How The Holy Prophet (S) and The Imams of Ahl ul-Bayt (A) Faced Racism

In the case of the ninth Imam, there was a lot of controversy surrounding his Imamat. As we know in many occasions, the Imamat is not a matter of public opinion, or public choice. In fact, Imam Ridha' had, in very beautiful hadith in Mahani Al-Akhbar and Al-Kafi. It is narrated in a very long hadith where Imam Ridha' gives the attributes of the Imams based on the Qur'an and so on so forth. It is a very, very beautiful hadith, where he continues to mention again, and again, and again that the Qadr of the Imamah, the sha'an of the Imamah, the weight of the Imamah is such that it cannot be left to public's opinion.

However, we are told that there was a problem that arose. The problem revolved around his mother. His mother was Husayran or there are different names for her, right? Or Subayka. She was from the descendants of Maria Qibtiyyah, al-Qibtiyyah, from Sudan. Somewhere along the northeast African coast.

The reason this became a problem is because naturally, if an African woman was to marry a Mediterranean man, the child that would result will be of a dark complexion. This was an issue. This was an issue, such that Allama al-Majlisi explains to us in Bihar and other places that Ibn Abi Dhu'at, one of the jurists of the Abbasid Empire used to joke about Imam al-Jawad by saying: "hadha al-aswad Abi Ja'far Ibn 'Ali". That instead of saying that this is the Imam. He says this is the black boy or the black Abi Ja'far. That they used to mock him and try to humiliate him in the court of the Abbasiya, the Abbasid Empire. Because his mother was of Sudanese background, somewhere around the region of Sudan, north of Kenya. From this region.

In fact, many of the wives of the Imams and the mothers of the Imams are from this region. Thus, leaving many of the Imams to be of dark complexion. Or shall we say, black complexion. So historians tell us that this may have been used as a pretext to doubt the Imamat of the ninth Imam, salamu Allahi alayh. And we see in the Riwayat, in al-Kafi, in the Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub, in Dala'il of Ibn Rustum, in Nawadhir al-Mu'in, Nawadhir al-Mu'jazat of Ibn Rustum, and in many other sources that this was the case.

So we don't really need a black History Month to remember the oppression, or the bias, or bigotry, or hatred shown towards people who look different than, let's say, the majority of the population.

So, what happened? Well, according to the sources, the uncle of Imam Ridha' reports to us: "lakadna sara Allah, Abu 'l-Hasan Ar-Ridha', lamma bagha alayhi ikwatah wa umumata". This is very profound. The uncle of Imam Ridha' tells us in the Kun to the Riwaya from Al-Kafi that the uncles and close relatives of Imam Ridha' rebelled against him, because he appointed this boy as the Imam.

We are not talking, my dear brothers and sisters, about outsiders. We are talking about the uncles and relatives of the eighth Imam, from within the Hashamites, from within so-called, shall we say, the Jama'at, the inner core circle group of which they had. This is a Musibah. I don't know how many of us even know about this, of what transpired exactly. These are very sensitive things that the Imam speaks about.

"Fa qala lahu ikhwata". So his brother said, you know, Imam Ridha' we have to have a sit down with you. There is a problem. You have appointed this person, this young boy, as the Imam, this toddler, really, at that time. "Wa nahnu aydan", he says, and I was among those as well, who said something. "Ma kana fina Imamun qatt'uh ha'il al-lawn". He says that we've never had such a dark Imam.

Can you imagine? We are not talking about Abbasid dhlims and oppressors and sultans. We are talking about people who at least are within the Hashamai klan, who don't like the fact that the Ma'sum Imam, and the Hujjat of Allah could be of a dark complexion. Think of the bigotry, think of the racism, the 'asabiyah here going on.

His uncles. Think of the madhlumiyat of Imam Ridha' and Imam al-Jawad. So they said that we've never had any, nawudu bil-Lah, an Imam who was unattractive to them, is what they are trying to say. Because, of course, their conception of beauty was only superficial, of course, at least in their mind of what they could see. Not to say that Imam was not beautiful, but in their eyes, that's what they judge to be beautiful or to be not beautiful. In their very ignorant and distorted way of looking at the world.

Then they went further. Now, maybe not the uncles, but outsiders now. So some of the people who claimed to love the Imam but weren't true Shi'a. Then they went a step further. That because this child is of such a different complexion that he may not even be the son of the Imam altogether.

Yeah, basically they were alleging that the Imam's wife committed... Can you imagine they would insult the Imam and his son in this way? Or at the very least, a son that looks like this should not become the Imam of Muslims.

Ibn Shahrashub in his Manaqib, tells us. These are very important Ulama of the earliest period, and narrate the Ahadith of the A'imma. "Kana shadida al-utma fa shakka fihi al-murtaboon". He says that because of the dark complexion of the boy, "fa shakka fihi al-murtaboon" , the Hypocrites, fa " al-murtaboon" are people who turn away from their religion. So they started using this as shakk. So colour became their excuse for doubting in the Imamat of Imam Jawad, alayhi as-salam.

Humans have an ability to delude themselves very often, that there's a very fine line between belonging to a group and being deluded by the sense of being in a group. Very fine line. This is what the Imam is showing here, that these are Hashemites. These are Hashemites, who have deluded themselves to think, as we see unfortunately, in those drawings where there's white, almost blonde, blue-eyed Imams, that's just not reality. For many of them, it's not reality, but there is this kind of delusion. I don't know what's going on. It's this kind of, and it's not even doing well before colonialism. This has nothing to do with colonialism. Who knows where it comes from? Allah knows best.

Who knows really where it comes from, where this ignorance and repulsive behaviour comes from, and attitude. But it becomes a kind of group delusion. People convince themselves somehow, that this physical appearance is more attractive than this physical appearance, and this physical appearance is more worthy of respect than this physical appearance. "Wayla akhirih". It's a kind of ghurur.

And here the lesson that we are shown is that even the Hashemites could fall into this ghurur. Leave aside Mahmoon or leave aside the Khudat and the Judges and the enemies of Ahl Al-Bayt. But the history of this goes back to the Prophet himself. Imam ar-Ridha' then explains in that same riwayat, according to Ibn Rustum, with the rawi' of the tradition. Imam ar-Ridha' then explains, that wait a second, this has happened in the past. That what is happening to myself and my son is not new.

Rather, it goes back to the time of the Messenger of Allah. That when the Messenger of Allah married Maria al-Qibtiyyah. She was previously a Christian from the Sudanese area, or Nubian, who then became Muslim and married the Messenger of Allah. Right. She was given as a gift to the Messenger of Allah, as we know the story. But there was a problem here. Some of the wives of the Prophet, as Imam ar-Ridha' explains, became very jealous of this woman. And I think what the ishara here is they became jealous because the Prophet is giving so much attention to a dark-coloured woman, or a Nubian woman, or a Sudanese woman in modern Sudan, modern terms.

So she came into the life of the Prophet with her servant Jurai. Jurai was her servant, so she had a very loyal servant. So they went to their fathers. These wives went to their fathers and told their fathers, astaghfirul-Lah, nawu'du bil-Lah, that Ibrahim was not the Prophet's. Rather, Ibrahim belonged to that servant Jurai, yes.

This is as Ibn Rustum narrates in Nawadhir al-Mu'jazat, one of our very earliest books of Hadith, and other sources as well. So, they went to their fathers, the fathers, who believed them, the fathers cohorted with them, and then had the audacity to go to the Masjid of the Nabi, sit in front of the Nabi and tell him that 'this son doesn't belong to you'. What audacity they have! I mean, that is something else. The hubris, and audacity, and arrogance, and just the nerve that they had, to go to the Prophet and tell him this. And it all boiled down to issues of race again.

This is what the Imams are giving ishara at what they are alluding to here. That it boiled down to that she could be, that this was all, one of the reasons why this was made easier to accuse, was because of where she is from, or because of the colour of her skin, nawu'du bil-Lah. The Prophet sent Amir al-Mu'minin to investigate. Amir al-Mu'minin finds out, of course, that this is not the case, that this is absolute lie and absolute fabrication. Of course the Prophet knew this, but he wanted to show them that, okay, I'm sending Ali to find out.

They then come back to the Prophet to ask for forgiveness, and he tells them that God's Mercy shall forever be taken away from you. Forever. 'Abada'. And I don't accept your forgiveness, and Allah does not accept your Tawbah. Because there was a reason why they did this. To try to humiliate the Prophet, to humiliate his son, and humiliate his wife. And all of that, again, stemming from this idea that the Messenger of Allah would give so much love, and affection, and status, and priority to someone that looks different than them.

Bigotry and racism have a long history before Islam, and within Islam. No one can claim that all Muslims came and racism never existed. No! It existed. It was horrible. But the Messenger of Allah, Amir al Mumineen, and the A'imma at-Tahirin spent their life fighting it.

Not only fighting it, but marrying women from that part of the world. Having Mas'um Imams whose mothers were from that part of the world. Having Mas'um Imams that not only identify with those individuals, but look like those individuals themselves.

That is a big difference! It is different to say, identify with you, I feel your pain, or I empathise, and living it. The Imams lived it!