Islamic Perspective On Race Relations

'A'udhu bi 'l-Lahi, min ash-Shaytan, al-la'in, ar-rajim. Bismi-Llah, Al-Rahmani, Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi al-‘Alamin. Al-hamdulil-Lahi alladhi la yablaghu min hatta al-qa’ilun, wa la yu’sin ‘ama uladd’un, wa la yu’addi haqqahu al-mujtahaddun, alladhi ba’uda fa la yu’ra wa qarba, fa shayda an-najwa Tabaraka wa Ta’ala. Wa as-salatu wa as-salamu 'ala Sayyid al-Anbiya'i wa Khatam al-Mursalin wa Shafi’i al-mudhnibin, Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Abi Al-Qasim Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. Wa ‘ala Ahli Baytihi, at-tayyibin, at-tahirin, al-ma'sumeen wa al-la’natu da’iman al-baqi al-adha’im, min al’an ila Qiyam Yawm id-Din. Amma ba’ad, fa qala Allahu Subhana wa Ta’ala, fi Kitabihi al-Karim: “Ya ayyuha an-Nas! Inna Khalaqnakum min dhakari wa untha, wa ja'alnakum shu'uban wa qaba'ila lita'arafu. Inna akramakum 'inda Allahi atqakum. Inna Allaha 'Aleemun Khabeer” (49:13). Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

This is a Thursday which happens to be in the month of February in Canada. The month is considered to be the month of Black History. Basically they talk about the history of the Afro-Canadian, and talk more about the importance of that. And I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the issue of race relations in our society, especially from the Islamic point of view.

We look around and we see that the modern society, in spite of all the advancement that it has done, when it comes to science and technology, it really has not moved much forward when it comes to interpersonal relationship between different races. This problem of racial relationship, this is there whether you look at the events in Europe, where the extreme right parties are coming more into power now, with the emphasis that, you know, we want the white people to have more or the original people here to have more right and basically their attitude towards the minorities is a negative one.

You look at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, you will see especially in the United States of America, it is considered to be a democratic country. Unlike Europe, where the Germans can say this is our land. The French can say this is our land. The English people can say United Kingdom is ours. Or the Irish people can say this is our land. Canada or USA, the people there nobody other than the indigenous people, nobody can say we have been here for centuries. All of them are immigrants, or children, or descendants of immigrants. Maybe they came earlier, their ancestors came earlier from Europe or other parts of the world. And here you see that this whole white supremacy ideology in the United States of America, which is also now manifesting because of this camera and mobile phones and things like that when it comes to police brutality against the Afro Americans.

And this is where they have been forced to look at this issue. And this is what I would say, that science and technology advancement is good but when we talk about human relationships there is a total failure. When you look at the history of America, although Abraham Lincoln just issued the executive order declaring that from this day in this year all the slaves are free. But that didn't come automatically with the basic civil rights for them. Even the issue of going on the public bus, or going into an education institutes, or even the issue of voting rights. It is only when Dr. King came, in 60s, that he started this movement. They had to go on the streets, they had to protest in order to get their basic civic rights. Even the issue, the right of voting in the elections. This is more than 100 years after they were made free. And this is where we have to realize, even in Canada what is happening with the situation of the indigenous people?

It is only when their suffering has been highlighted now, on a high profile level, that is where the government is now coming to at least acknowledging that, yes, they have been wrong, then they have to compensate and this and that. Unfortunately, it was not only the political institutions here, but even the churches were involved in this kind of behavior with the minorities, especially when we look at the indigenous population here in Canada. So this is a serious issue and Islam has not really ignored this at all.

If you look at Surah Al-Hujurat, Surah number 49, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala talks about some of the important moral and ethical teachings and values. The Surah is not a very long Surah, it's a short one, about 20 verses more or less [18]. But if you look at it, most of them start with the words: "ya ayyuha alladhina amanu". Oh the people who believe!". Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is addressing the believers. But then when it comes to ayat number 13 of that Surah, number 49, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala changes the style. And He says: "Ya ayyuha an-Nas!", O the people!", addressing the human society in general, whether you are Muslim or non-Muslim. "Inna Khalaqnakum min dhakari [wa untha]" (49:13). And Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala reminds all human beings that I have created you from one male and one female, referring to Adam and Hawwa alayhum as-salam.

"Wa ja'alnakum" (49:13).Then Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says "the children of Adam and Hawwa multiplied and they moved around in different parts of the world, in geographical climate factors and many things came in. Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says: I basically created human race in such a way, "ja'alnakum shu'uban wa qaba'ila" (49:13). I divided you into different 'shu'ub', nations and tribes, different features, different colours, different languages. And when you live in different parts of the world, even the resources are different, or your lifestyle would be different. And this Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says, I didn't create all these variety in human race. That one group is white, one is yellow, one is brown, one is black, and many colours in between. Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says I didn't do so that one colour would claim to be superior to the other. No, the colour of the skin or the difference in the feature is not the criteria of fadhilat, and superiority of one over the other.

He says, I just did it "li ta'arafu", so that it becomes easier to recognize one another. "inna akramakum". Then He says, if you really want to see who is more honourable and respectable in My views, Allah says. "Inna akramakum 'inda Allah” (49:13), the most honourable person among you, among you in the eyes of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is the one "atqakum", who has more taqwa among you. And Taqwa means that, awareness of Allah's presence in our life, to know Him, and to fear displeasing Him. Not to fear the person of Allah, but to fear displeasing Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. "Inna Allaha 'Aleemun Khabeer” (49:13). Allah is all-Knowing and all-Aware. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

In Surah 22, Surah 30, Ayah 22, He emphasizes this point. He says: "Wa min Ayatih" (30:22), One of the signs of his power and glory is that " Khalaqa as-samawati wa al-ardh" (30:22), He created the heavens and the earth. And not only that, "wa khtilafu as-sinatikum wa alwanikum" (30:22), and He says this: variety in your languages and your skin colours. These are the signs of the power and glory of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. All human beings have been created, eventually they go back to Adam and Hawwa. But then you see the variety. And this is actually part of the sign of Allah's Power and Glory. "Inna fi dhalika la Ayatin li 'l-'alimeen" (30:22). There are signs in this variety also, for those people who know.

So every language is an Ayat of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Every colour is an Ayat of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. You can't put down one against the other. Of course we would always like our own language, but it doesn't mean that you put the other languages down. Sometimes I am amazed when I hear indiviDu'als who already settled down in Canada and they say, oh, look at this problem of new generation, they don't speak Urdu. And people like me have been blamed because all the programs are done in English. Nobody says don't speak your own language at home, Gujarati or Urdu or Farsi, you maintain it. Actually, Canada is a multicultural society.

Officially, it promotes that. And if you can learn English and French, especially if you want to go and work in a federal government, why not also maintain your own language? But when it comes to the issue of khutba of Juma'a, for example, or teaching in the Madrasa, you have children coming from different languages, different ethnic background. What do you do there? Do you divide them according to the language? No! You bring them together. And the main purpose that the language is not the end, it is a means. What is the end? The end is to teach the religion to the next generation. And we will use the common language even in the Juma'a khutba, the Shari'a says that wherever you are, besides the preliminary remarks where you praise Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala and ask for salawat on the Prophet and his family, and one line of taqwa advice, the rest should be in the language understood by the majority of that locality. Even the sharia Shari'a that.

So we can't have, for example, Urdu khutba or Gujarati khutba in Toronto, because even the audience comes from all different backgrounds. There are Arab speaking, Persian Farsi speaking, Urdu speaking, Gujarati speaking and few converts. So the common language which binds everyone is the English language. And so we had to realize, according to the site of Qur'an, "wa khtilafu as-sinatikum wa alwanikum" (30:22), that even the variety of the languages and colours is a sign of Allah's Power and Glory. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

The main thing that we have to realize, and this is what I was saying about the language, language is not the objective, it is a means. It is not the maqsad, it is a wasila. And what is the maqsad? The Maqsad actually is to know ourselves. What is our identity? Of course, when we are born in a family, we relate ourselves to a family. And then we look around and we see, okay, we have the same ethnic group around us. So you have that affinity there. And then we move on and say, okay, I live in Canada, so I am basically Canadian. That identity also comes in. But beyond all this, what we have to see is what is our spiritual identity. Ultimately we are Muslims, whether we come from one nation, one country, one ethnicity, one family background, but ultimately we are only Muslims and nothing else. This month we have many events of our Imams and one of them is we just had the commemoration of the Shahadat of our tenth Imam. And then inshaAllah we have this Miladat also of Imam Muhammad at-Taqi, alayhi as-salam, coming tomorrow and the day after.

And if you look at one of the Du'as that we have, in Mafatih ul-Jinan, the very early part, part of the Daily Du'as, of course, you don't have to recite all these Du'as after all Namaz. Otherwise we'll be spending the whole day just doing Du'as. No, you can pick and choose. But at least if you read the entire section of that Du'a in one week, maybe some Du'a's on one day, others on the other days, you will see that our 9th Imam is given to answer Du'a, which is actually a summary of our faith as well as our identity. What are we? He says, always remember and say to yourself: "radhitu bi 'l-Lahi Rabban", that I'm pleased with Allah as my Lord, "wa al-Islami Dinan", and Islam is my faith and religion, "wa bi 'l-Qur'anan Kitaba" and I'm pleased with Qur'an as my Scripture, my Holy Book.

"wa bi Muhammadin, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, Nabiyyan" Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. And that I am pleased with Muhammad as my Nabi. And then the names of the Imams come: "wa bi Aliyyina Waliya'" and Ali is the Wali. "Wa al-Hasana wa al-Husayn, wa 'Ali Ibn al-Husayn, wa Muhammad Ibn 'Ali, wa Ja'far Ibn Muhammad, wa Musa Ibn Ja'far, wa 'Ali Ibn Musa, wa Muhammad Ibn 'Ali, wa Ali Ibn Muhammad, wa al-Hasan Ibn 'Ali, wa al-Hujjat Ibn al-Hasan Ibn 'Ali A'immatan. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

This is where he is emphasizing that this is our identity. And then he ends with the Du'a where we specially pray for our 12th Imam. Although he is 9th Imam, the 12th Imam is not yet born, but he is already preparing the ground for the time of the Ghaybat. And this is where we come to realize what do we learn in Talqin. When a person dies, we recite the summary of our faith. These words that we have learned from the 9th Imam is actually what is being taught there. Remember that Allah is your Lord, Muhammad is your Naby, Qur'an an is your Book, Ka'aba is your Qibla. And then it goes on to the Imams. And then about the Qayamat, about Nashur, about Qadr and Jannat and Jahannam.

And that is where we are actually told that when we talk about our identity, people can maybe give me many long titles when I am alive and after the name, you know many alphabets of degrees and this and that. But when the person dies, even if you have the greatest of the marja' of the time and in Namaz al-janaza, what do we recite? That is our true identity. After the fourth takbeer how is the mayyit being addressed? Not even by the first name or last name. No alqabat and titles before, no BA, MA, PhD and all different alphabets. Nothing! We don't even say Ayatullah Al-'Udhma, ustadh al-fuqaha, no. We say "Allahumma inna hadha 'abduka", wa Allah this is Your servant. That is our essence, that is our identity. We are essentially nothing but the 'abd of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

And so when it comes to the issue of racial differences, Qur'an says Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says you should be celebrating the diversity. You don't make it a point of discrimination, and arguments, and fight against one another. And saying this is superior and that is inferior. Even if you look at the lives of our Imams, it is interesting, especially looking at the mothers of our Imams. We know about Amir Al-Mu'minin, Imam al-Hasan Imam al-Husayn, everybody knows very clear. But when it comes to the Fourth Imam, yes, we know that much also, that his mother was not Arab, not Quarayshi, not Hashimiyya, she was a foreigner in a way. She came from the Persian background.

Zaid bin 'Ali, not an imam, but a prominent son of our fourth Imam who became Shahid fighting for al-amr bi 'l-maʿruf wa an-nahy ʿan il-munkar, and a pious man, Zayd bin 'Ali, all these Sadat who have this Zaydi last name Zaydi Sadat, the father is Imam Zayn al-'Abidin, but who is the mother of Zayd? She came from Sindh, which is now in Pakistan, so Zayd Bin Ali Zayn al-'Abidin, is half Arab, half Sindhi.

And this is where we had to realize that these issues should not be the criteria of saying one is superior, one is inferior. "Arab ajam", no, there is nothing like that. Even in the Khutba of Ghadir, Rasul Allah said that. "La fadhl al-Arabiyyn 'ala al-ajamiyyn, wa la al-ajamiyyin 'ala Arabiyyn, wa la abiadh 'ala al-aswad, wa la aswad 'ala al-abiadh". Arab have no superiority over non-Arab, non-Arabs have no superiority over Arabs. White have no superiority over the black, nor a black person has a superiority over white. "Illa bi 't-Taqwa", except the only standard of superiority and Fadhila would be Taqwa, not the ethnicity and the colour.

You look at our of course, in case of Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir alayhi as-salam, it is a different situation because his mother was a different one. Seventh Imam's mother. So I talked about Fars, Persian, Sindhi. One of the prominent members of Ahl Al-Bayt, the mother of the seventh Imam comes from the Berber tribe of North Africa, you know, Morocco and Tunis area. The North-Africans, they are known as the Berber tribe, and she was from there. Eighth Imam's mother, comes from Maghrib, which is again North-West Africa, Morocco, Magrib is actually Morocco. Ninth Imam's mother comes from Nubia. Nubia is northern part of Sudan, just South of Egypt. Nubiyya, this is what we call. And so tenth Imam's mother was again from Maghrib, Morocco.

We see that even our Imams, their marriages and the children are coming from all different background, as far as race is concerned. Of course, the Fadhila of the Ahl Al-Bayt is supreme because of the relationship to Rasul and 'Ali, and Fatimah, alayhum as-salat wa as-salam. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

Ninth Imam's, just his wiladat is close by, his mother Sabika and Khaizaran, there are two different names given, she comes from Nubia. I talked about this Zayidi Sadat. Let me talk about Rizvi Sadat also, because all the Rizvi Sadat are from the ninth Imam actually. Because Imam Ridha' alayhi as-salam, became so famous during his time that all his children, the 9th Imam, the 10th Imam, the 11th Imam, they were all known as Ibnu ar-Ridha'. Before that the other Imams are all called Ibn Rasul Allah, when they called them. But the fame of Imam Ridha alayhi as-salam, was such that the 9th Imam, of course, he was the son, even the 10th Imam and 11th Imam also would be called Ibnu ar-Ridha'.

And based on that, the children of the descendants of 9th Imam also are Taqawi-Radhawi, with this nisbat of Imam Ridha alayhi as-salam. And his mother was from northern Sudan. And therefore, his skin complex was basically not that white you would say, Arabs are not necessarily white. And it is important to realize that doesn't have any impact as far as the greatness of the Ninth Imam is concerned.

I am just remembering an incident in the life of my late father. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. Those of you know his background. He is the pioneer of Tabligh in Africa among the Africans because the Shi'a community, the Khoja community was there for, if not for a century, many decades. Many ulama' had come even before him. But they were not really involved in bringing the Madhab of Ahl Al-Bayt to the African original people. It was his initiative and part of that work, well, he was not alone. There were many others who were supporting him in that path. A time came when a tribe in Kenya converted to Islam from paganism.

They were not even Christian or Sunni. They were pagans worshipping their own tribal things. And because the chief became very much impressed with the character and honesty of some of the Shi'a merchants who used to come to his area and trade with him regularly. And he really admired their honesty, their truthfulness, and their character, especially at the time of Namaz, they would stop all discussions and trade, and do their Namaz. So he started asking them, can you tell me what is all this that you do? And he became very much impressed with Islam. And this is what I would say. Islam does not only spread by books and lectures. It sprays more faster and widely by the character of the Muslims themselves.

And so he became interested and he studied about Islam and he became a Muslim, a Shi'a Muslim. And because of his influence, the entire tribe actually became Shi'a Muslim. And when the special ceremony was organized, Bilal Muslim Mission in Kenya, which was involved in these activities, especially asked my father that you must come for this program. We need you there to give the main speech. And so my father just in a way used this background being a Rizvi or Radhawi Sadat going back to Imam Muhammad Taqi alayhi as-salam, and Imam Muhammad Taqi's mother was from North Sudan. And remember, Kenya is just south of Sudan.

So he, in a way, basically wanted to give an emotional touch to this to them. And it says in Swahili there the Sadat are known as Sharifu. In Arabic also, if you go to Arab world, the word Sayyid means Mr only. But those who are from Sadat, they call them Ash-Sharif so and so. In Swahili also they call the Sadat as Sharifu. And so he told them that you have come into a religion where the colour of the skin or your ethnicity, tribal background doesn't matter. You could be white, brown, dark, it doesn't matter at all. As long as you are a Muslim, and you have the Taqwa, you will be held at a higher esteem, by Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. And he says just to tell you that I belong to the ninth Imam whose mother came from just north of your part, where you are now. And they actually became so happy and joyous, stood up in joy saying oh, Sharifu is our relative now, in that way that one of his ancestors, one of the grandmothers comes from our area in that way.

The point is that when you talk about Islam, you have to remember that when we come to this part of the world, we see this diversity even in our communities here in Toronto, it is very different from if you were even in your own countries, you are confined to your own groups. And this is where we have to open up our minds and our hearts and realize that we are all Shi'a Ithna Ashari. We believe in the same Allah, the same Rasul, the same Qur'an, all the Imams are the same. And we follow those maraji' who actually take us to that path. And that should be the main focus for us as far as our identity is concerned. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

It is interesting that the ninth Imam was married to daughter of Ma'mun Ar-Rashid, Umm ul-Fadhl. And remember, Banu Abbas are also Banu Hashim. But Allah didn't give any child to our ninth Imam through that Hashimiya, Arabiyya lady. Allah blessed him with a dubiya woman.

And this is where we have to realize that when it comes to the issue of the Barakat from Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, He is the one who has created all these different tribes and ethnicity. And this is something not to fight over, it rather to be celebrated. Salawat [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].