hold public office, the right to not be deported, and others.

Equal citizenship is the political manifestation of the moral principle of human dignity articulated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood.”²⁹² Equal citizenship is the ideal that all citizens “are of equal moral worth and . . . should be regarded as full and equal members of the political community,” without regard to their religious identity or other identity differences such as race or sex.²⁹³

The ideal of equal citizenship tacitly acknowledges the potential reality of “second-class citizenship”—that although all citizens may possess formal legal rights, they may not all enjoy “equal standing in civil society.”²⁹⁴ Indeed, “[i]t is one thing to think of everyone who is a citizen as a member of the community; and it is another thing to think of everyone who is a member of the community as a citizen.” The latter “implies that people who are not seen as members of the community may not be seen or treated as full citizens.”²⁹⁵

The goal, and key benefit, of equal citizenship is ensuring that all citizens enjoy access to the same bundle of rights, responsibilities, and rights protections in reality—not simply “on paper.” With this aspirational goal, it can serve as a basic starting point for sound and nondiscriminatory political structures.

Two dangers should be noted in invoking the ideal of equal citizenship. First, the concept of “equal” is relative and does not necessarily have a floor. For example, citizens of the Gulag or a totalitarian state may enjoy “equal citizenship,” but they do not enjoy a robust set of rights. Second, equal citizenship does not necessarily mean treating all individuals the same at all times. For example, although the rule of law should apply equally to all citizens, not all citizens should necessarily “receive the same benefits, or pay the same taxes. On the contrary, treating individuals as equals means treating them on the basis of what is distinctively individual about them, and this may require treating different individuals differently.”²⁹⁶

The Marrakesh Declaration: A call for equal citizenship

In January 2016, more than 300 leading Islamic political, religious, academic, and civil society leaders from more than 120 countries met to draft and issue a call for Muslim-majority countries to protect religious minorities. The effort was prompted by concern over increased persecution of religious minorities by extremist groups that claimed Islamic justification and legitimation, including the 2014 Yazidi genocide in Iraq carried out by ISIL/Da’esh. Speakers at the conference “noted growing concerns about social and institutional injustice faced by Muslim minorities around the world, but [also] noted that Muslims could not demand protections and rights for Muslim minorities unless those same standards were guaranteed for minorities in Muslim-majority states.”²⁹⁷

The conference resulted in the Marrakesh Declaration on the Rights of Religious Minorities in the Muslim World, a consensus document that affirms equal citizenship as an Islamic principle and a guiding principle for constitutional governance in Muslim-majority countries. The Declaration was affirmed by 42 governments represented at the conference.

The Marrakesh Declaration was grounded in the Charter of Medina, a document forged in 622 A.D. during the time of the Prophet Muhammad.²⁹⁸ Medina was a uniquely diverse region—religiously and culturally—and the charter created a framework for fostering peaceful coexistence: establishing citizen rights and duties, acknowledging the internal autonomy of religious groups and tribes, and establishing a process for the nonviolent resolution of disputes.²⁹⁹

The Marrakesh Declaration acknowledges both this history and today’s legal context, noting “that minority rights have a precedent in, and are essential to, Islamic law and tradition in accordance with international legal standards.”³⁰⁰ It calls on modern-day “politicians, scholars, artists, and others in Muslim-majority societies to advance the protection of minority rights based on equal citizenship through legal, political, and social processes, to ensure that minority communities—indigenous for centuries in the present-day Muslim world—can continue to flourish there.”³⁰¹ Perhaps most significantly, it specifically urges “Muslim scholars and authorities to use the Medina Charter as the basis for developing contractual citizenship models in their national constitutions.”³⁰²

The Marrakesh Declaration marked a significant step in establishing equal citizenship as the benchmark for treatment of religious minorities in the Muslim world; however, it has not received significant attention among the Muslim majority there. And many who are aware of it view it “largely as an elite, idealistic initiative.”³⁰³

Even so, the Marrakesh Declaration has value in identifying uniquely Islamic reasons for toleration and pluralism. Invoking the historic ideal of equal citizenship from the Medina Charter marks a significant step in the Muslim world, where citizenship status, despite this historical precedent, has often depended on religious status.

Conclusion

Although equal citizenship is the political manifestation of the moral principle of human dignity, its root in human dignity means that it resonates with various religious traditions. For that reason, it can be an effective entry point for promoting religious freedom, particularly for religious minorities. The Marrakesh Declaration is one example of the potential power of equal citizenship as a starting point for sound and nondiscriminatory political and social structures.