Although many Westerners claim human rights as a major achievement of Western civilization, Muslims argue just as sincerely that human rights are central to Islam. They argue as well that the West's rhetorical emphasis on human rights cannot hide the fact that within Western society basic human rights are violated every day.

Through the use of extensive research and interview material from Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, Kevin Dwyer explores what human rights mean to Middle Eastern men and women—lawyers, political militants, religious thinkers, journalists, and human rights activists. The debate ranges widely from the nature of human freedom and human rights organizations to the role of religion in Arab and national identity. The reader gains a strong sense of the complexity and vitality of life in the Middle East today and of the kinds of issues that are at the center of informed discussion there.

From the book:"Human rights may be something new for the West, but we in Islam have had it since the beginning. We have no differences between whites, blacks, Jews, Muslims—everyone is free. We never persecuted the Jews here the way they did in France and England. In England and in the US you fight against the blacks—why just the other day there were news items about fighting between the police and blacks in London."—Muhammad Mekki Naciri, member of Morocco's Council of Religious Scholars