::ISLAM ON RACISM AND BIGOTRY::

::ISLAM ON RACISM AND BIGOTRY::
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In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Islam is against all forms of racism and bigotry. Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another, or one color of skin is superior to another, or the people of one country are superior to another. Such beliefs are the characteristic of pre-Islamic ignorance (jahiliyyah). In Islam, we believe all races are equal to Allah and the only characteristic that makes someone superior to another is righteousness (taqwa).
Allah has dignified all of the children of Adam, all human beings and all races in the world.
Allah says:
"We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with definite preference."
[Qur'an 17:70]

Allah created different races and tribes so that different peoples would recognize each other and learn from each other, not so that the races would fight each other.
Allah says:
"O mankind, verily, We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Verily, Allah is knowing and aware."
[Qur'an 49:13]

Righteousness is the only thing that makes someone virtuous in the sight of Allah, not race or skin color or lineage or country. This teaching against racism was delivered by the Prophet during his farewell sermon, indicating how important he believed it was to the message of Islam.
Abu Nadrah reported: I heard the farewell sermon of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said:
"O people, verily, your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no favoritism of an Arab over a foreigner, nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither red skin over black skin, nor black skin over red skin, except through righteousness. Have I not conveyed the message?"
[Source: Musnad Ahmad 22978, Grade: Sahih]

The Prophet would rebuke his companions if they ever denigrated people because of their race.
Abu Umamah reported: Abu Dharr reproached Bilal about his mother, saying, “O son of a black woman!” So Bilal went to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he told him what he said. The Prophet became angry and then Abu Dharr came although he was unaware of what Bilal told him. The Prophet turned away from him and Abu Dharr asked, “O Messenger of Allah, have you turned away because of something you have been told?” The Prophet said:
"Have you reproached Bilal about his mother?"
Then the Prophet said:
"By the one who revealed the Book to Muhammad, none is more virtuous over another except by righteous deeds. You have none but an insignificant amount."
[Source: Shu’b Al-Iman Al-Bayhaqi 4760, Grade: Sahih]

Boasting about lineage and ancestors is forbidden in Islam, for such people are held in contempt by Allah just as people are revolted by the beetle that rolls dung.
Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"There are certainly people who brag about their ancestors who have died. Verily, they are coal for Hellfire such that they are more contemptible to Allah than the beetle that rolls dung with its nose. Verily, Allah has removed from you the pride of the time of ignorance with its boasting about ancestors. Verily, either one is a believer who fears Allah or a miserable sinner. The people are all the children of Adam, and Adam was created from dust."
[Source: Sunan At-Tirmidhi 3955, Grade: Hasan]

Likewise, tribalism (al-asabiyyah) is forbidden in Islam, which is the fanatical adherence to ethnic loyalty even when it leads to oppression and injustice. The Prophet disavowed himself and Islam from anyone who acts according to the ideologies of tribalism.
Jubair ibn Mut’im reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"He is not one of us who calls to tribalism. He is not one of us who fights for the sake of tribalism. He is not one of us who dies following the way of tribalism."
[Source: Sunan Abu Dawud 5102, Grade: Hasan]

Malcolm X, also known as Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was a famous African-American activist who struggled with the problem of race in America. At first, he embraced a path of extremism in his confrontation with white supremacy, but his heart changed when he performed his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. In Mecca, he saw white, black, red, and all kinds of people joining the Hajj as one brotherhood. He wrote back to his friends in Harlem, saying:
"America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white, but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.
During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug, while praying to the same God, with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.
We were truly all the same, because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude. I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man, and cease to measure and hinder and harm others in terms of their differences in color."
[Source: Malcolm X’s Letter from Mecca]

Muslims must spread the message of Islam to the peoples of the earth who still suffer from racism and tribal bigotry. Even among some Muslims, the scourge of racism exists and causes harm among communities. The only way to completely eradicate racism is to embrace the oneness of Allah (tawheed) and to accept its logical conclusion, the oneness of humanity.

Success comes from Allah, and Allah knows best.

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