Books? Videos? Whichever you like (most likely both), there are two new releases that are important for those who are interested in human rights — Abdulaziz Sachedina’s Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights, and a short documentary video on the use of white phosphorus in Gaza by Human Rights Watch.

On the book end: Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina, Frances Myers Ball Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, has recently come out with a new book, Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights (Oxford University Press). Dr. Sachedina has written a stimulating work in a concise format (only 208 pages!), so it’s great for the busy professional, activist, or other reader-on-the-go. Dr. Sachedina addresses both Western and Islamic traditions of philosophy of law. He argues for the essential compatibility of Islamic theological principles with modern ideas of human rights, while giving a sharp critique of the idea that a doctrine of human rights can ignore historical religious traditions. Any theory of human rights, even if it’s universal in intention, comes out of a particular context.

I will be talking with Dr. Sachedina about Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights in a video-taped on-stage conversation, followed by an audience Q&A and book signing, at the next Islam and Authors event on Saturday, November 21, at 6:00 pmm, at Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California in Oakland, California. For more information on the event and Islam and Authors, click here). The video tapes will be made available online, insha’Allah.

On the video side: Human Rights Watch has issued a short documentary video (8 minutes) on the use of white phosphorus in civilian areas in Gaza. This video also provides a good example of how to document human rights information in the most difficult of journalistic circumstances: war. Again, this is available nationally, but for those like me who live in the Bay Area I know that Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, will be talking about this video and HRW’s 6 reports on its findings on the war in Gaza on Thursday, November 19, from 12:45-1:45 pm at YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Ave (at Bowditch) in Berkeley, California.