Who would have thought that among the Muslim there is a sense of racism? Certainly not me! I came across this situation in a very unusual way. Here is my story, which hopefully some people will benefit from.
My friend and I were once discussing marriage during Ramadan—during Muslim fast for a whole month from sunrise to sunset. Our discussion was pretty much centered on overcoming any difficulties, we said as youngster in a very naïve way, that we could overcome any obstacles such as money, time, and studies etc, but the one I did not expect was racism. I was raised in a household where the Quran, the prophet (sws), and the Arabic language were revered. I always taught the people who spoke Arabic were flawless.
Imagine my shock when my friend told me that in some ethnicities some Muslims are racist. To be honest I did not believe him. I thought that it was impossible. For me, the idea that a Muslim can be racist is like the example of a Muslim winning the lottery three consecutive times it is just statistically improbable not to say impossible. Especially an Arab Muslim that understands the words of the Qur’an and Hadith.
How can it be? I have raised this question during a talk in the Muslim Student Association. I have asked if it was true that some Muslim families are racist? And the answer that I got has broken my heart forever. Until now my heart is not healed from this answer. The people in the MSA have screamed that it is true, and on top of that they are racist among themselves. I could not believe it. I have a very difficult time believing that myself.
When reading the last sermon of the prophet (sws), I came across this line where it says, “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action”. This paragraph is just mindboggling. For an individual of 7th to say this progressive statement is just astonishing, and the Western world will have to wait 10 centuries before the abolitionism movement kicks in. In fact the prophet (sws) could have been considered as the first abolitionist! And yet many Muslims have chosen to follow the path of the first sinner, which his first sin was to say, “I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay.”
One might be shocked when compared to Satan. The racists in our modern era use the same structure of sentence, but with different words. The racist Muslim who thinks that he is better than some else would probably say, “I am better than him. I am white and he is black or brown”. When one closes his eyes and these two sentences are read out loud there is not much difference, which is very scary in itself because who would like to be compared to Satan the worst enemy of mankind.
Sadly enough no one seems to be outraged in my close circle of friends. When an individual “jokes” about racial affairs, or uses the word Nigger or Negro, no one shrugs from an iota. As if it has become a daily word to use. Unfortunately, it shows only the ignorance of these people being displayed publicly as the prophet (sws) once said to his companion: “You still have within you traces of ignorance from the pre-Islamic period”. And on top of that the thing that saddens me the most is that these types of remark will probably be immediately condemned by a non-muslim.
I sincerely wish that these people would have read the books about racism and slavery. Books such as the autobiography of Malcolm X, Roots, and the Book of Negroes—the main characters in these books are Muslims. If they have read these books not only would they have stopped joking about this sensible matter, but also they would have realised that their brother and sisters in Islam have deeply suffered from slavery and racism. The original sin of slavery as Obama have said, still affects many communities around the world. To this day the impact of slavery is still felt. Blacks are being denied the hands of daughters and sons, because their colors and people who work in Arab countries are being treated as slaves to build their extravagant palaces.
The only cure of this disease is to read what happened before, and it is by taking actions against discrimination of your brothers and sisters who are affected by one of the worst diseases that humankind have known and hope that God will eradicate this sickness, because racism is indeed a sickness.
My experience in a gulf country for three decades has witnessed the phrase ” I’m better than him ” in daily practice. In some working environ this sickness reached a class war impacting work efficiency. yes true, they embraced racism more than they perfumed their dresses. Our Asian Brothers, too indulge in this arrogant feelings.
To my chagrin I found none of the arrogance ” I’m better than him” in people, those practicing sunna, whose mind built by Quran.