Muslims’ Racism

We dare not dishonour what Allah has honoured

All praise be to Allah and choicest salutations on our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him), His pure family, noble companions and all believers in every era.

Subhanallah ! Glory be to Allah Almighty for creating the human being from a microscopic germ, yet placed him on this earth as His vicegerent, and favoured him above the rest of creation. Says Allah in the Glorious Qur’an:

“We have indeed honoured the progeny of Adam” ( surah 17:70 )

The great Imam al-Alusi states that “all humanity are endowed with dignity, nobility and honour.” Thus every member of humanity has been honoured, not on the false premise of racial superiority or social rank, but on the basis of their humanity and having been endowed with the faculty of intellect. To dishonour and degrade any human on the basis of race, colour or ethnicity, is to rob him of his very birth right.

Oh Muslims! Today from this platform of truth, I echo the sacred words of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) when he so categorically stated during his last sermon from the mighty plains of Arafah.

“An Arab is not superior to a non-Arab nor is a light skin person superior to a dark skin person or vice-verse….”

Hence, the Holy Prophet, in His Prophetic human rights charter, dealt a death blow to claims of superiority on the basis of mere ethnicity and race. How sad, that more than a decade after the official death of Apartheid in South Africa, racism is still deeply rooted in the hearts of certain Muslims ?

I recently visited some family about to leave for Umrah. During a round table discussion on the increasing crime level and the influx of African immigrants, someone remarked, “These Kaffirs mess up everything… look at what is happening in Zimbabwe…”

How dare you, I interjected, make such an un-Islamic remark? For failing to keep my big mouth shut, I became very unpopular in that particular company.

Don’t you know, I asked , that we have gathered here to bid our pilgrims well on their holy journey of the Umrah. One of the manasik (rituals) of the Umrah and Hajj is the Sa’iy between the two hills of Safa and Marwah, which is the commemoration of our great Mother Hajira, who ran in search of water for her crying baby Ismail.

Don’t you know that Hajira was a dark skinned woman through whom Allah has ennobled the area between Safa and Marwa as “The Symbol of Allah?”

Call to mind Hazrat Bilal who was the first Muazzin of the Prophet (pbuh), through whom every caller to prayer will be ennobled with great status in the hereafter. Have you forgotten that he was of Abysinian origin and was very dark skinned ? Yet the Prophet (pbuh) said: “Oh Bilal, I hear your footsteps in Jannat (paradise).

What will be your answer in the divine Supreme Court, when the charge of racism is leveled against you? What will you answer to the Supreme Creator when you will be guilty of killing and abusing members of His vicegerent on the basis of xenophobia? What will be your response to the Judge of all judges for discarding His divine constitution, and make demands in your man-made constitutions that only members of a certain ethnic group can be trustees or committee members of certain Masajid? I thought you knew, Allah will ask, that every masjid belongs to Me, and I have ordained that every human is born free, pure and equal? Why did you turn a blind eye to my Glorious Quran?

“Oh people, We have created you from one male and one female and have made you into nations and tribes that you can recognise each other. Verily, the best of you in the sight of Allah is the ones who are most God-conscious.” (surah 49:13)

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) also states very categorically:

“You (humanity) are all the children of Adam and Adam was from dust” (Hadeeth)

Remember Oh servants of Allah ! Our origin is dust, unto dust we will return, and from the dust we will be raised again for the inevitable day of accountability. Fear Allah with regard to calling people by derogatory terms such as “Kaffir”, “Moor”, “Slams” etc, as this can never be part of the vocabulary of a true, God-conscious Muslim. Allah orders you with justice and goodness. Astagh-firullah. Wha aqimu-solaah.