Racism

When the word "racism" is mentioned, we Muslims immediately think of the disbelievers being racist towards us. However, few would think of racism among Muslims. Moreover, there are those who go as far as to deny its existence and blame the victim for mistaking his or her inferior complex as racism. Whether one denies its existence, refuses to deal with it or is indifferent to it, it will not cause the problem to disappear. Racism is one of the reason why Muslims are disunited. If we wish to unite as one Ummah then we must address this issue.

In Islam, we are taught that all humans are created equal but the superiority of one over the other is a believer with taqwa (fear of Allah or God-conscious). The Quran contains many ayah which spoke of this, such surah al-Hujurat (49:13), Luqman (31:18) and so forth. Furthermore, this point was elaborated on by the Prophet (s) in his sermon, during his farewell pilgrimage, where he stated: "All men issue from Adam and Adam issued from dust. Therefore, no Arab may claim distinction over a non-Arab except in piety and righteousness..."

In spite of these clear teachings, it appears that most Muslims are either ignorant or heedless of it.

The most common complaint one hears about would be

1. Arabs being racist against non-Arabs, particularly towards Africans and Asians, and
2. Born Muslims against converts/reverts.

Then there are cases of racism where one will hear about if one interact with a particular race such as an Arab being prejudiced against another Arab, an Asian against another Asian, an African against another African, and so forth. Lastly, there are cases which one do not often hear about but which does exist. For instance, Anglo-Saxons and European Caucasian (born Muslims or converts) against non-Arab Muslims, Asians against Africans, Africans against Asians, and so on.

Why, then, would racism exist among Muslims even though Islam forbids it? A quick and usual response would be "because Muslims are not practising Islam". This answer may be true to some extend but it is simplistic. For what about those Muslims who are practising Islam yet are themselves racists? In other words, racism is not confined to ignorant Muslims alone but is also prevalent among some "knowledgeable and practising Muslims".

The answer to the question of racism lies in the fact that racism is based on arrogance. According to the Oxford dictionary, arrogance is the feeling of superiority or too much pride in oneself and too little consideration for others. Such arrogance is strongly condemn by Allah (swt) and His Messenger (s). For instance,

And turn not your face away from men with pride, nor walk in insolence through the earth. Verily, Allah likes not any arrogant boaster. (Quran, Luqman 31:18)

Abu Sa'id Khudri and Abu Huraira (r) reported that Allah's Messenger (s) said, "Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said, 'Glory is His lower garment and Majesty is His cloak. He who contends with Me, I shall torment him.'" ( Muslim)

One should not mistaken this act of pride with that of the pride in being Muslim. Pride in being Muslim means one is not ashamed of one's religion. At the same time, one does not pride oneself in being Muslim to the extent of believing oneself to be the "Chosen People".

Muslims can be divided into four types when it comes to racism:

1. Those who know that they are racist and do not conceal it.
2. Those who know that they are racist but conceal it.
3. Those who are unaware that they are racist. (Often some of them perceive themselves as upholder of anti-racism).
4. Those who do not practise racism but are fully aware of its existence.

The question now is, which category do you fall into? If you are honest with yourself and discover that you fall into one of the first three categories then you should try to eliminate this overt or passive racism. We should tackle this issue head on and not pretend that it does not exist among Muslims . For during the time of the Prophet (s), there were strong feelings of racism (and tribalism) among the Arabs. Some of his companions were not Arabs, such as Umm Ayman, Bilaal, Salman, Suhayb ar-Rumi. He (s) seized this issue at every turn and succeeded in ridding his companions of this ignorant pride. Remember the Prophet (s) said, "One who has left in his heart a mustard seed's worth of pride will not enter Jannah (Heavenly Garden)." (Muslim and Abu Dawood)