Healing The Wounds Of Racism: Lessons From The Holy Prophet Of Islam
Lukman Harees
As another birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet of Islam (OWBP) dawns, there are no signs of the well-orchestrated Islamophobic campaign launched on a global plane abating, with many far right groups taking the lead in many countries exploiting this trend to make political gains. In these challenging times, what are the lessons the world can draw from his great exemplary to effectively fight and defeat the scourge and wounds of racism and xenophobia afflicting our world and promoting diversity?
We have probably heard every kind of naive and uninformed comment that can possibly be made about Islam and Muslims, not just in the West but beyond as well, either through ill-will or ignorance. Islam is being painted in the grimmest colours with nothing more than a spent force, incapable of regenerating itself. This unfortunately is a narrative with considerable staying power, drawing its strength from a pervasive Western media that frequently reinforces such perceptions. With sensationalism becoming an essential criterion in journalism, analysts note that the diversity of voices and opinions that prevail in the Muslim world , as well as the rich spiritual and intellectual resources available within the Islamic tradition (both as a religion and civilization), are wilfully ignored.
However, contrary to popular belief, Muslims are also grappling with the challenges of modernity in myriad ways, re-engaging with their tradition and revisiting their history, as others do. Many of them are rereading their religious texts for guidance in this process of negotiation; for religion, in their experience, is an ally, not an enemy of the modern world. It is a matter of shame that the unwary world do not seem to understand that right-wing Western Islamophobes and militant western-phobic Islamist groups are a mirror image of each other, and their hate-mongering has resulted in incalculable harm, which is evident in the terror-stricken world we inhabit today. The world is therefore crying out for an order endowed with an unshakeable faith in the ultimate goodness of humanity, to rise above the narrow confines of racism and create channels of communication that help establish common ground and inter-religious solidarity.
Indeed this is the need of the Hour and the example of one of the greatest social reformers the world has ever seen, Prophet of Islam (OWBP) who initiated the transformation of the pre-Islamic Arabs, from Ignorance (Jahilliya) towards the pinnacle of civilization in this regard will be both inspiring and illuminating to the modern day activists who are fighting this cancer of racism.
There were many instances from history too, of Muslim egalitarianism which were inspired by the example of the Prophet of Islam (OWBP). He upheld justice in his time and rejected the ignorant belief which considered some people superior to others because of their language, race, social status or ethnicity. As mentioned in the Qur’an, one of the divine purposes in the creation of the different races is “that they should come to know each other”. (Al-Hujurat 49:13). He stated that : “O people! All of you are the children of Adam. You are like equal wheat grains in a bowl … No one has any superiority over anyone else, except in religion and heedfulness.” (Ahmad)
If we perceive racism, as indicated by things like the 1994 O. J. Simpson trial, the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles, or the existence of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan or Trump’s win in America as something new, it is time to think again. Racism existed before and during the lifetime of the Prophet (OWBP), during the time of the Companions, and they devised strategies to combat it.
