Racism

What the Bible Says...

   Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside…
   When Noah awoke from his wine and found out when his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest slaves will he be to his brothers." (Genesis 9: 20-25).
The (Canaanite) woman came and knelt before him. "Lord help me!" She said. He (Jesus) replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (Matthew 15:25,26).

   You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite… (Deuteronomy 23:20).

What the Qur'an Says…

   O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that who is the most pious of you. Verily, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware. (Qur'an, 49:13).

   And He has united their (Believers`) hearts. If you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allah has united them. Certainly He is All-Mighty, All- Wise. (Qur'an. 8:63).

Commentary..

   According to the Bible. Prophet Noah (pbuh) cursed Canaan and made him a slave for his brother because of the mistake of his father Ham, which implies that the descendents of Ham (Black people) are cursed people and slaves for the descendants of Shem and Japheth. The muslim rejects this story for the following reasons:

   Prophet Noah (Pbuh) was a great Messenger of Allah and accusing him of drinking wine and lying naked is not accepted by Muslims.

   Canaan should`t have been cursed for Ham`s mistake. Why was an innocent son cursed for his father`s mistake? This is an accusation of injustice against one of the great Prophets.

   The Jews claim that they are the children of God and the rest of people are gentiles. They fabricated this story to arrogate to themselves superiority over the Canaanites and to give themselves the right to kill and Humiliate them.

   In addition, the Jew`s hands wrote in the Bible that they could charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite. Further, the Jews falsely accuse Prophet Jesus (pbuh) of saying that the Jews falsely accuse Prophet Jesus (pbuh) of saying that the Canaanites are their dogs. It is unbelievable that Jesus (pbuh) said this racist statement. How could a Messenger of Allah Consider non-Israelites as the dogs of the children of Israel?

   Every nation throughout history has claimed a kind of superiority based on false criteria such as race, color or language. However, the Qur`an provides the true criterion which is piety. The superiority of a person over another depends on righteousness and good behavior, and not blood, wealth of nationality because all humans are the children of Adam.

   The Qur'an says that Allah created different races so that people recognize each other. He did not do that to give certain races superiority or advantage. In fact, the difference in the shapes and colors of people is one of the miracles of Allah which deserves admiration and appreciation; although Allah created us from one male (Adam) and one female (Eve), each person is different from the other; each one is unique. Therefore, the difference is a great miracle of Allah and not justification for racism. 

   Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

   "O people! Your God is one and your forefather (Adam) is one. An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e: white) person is not better than a black person and a black person is not better than a red person except in piety".
   Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the first one to practice this teaching. He treated his Companions equally, the rich, the poor, Arabs and non-Arabs. Bilal the Ethiopian, Suhaib the Roman and Salman the Persian were among the Prophet`s closest Champions. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said,
   "Salman (the Persian) is one of my family."