ISLAM FORBIDS RACISM
ISLAM FORBIDS RACISM
A MESSAGE FROM
THE ABDUL AZIZ TRUST
Islam prohibits racism in all its manifestations. This disposition was borne out of the Abrahamic lore of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. These fundamental human values were undermined by an unholy alliance of state and clergy in Western Europe during the 15th and 16th century. As a result, First Nations and Sub-Saharan Peoples (including Muslims) were relegated as heathen and subhuman. This allowed for the enslavement and inventories of human beings as chattel in the development of Western Capital. Dr. Eric Williams, our first Prime Minister, published extensively on this in his book Capitalism and Slavery, 1944.
When the Papal Bull, Sic Dilexit, of the year 1537 forbidding enslavement was declared, there were no European crown cooperation, which made the Bull impotent and largely ignored. The decimation of Indigenous People of the Americas was well on its way and the African Slave Trade began to boom. To this day, there has not been any proper apologies, appreciation or reparations made to Indigenous and African Peoples, in the name of the victims of this pervasive, systematic racism and bondage. This callousness to a very large extent continues to date and the entrenchment of this evil disposition in administrations, governments and societies contaminate human endeavor and pollute the education of our children.
There is absolutely no place for racism in society. The Abdul Aziz Trust encourage the larger community to adopt this policy, be it personal or institutional, regardless of social class, religion, ethnicity, complexion, language, education, wealth or privilege. Systemic racism must be identified, exclaimed, expunged and excised forever. Systematic racism must be confronted frontally and exposed, since the practice of systematic racism is usually violent and exercised in a top down manner determined to achieve sordid and immoral goals.
In Al Quran, Chapter 49, verse 13, it states: O mankind! Indeed, we created you from a male and female, and made you into tribes and nations so that you may recognize and not despise each other. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you and Allah is all knowing, all aware.
This Quranic injunction is a clear admonition to all of Mankind. This recognition of each other that the Quran requests, is a clear celebration of diversity, mutual respect, engagement instead of prejudice, and the sharing of cultural histories and human endeavor. Indeed, in the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (UWBP), among his loyal and devoted companions, were Africans, Persians and Greeks. Two of his African companions raised families with Arab women of social status. Bilal Ibn Rabah, may Allah be pleased with him, was appointed the first Muezzin of the Mosque, and was of African descent. He was a hero of resistance in the earliest history of Islam. A question arises, why in the affairs of human beings are there despicable social behaviors based in racism?
We contend that racism is not an inherent human characteristic but is a learnt behavioral trait rooted in the history of human greed and oppression, slavery and bondage, colonial miseducation, nationalism and ethnic supremacy. The proof of our contention is the mass rescue of drowning African slaves by the Carib People of St. Vincent in the straits of Bequia. Although, minor reports of Caribs enslaving Africans do exist, their benevolence to the
Africans produced the Garifuna People of the Southern Caribbean, Belize and Honduras. The Caribs were portrayed in the European history books as cannibals, yet their history was that of a forthright and noble people. To date our local textbooks in primary school do not reflect this nobility but continuously repeat the demonization of the Carib People ‘rumored to be cannibals’. This is an example of entrenched systemic racism still perpetrated unwittingly by those who produce and publish children's books.
Muslims are taught that they should grow and develop with the understanding that the Islamic brotherhood is part of a larger brotherhood of Mankind, indeed a planetary brotherhood.
In the last sermon of the holy prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, he proclaimed in Arafat: All mankind is derived from Adam and Eve, and an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab. A white person has no superiority over a black person nor does a black person has any superiority over a white person, except and only through piety and good deeds.
This 7th century anti-racist message heralded by our Holy Prophet Muhammad (UWBP) must resonate widely around the world today, given the numerous examples of race-based crimes perpetrated openly in the international community.
In Al Quran, Chapter 30, verse 22, it states: And one of His signs in the creation of the heavens and the earth is the diversity of our languages and colours. Surely in this are manifestations for those of sound knowledge and understanding, and for those who reflect.
It is by no means going to be easy to eradicate systemic racism, personal and institutional, in the affairs of human beings. In the West, systematic racism continued to be perpetrated after the 13th Amendment of 1865. The blatant examples of the insidious and protracted persecution of a people have today resulted in mass demonstrations, incarcerations, and violence directed to persons, properties and monuments. The Black Lives Matter Movement in the United States is a testament of this statement on racism. Indeed, the most reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace Laureate, was assassinated in 1968 for fearlessly confronting systematic and systemic racism and for proposing a New Politics.
There are indeed sharp contrasts of the social conditions of freed Africans in the United States
(1865) and in the Caribbean (1834). Except for Haiti and other islands that are still colonies, the English-speaking Caribbean transited from crown colony governance in the wave of independence during the 1960s. Some have retained the crown as head of state acting through Governors while others exist as Republic states. Governance was naturally the colonial bequeath of independence to the Afro-Caribbean Peoples for almost 60 years now. A pertinent question arises, how is racism practiced in these societies under ones’ own watch and authority? Yet in islands whose demographics appear homogenous, tribalism raises an ugly head during the electoral process. Outside of election and the voting process, cultural and social amity seem to be the order of the day. Racism and tribalism in the Caribbean are strongly correlated to electioneering. This may sometimes turn violent. Examples of this antisocial behavior are constantly seen in the voting season in Haiti, and in Jamaica to a lesser extent. A systematic racism in Jamaica becomes apparent on the hustings with associated appeals and dog whistles that are meant to be heard either by a popular working class or by a quasi-business class of coloreds.
Haiti’s tribal antagonisms are historically rooted in the systematic maneuvers and systemic limitations imposed by superpowers. Its old European master has spared no effort and contrivances against Haitian development. Some say the bitterness of the Haitian Revolution is still on the master’s tongue and Monroe’s Doctrine has taken care of the rest. To make matters worse for the smallest people in the western hemisphere (by comparable size), massive disenfranchisement from the Dominican Republic was aggressively pursued after a process of true naturalization had already taken place for more than 100 years. This is a recent example of systematic racism perpetrated against the Haitian people by the other half of the island, indeed a form of vicious apartheid.
The politics of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana have long been divided along racial lines. This to a large extent has been the result of the geographic distribution of the two major ethnic groups, East Indians and Africans. The proportion of Africans to Indians is approximately the same in both countries, where electoral victories are usually marginal. However, during the electoral process, appeals on the hustings that bring racial sentiments to candidates’ philosophies or party affiliations weigh heavily in the process. Culturally and socially, there have been much sharing between these groups, and it is clear from an analysis of the politics of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago that the democratic form of governance, bequeathed from the British Westminster System, has produced perpetually, nondemocratic results.
When a system of governance causes racial groups to work against each other, wholesome country endeavors are stymied or put aside for partisan interest and the development process crawls. The democratic processes we utilize are adversarial, ‘winner takes all’ and ‘first pastthe-post’. These are the non-democratic results of a democratic system that has been reduced to a sporting game. It piths one group against the other and benefits accrued to one group are naturally at the expense of the other. In practice, this is tantamount to racial discrimination which is then practiced unwittingly. This kind of discrimination encourages the tacit entrenchment of systemic racism and bias in the delivery of social goods and services.
Dr. Martin Luther King was right in asking for a New Politics that do not bear such low hanging fruits. How can we continue to perpetuate systems that bear these poisoned apples and ostracized outcomes? The future of the Caribbean, especially that of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, must be cognizant that Divide et Impera, an old dictum of empire, has produced poisoned goods in both orchards and has caused a cyclical grab for resources where one group gains at the expense of the other. When a critical mass of young people is reached, who understand the consequences of our poor politics, they will wish for reform and perhaps the New Politics of the goodly Reverend will be a dream come true.
In these bleak times, we must remember the significant gains of perseverance, faith in the benevolence and mercy of God, and hope that arises from good deeds and actions. It is imperative that we must continue to struggle in this cause to eradicate systematic and systemic racism globally. We recommend that the necessary actions be reflective of the revolutionary, unrealized and egalitarian message, which the Holy Prophet Muhammad (UWBP) enunciated over 1400 years ago as a cornerstone in Islam, All Mankind are equal in the sight of Allah. All believers should promulgate this message of the prophet of Islam in ensuring that this monster (Shaitan), residing in our global society, does not find a permanent home among us. Allah has created us equally and endowed us with the capacity to reason and understand, to go to the moon in person, and to send our probes beyond the Oort cloud into interstellar space.
May Allah bless all efforts to eradicate racism, a blight in the social fabric and evolution of Mankind.
Khuda Hafiz.