In this writing, the history of the issue of right and task, which has broad dimensions in the discourses of Islamic denominations, is touched upon. It has also been debated in such theological issues as rational good and evil; free will; and reward (thawāb) as being benedictory or granted on merit. While Ash‘arites merely spoke of task, the Shi‘ites and the Mu‘tazilites maintained some rights for man, too. Accordingly, the rational good and evil is in itself a key issue to most discourses and beliefs of the Imamī Shi‘ites and the Mu‘tazilites who considered Divine rewards as being granted on merit. Some, like Allamah Tabataba’i, have a viewpoint close to that of the Ash‘arites. Today, however, some regard this issue from an out-religious point of view, drive it away from its main course, and consider the human rights ratified by the United Nations as a criterion for evaluation of rights and tasks. Consequently, if Islam did not agree with them, they would claim that these rights are non-religious and their proof or disproof is out of religion’s jurisdiction. It is to say that even if the rational good and evil and its being out-religious is accepted as true, there is still no intellectual proof of the UN Human Rights as being the criterion in this respect, especially that its Islamic Charter is not yet compiled, and that leaving out religious beliefs from the plans would render religion as futile.
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