We are Different in Race, Tribe but One before Allah
Assalaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuhu.
All praise and thanks are to Allah and the best of salutations to His Prophet and Messenger, Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him).
Our reflections this week are inspired by the events in the United States of America (USA) following the death of a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Protests against his killing have since spread to other cities in the USA and Europe with a call for an end to racial discrimination.
The message of Islam to the world is that every member of the human race has been accorded honor and dignity by Allah Almighty Who says in the Qur’an, Chapter 17:70; “And we have certainly honoured 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.” (Al-Isra’: 70)
Allah further says in Chapter 49:13 that; “O mankind! We have created you from a male and female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing and Acquainted.” (Al-Hujurat:13)
Drawing from the above verses from the Holy Qur’an, let us share a glimpse of how Islam saved us from racial discrimination and tribalism.
1. The Qur’an confirms that we (human beings) are a single human family originating from Adam and Hawaa. We eat, sleep, love, hate, feel pain, fall sick, born and die, forget, procreate etcetera and share all the social-economic services. Nobility before Allah is only through piety. We are equal in our humanity.
2. The difference of our languages and colors is among the signs of Allah, (read if you wish Ar-Ruum 30:22). This difference is not a basis for superiority at all.
3. As Muslims, we are one brotherhood; which is part of a larger brotherhood of humanity. The bond of brotherhood demands love, care, reconciliation and helping each other rather than discriminating against one another.
4. Allah SWT in hadith al-Qudsi on the authority of Abu Dhar al-Ghifari, and transmitted by Muslim says in part; “O My servants, I have made oppression unlawful for Me and unlawful for you, so do not commit oppression against one another”.
5. Allah also commands us to stand up for justice and fairness and not to deviate from it at any one time and prohibits us from avoiding justice because of our lusts or hatred, (read An-Nisaa 4:135). In Al-Maa’eda 5:8, He says; “And let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety”.
6. Islam prohibits arrogance which is defined as refusing the truth and belittling or despising people and tribalism which the Messenger SAW defined as “supporting own people in wrongdoing”, Sunan Ibn Mājah 3949. In another hadith, he says; “Verily, the greatest liar among people is a man who insults another man by disparaging the entire tribe”, Sunan Ibn Mājah 3761.
May Allah guide and pardon us and our dead, treat our sick people and enable us to over the Coronavirus pandemic. Have a blessed Friday.
