RACISM AND ISLAM

RACISM AND ISLAM

 “…The best among you is most pious/God fearing.” (49:13) This verse of the Holy Qur’an reflects one of Islam’s moral principles/teachings. Despite the general abhorrence for the word discrimination, when it concerns ethical morality the following summary was explained to me on the night of my Shahada. “…Discrimination based on moral worth is not only well founded and tolerable, it is obligatory. This is what it means to honor the knowledgeable above the ignorant, the wise above the foolish, the virtuous above the vicious, the pious above the atheist or rebel, the just and loving above the unjust and hateful, and so on. Such discrimination has the positive quality of contributing to general moral felicity by enticing to excel in the deed. To excel in the deed is the purpose of the creation itself. It is all that matters.” Islam by the late Dr. Isma’il R. Al-Faruqi (d. 1986)

 Similarly, although some will recoil at the following historical assessment, thinking of it as an attack on the Judeo-Christian tradition. The truth is much of the racism throughout the world comes from the ethnocentricity in the Bible, starting with the Old Testament. It is here that the Israelites/Jews were spoken of as God’s chosen/Sons. (Exodus 4:22)

One Muslim scholar puts this reality in perspective. “…Islam recognizes in ethnocentrism something of a sinister nature.” “the people within the ethnic group are “the master race” the “people of God”, “the chosen of God”, while the others are “the subject races”, the “people of the devil”, “people of other inferior Gods”, or simply the creatures of the same God to whom they are related in a different way. This doctrine is sinister because of the deadening effect it has on the individual’s awareness of his or her creatureliness before God which is shared with all human beings and because of its stilling effect on an individual’s will to act on behalf of humankind. It is also sinister because it believes that there is more than one God with two different creations so that one may have superiority over the other. The former view is polytheistic; the latter is contrary to God’s justice and, ultimately, to His transcendence.” Islam by the late Dr. Isma’il R. Al-Faruqi (d. 1986) Notice how a false belief about Almighty God leads to a false notion or idea about His creation as well.              

 “The main evil resulting from ethnocentricity/exclusivism is holding one's connection or relationship to their group or race stronger and more valued than the tie to Almighty God/Allah. This is in addition to the inclination (be it ever so subtle) of injustice towards others which is the natural outcome of a world view or beliefs that emphasizes the importance of one group over others. A corollary evil connected to this is intentional neglect or indifference concerning the duty imposed on the truly God-fearing to correct friends and relatives from acts of wrongdoing and injustice by ‘enjoining good and forbidding evil’ especially when it concerns the rights of those not belonging to a particular group. Justice is another quality that cannot exist or properly develop without the aforementioned virtues of living by the principle of devotion to God as its basis and foundation while true brotherhood can never exist without it.” Revised excerpt of an article written by the author 10/1995.

As our brother Al-hajj Malik/Malcolm wrote of the European Christian nations who came to the indigenous people of Asia and Africa with the Bible in one hand and the flintlock in the other. When commenting on the Biblical texts one scholar writes, “Whilst some of the loftiest moral and ethical ideas of mankind have found eloquent expression in its pages, at the same time brutal slaveholders in 19^th century could find justification for the exploitation and subjugation of the Blacks in the story of Noah and Ham and in the remarks of Paul.” The Old Testament an Islamic Perspective Vol.1 by Jay R. Crook/Muhammad Nur.

Regardless of the attempts to reform the Bible’s distortions and misinterpretations by Christendom’s leadership over the centuries, this could only be done by Him who sent the original scriptures to the two greatest Israelite Prophets’ and Messengers: Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them).  The Holy Qur’an asserts these great Prophet’s received, followed and preached them correctly. The final and greatest of all the Prophets’, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah was sent with the final scripture, religion/lifestyle for all times completing a promise made to our father Adam (peace be upon him) and all humanity by God. “AND IF AS IS SURE THERE COMES TO YOU GUIDANCE FROM ME ….”(2:38)

Fast forward to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) 570-71 C.E. where Almighty God refuted a strain of ethnocentricity his tribesmen the Quraysh had adopted. The implication was their ancestral connection to Isma’il and the patriarch Abraham based on inheriting their control of the Ka’ba ‘excused’ their idolatry. “WITHOUT DOUBT, AMONG MEN THE NEAREST TO ABRAHAM, ARE THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIM, AS ARE ALSO THIS PROPHET [MUHAMMAD] AND THOSE WHO BELIEVE; AND ALLAH IS THE PROTECTOR OF THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH”. (3:68) Thus, it is only the beliefs and the corresponding ethical morality that connects one to the great patriarch. 

Brothers and sisters, we must always remember not to imitate the beliefs/ideology or actions of wrongdoers while understanding the social/political reality of how often the oppressed become oppressors. Along with asking ourselves is the revulsion of racism and injustice many feel based on God’s prohibition or being victimized by it? The former is a believer’s response to the Will of the Almighty that elevates what may start as self-centered concern to a moral mandate once the motivation becomes subordinate to the Divine will. In the film ‘Lion of the Desert’ when U’mar Mukhtar’s men were going to kill an enemy captive, he stopped them and his men responded, ‘they do it to us’, he responded, “They are not our teachers”. Whether or not this part of the film is based on a true account, the Islamic teaching as stated in the introductory verse rings out loud and clear.