الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
Brothers and sisters! My talk tonight deals with the problem of racism. What is racism? It is the belief that some races of people are better than others. It also means the prejudice, discrimination, or rivalry directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.
Most people in the world seem to be ethnocentric, that is, they think their group’s way is right and everyone else’s is wrong. Often, the standards of the majority group are treated as if they are universal standards. In different ways, the society casually tells minority people that their behavior is inappropriate or inadequate. People generally tend to favor their own groups, beliefs and cultures at the expense of others.
It has been found that prejudice and bigotry are habits that people begin to form when they are in an environment where others do the same. The young children look at and learn from the adults around them. When a parent, teacher, or someone significant in the child’s life, displays racist behavior, the child is likely to learn at a young age that other races are not equal to his or her own race.
The pressures of living together with people of different cultures and different beliefs from one’s own are real, especially in a world of intense economic competition and in which there have been sudden influxes of immigrants. Those who are having a tough time economically find it easy to blame immigrants for taking away their jobs or creating fewer opportunities. This usually leads to hate towards a minority group.
Whatever be the cause of racism, it cannot justify demonization or the deliberate use of fear for political purposes. When politicians and radio talk show hosts complain about a minority group or immigrants, there is a huge population of people out there who are nodding their heads in agreement. This begins to provoke hate, fear, and division based on race and religion.
That is why Islamophobia, which is the prejudice, hatred, or bigotry directed against Islam or Muslims, is also one of the consequences of racism. For many, this fear and hostility towards Islam and Muslims is reminiscent of racism against other groups such as the African Americans, the Jews, and others.
Racism has been a problem in the United States of America for a long time, dating back to early America when the Native Americans were often attacked, relocated, and forcibly assimilated into European culture. The African slave trade also helped contribute to the environment of a racist culture in America by debasing the African races and teaching Caucasian Americans that they are better than the African races.
As we look to the society we live in today, the privileges that we are enjoying didn’t come for free. There were people who suffered. There was a woman by the name of Rosa Park who was not allowed to sit on a certain seat on a bus. She refused to tolerate that. Women like her and men like Martin Luther King struggled and stood firm against racial injustice. The minority group to which they belonged took the brunt of the oppression in the country. Although the civil rights of African Americans has improved over the last few decades and America now has an African American president, racism still has a strong presence.
Unfortunately, many of us also carry our own baggage of cultural racism and bigotry that often stem from prejudices imported from our home countries. We must understand that these cultural prejudices have no place in Islam and need to be eradicated. Immigrants and their children must take it upon themselves to examine their hearts and eliminate any racist beliefs they harbor.
An important step to reduce racism in America is to include curriculum in all education programs that supports equality in the minds of the youth. While there has been much progress made towards the idea of racial equality in America, there still is work to be done in educating the youth and optimizing their environment to support equality and racial tolerance. By educating the children at a young age about the dangers of stereotype we can minimize the transference of racism to the future generations.
Interfaith activities have to take more practical direction by building on the examples of those communities in which different peoples come together regularly in professional associations, or on the sport field, or in other social settings. Such day-to-day contacts can be especially useful in demystifying the “other.”
As we know, racism is a gross violation of the teachings of Islam. Islam promotes absolute equality and brotherhood among human beings. Talking about the rich diversity found among humans, the Qur’an says,
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
“O mankind, We created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should recognize one another. The noblest among you in God’s sight are those who are most mindful of Him. God is all-knowing, all-aware” (Al-Hujurat, 49:13).
In fact, Allah created different languages and skin colors as a sign of His creative power. A verse in Surat al-Rum tells us,
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ إِنَّ فِيذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّلْعَالِمِينَ
“Among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colors. There are indeed signs in that for those who know” (al-Rum, 30:22).
Such statements in the Qur’an about broad human brotherhood and sisterhood are the basis for promoting peace among all. Humanity is like a bouquet of flowers in which each flower is beautiful in its own right. Yet, the combination of all flowers and the rich diversity of their colors are more beautiful.
We should know that Ismail (AS)’s mother, Hadrat Hajira, through whom Allah ennobled the area between Safa and Marwa, was a dark skinned woman. Hadrat Bilal who was the first Muazzin of the Prophet (SAW), was of Abyssinian origin and dark skinned. To him the Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said, “Oh Bilal, I hear your footsteps in Jannah. We learn through the Qur’an that Allah (SWT) granted wisdom to Luqman. He too was dark colored. And among many others, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, in contemporary times were also blacks of African descent.
Malcolm X 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. There, for the first time, he encountered the racial diversity within Islam. He saw in the behavior of Muslims towards each other a remarkable absence of racial prejudice. This experience taught Malcolm that people of different races could coexist. Among many other lines that he wrote from Mecca to his friends in America, he said, “I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors… America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem….”
Muhammad Ali—the legendary African-American boxing champion used to proudly proclaim his Black and Muslim American identity. He endured suffering because of his fearless stand not to serve in the Vietnam War. He was stripped of his boxing title. However, his call for peace, his fight against racism, and his service to humanity earned him glory and respect.
Despite the prejudice, bigotry and discrimination that existed for centuries in Arabia before the advent of Islam, Islam brought the Muslims together as one community. Whether it was Suhaib of Rome, Bilal of Ethiopia, or Salman of Persia, they were all considered equal before the law under Islam and became real brothers in faith. As concerned Muslims, we must be just as passionate about the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement as we are about injustices in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Kashmir, and elsewhere. Injustice is injustice no matter who the victim is.
The Prophet (SAW) in his farewell sermon summed up the notion of equality of human beings when he said, “O people! Your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black, nor does a black have any superiority over a white except by piety….?” Another hadith tells us, “Allah does not look at your appearances or wealth but looks at your actions”
It was fourteen centuries before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had not only preached the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity, but had actually established these principles.
Islam not only recognizes different people and languages but declares that all people regardless of their origin, color, ethnic background, faith, and gender belong to one family. They are all children of their first parents–Adam and Eve, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them. Bestowing honor upon the children of Adam, Allah says,
وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ
“And indeed We have honored the children of Adam” (al-Isra’, 17:70).
We dare not dishonor what Allah has honored. Every member of humanity has been honored, not on the basis of racial superiority or social rank, but on the basis of their humanity and having been endowed with the faculty of intellect. To dishonor and degrade any human on the basis of race, color or ethnicity is to rob him of his very birth right. Boasting about lineage and ancestors is forbidden in Islam, since all people are descended from Adam and his wife. The only criterion of superiority is faith and righteous deeds.
Brothers and sisters! 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.
We ask Allah (SWT) to have mercy on us and on the people of our age and on those who came before us and on those who will come after us. May He grant us the tawfiq to truly work towards eliminating racial discrimination, bigotry, and hypocrisy. May Allah (SWT) increase us in knowledge and guide us to that which is right; ameen.
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
