- How to End Racism
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- Recent events remind us
that racism remains rampant. Yet we can easily end racism
through understanding and education.
- People must realise
that God created all humans from one couple, thus making
the entire humans from one couple, thus making the entire
human race one large extended family. God says:
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- O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your
Lord who created you from a single
- soul and from it its mate; and from the
two of them He spread abroad a multitude
- of men and women (Qur'an 4:1).
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- Furthermore, we must
understand that no race is superior to another. We
appreciate a garden having many different flowers because
we realise that each adds something to the beauty of the
entire arrangement. This is why we do not object to the
colour of any flower. In a similar way we can see the
world as a garden decorated with people of different
colours. Let us appreciate that each variety of people
contributes something to the spice of life in this world.
God says:
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- O mankind! We have created you male and
female, and have made you nations
- and tribes that you may know each other.
The noblest of you, in the sight of Allah1,
- is the best in conduct (Qur'an 49:13).
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- The noblest are the best in conduct. Such
persons may belong to any race or country. What really
matters is their conduct and behavior. The prophet
Muhammad2 publicly
declared that Arabs are not superior to non-Arabs, and
one colour is not superior to another. He also said that
people should obey their leader even if he is a black
person.
- As a result of
following these teachings, many people have banished
racism from their thoughts and actions. You will find
people of various colours worshipping together, all with
equal status before God. Rich or poor, black or white,
king or pauper all line up side by side to worship. No
special preference is given to anyone based on colour or
social status. The leader in a mosque is appointed for
his learning in the religious sciences, regardless skin
colour. There is no such concept as a "black
mosque" or "white mosque." Islam removes
such destructive concepts.
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- 1. Allah is the name of God used by
Arabic-Speaking Christians and Jews, and by all Muslims.
- 1. May peace, and the blessings of Allah,
be on His messengers Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and others.