Opposed to claims by Muslims and even many Western scholars of Islam that Islam is non-racist and egalitarian, the Quran, Sahih hadiths and original biographies of Prophet Muhammad contain ample verses and passages that clearly and irrefutably establish Islam as a racist, Arab supremacist theological doctrine.
A Muslim reader by the nickname "Silence" recently wrote to us, asserting that we were spreading falsehood about Islam on islam-watch.org. He/she wrote: "You could regret for this site full of lies, you don't have idea about Islam…"
We replied: "Please note that we do not lie. We tell the truth."
In further exchanges, we decided to engage in a debate to justify our respective claims, and decided, as a start, to debate on whether Islam is racist, in reference to our recent article, The Racism and Slavery of Islam.
To prove that Islam is anti-racist and that we spread falsehood in above article, Silence wrote:
No racism in Islam is confirmed by this hadith:
“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action (good deeds).” (I can't find exact arabic version.)
Like quoting verse 5:32 that says, killing one person is equal to killing entire humanity (silly assertion as it is), this so-called "hadith" is popularly quoted by Muslims in their effort to portray Islam as anti-racist or egalitarian. But when they are asked for reference, i.e. hadith number etc., they cannot produce one. Actually, none of the hadith collections list this alleged saying of Muhammad.
Muhammad’s Farewell Sermon
Prophet Muhammad allegedly uttered those "noble" words in his "Farewell Sermon" during his last Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca in 632 CE. Muhammad's last Hajj pilgrimage, especially the Farewell Sermon, is such a huge event in Islamic history, but this noble passage is event from all Sahih hadith compilations of the Prophet’s life. However, we find the Prophet’s entire Farewell Sermon in his original Sira by Ibn Ishaq and others. Ibn Ishaq quotes the Farewell Sermon as follows (p. 651-652):
“O men, listen to my words. I do not know whether I shall ever meet you in this place again after this year. Your blood and your property are sacrosanct until you meet your Lord, as this day and this month are holy. You will surely meet your Lord and He will ask you of your works. I have told you. He who has a pledge let him return it to him who entrusted him with it; all usury is abolished, but you have your capital. Wrong not and you shall not be wronged. God has decreed that there is to be no usury and the usury of 'Abbas b. 'Abdu'l-Muttalib is abolished, all of it. All blood shed in the pagan period is to be left unavenged. The first claim on blood I abolish is that of b. Rabi'a b. al-Harith b. 'Abdu'l-Muttalib (who was fostered among the B. Layth and whom Hudhayl killed). It is the first blood shed in the pagan period which I deal with. Satan despairs of ever being worshipped in your land, but if he can be obeyed in anything short of worship he will be pleased in matters you may be disposed to think of little account, so beware of him in your religion. "Postponement of a sacred month is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled; they allow it one year and forbid it another year that they may make up the number of the months which God has hallowed, so that they permit what God has forbidden, and forbid what God has allowed.” Time has completed its cycle and is as it was on the day that God created the heavens and the earth. The number of months with God is twelve; four of them are sacred, three consecutive and the Rajab of Mudar, which is between Jumada and Sha'ban.
You have rights over your wives and they have rights over you. You have the right that they should not defile your bed and that they should not behave with open unseemliness. If they do, God allows you to put them in separate rooms and to beat them but not with severity. If they refrain from these things they have the right to their food and clothing with kindness. Lay injunctions on women kindly, for they are prisoners with you having no control- of their persons. You have taken them only as a trust from God, and you have the enjoyment of their persons by the words of God, so understand (T. and listen to) my words, O men, for I have told you. I have left with you something which if you will hold fast to it you will never fall into error—a plain indication, the book of God and the practice of His prophet, so give good heed to what I say.
Know that every Muslim is a Muslim's brother, and that the Muslims are brethren. It is only lawful to take from a brother what he gives you willingly, so wrong not yourselves. O God, have I not told you?
Al-Tabari, another original biographer – a great Islamic scholar and Islam’s greatest historian – also quote the Farewell Sermon in exactly the same term (History of Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 112-113):
O people, listen to my words. I do not know whether I shall ever meet you again in this place after this year. O people, your blood and your property are sacrosanct until you meet your Lord, just as this day and this month of yours are sacred. Surely you will meet your Lord and He will question you about your deeds. I have [already] made this known. Let he who has a pledge return it to the one who entrusted him with it; all usury is abolished, but your capital belongs to you. Wrong not and you shall not be wronged. Allah has decreed that there will be no usury, and the usury of Abbas b. Abd al-Muttalib is abolished, all of it. All blood shed in the pre-Islamic days is to be left unavenged. The first such claim I revoke is that of Ibn Rabiah b. al-Harith b. Abd al-Muttalib, who was nursed among the Banu Layth and was slain by the Banu Hudhayl. His is the first blood shed in the pre-Islamic days with which I shall set an example. O people, indeed Satan despairs of ever being worshipped in this land of yours. He will be pleased, however, if he is obeyed in a thing other than that, in matters you minimize. So beware of him in your religion, O people, intercalculating a month is an increase in unbelief whereby the unbelievers go astray; one year they make it profane, and hallow it another [in order] to agree with the number that Allah has hallowed, and so profane what Allah has hallowed, and hallow what Allah has made profane. Time has completed its cycle [and is] as it was on the day that Allah created the heavens and the earth. The number of the months with Allah is twelve; [they were] in the Book of Allah on the day He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred, the three consecutive [months] and the Rajab [which is the month of] Mudar, which is between Jumada and Sha’ban.
Now then, O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have [the right] that they should not cause anyone of whom you dislike to tread on your beds; and that they should not commit any open indecency. If they do, then Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain from [evil], they have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with the custom. Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves. You have taken them only as a trust from Allah, and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of Allah, so understand and listen to my words, O people. I have conveyed the Message, and have left you with something which, if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray; that is, the Book of Allah and the sunnah of his Prophet. Listen to my words, O people, for I have conveyed the Message and understand [it]. Know for certain that every Muslim is a brother of another Muslim, and that all Muslims are brethren. It is not lawful for a person [to take] from his brother except that which he has given him willingly, so do not wrong yourselves. O Allah, have I not conveyed the message?
So, Prophet Muhammad’s famed Farewell Sermon, found in his two original biographies, agrees with each, and none of them contain the above-mentioned passage that apparently condemns racism. This passage is found in a version of the Prophet's Farewell Sermon quoted in Indo-Pakistani Islamic author S. F. H. Faizi’s 1987 book, "Sermons of the Prophet" (p. 145, 1991 edition):
O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every *Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. God has judged that there shall be no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn 'Abd'al Muttalib (Prophet's uncle) shall henceforth be waived...
Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under God's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.
O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, say your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my Ahl al-Bayt and if you follow these you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.
The version of the sermon in Faizi’s book is substantially different from the original sermon we find in original biographies of the Prophet. And Faizi failed to provide an authoritative source for his version of the sermon, as he wrote in Introduction of the book:
This book is a collection of some of the selected sermons of the Holy Prophet which include long as well short ones as the situation demanded. They were not available in the form of Khutbas but have been derived from various books of Ahadith and history. It is only recently that some of these have appeared in book-forms along with original texts and translation in Urdu; but the authenticity of the texts thereof is still doubted by ulema.
Faizi was certainly on a deceptive mission, because this sermon in full is available in widely-circulated biographies of Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq and Al-Tabari, which he totally ignored. For example, “The Life of Muhammad” by Ibn Ishaq is being printed from Karachi since 1967 and was reprinted for the 18th time in 2004. So, it is impossible that Mr. Faizi didn’t have a copy of it. Instead, he chose to present a version that does not have any authentic reference and which the ulema dispute.
And we should also take note of the fact that if we, ignoring the fraudulent Faizi version of the sermon, focus on the original version, we find nothing great about this greatest sermon of Islam, except its horribly demeaning decree about women, who are depicted as slaves of men, calling them “domestic animals” and giving men authority to beat them and deprive them of food and clothing.
Furthermore, Faizi’s version of the sermon as well as the original version are also racist in undertone, as it says: "Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood" (Faizi). This saying clearly divides the human race into two different sectarian groups, pitting one against the other, as key element in idea of racism.
In sum, the passage -- "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action." – in Faizi’s version of Prophet’s Farewell Sermon is not found in original version in Prophet’s original biographies by Ibn Ishaq and Al-Tabari. This passage, therefore, is most likely a fraudulent insertion. And this forgery has been taken in even by renowned Western Islamic historians and scholars, such as Bernard Lewis and Ignaz Goldziher. Regarding Islam’s egalitarian nature, Bernard Lewis, argues (Lewis B, What Went Wrong?, 2002, p. 91):
There is much truth in this assertion… the Islamic dispensation does indeed bring a message of equality. Not only does Islam not endorse such systems of social differentiation (racism, caste system etc.), it explicitly and resolutely rejects them. The actions and utterances of the Prophet, the honoured precedents of the early rulers of Islam as preserved by tradition, are overwhelmingly against privilege by decent, by birth, by status, by wealth, or even by piety and merit in Islam.
Lewis adds that any deviation from these basic principles was non-Islamic, indeed, anti-Islamic innovation. He is, however, quick to assert the degraded status of slaves, unbelievers and women in Islam, sanctioned by its holy writ, remained unquestioned throughout the history of Islam. (Ibid, p. 91-92)
I have shed light on the racist nature of the Islamic creed in my book, “Islamic Jihad”, from which I quote the following passages to show that Islam’s sacred texts – namely it Holy book the Quran as well as Sahih hadiths – contain verses and passages that clearly obviate that Islam is a racist religious creed (Khan M A, Islamic Jihad, Felibri, p. 139-41):
It is, however, uneducated to assert that Islam brought equality amongst all peoples, irrespective of race, color or nationality: Arabs or non-Arabs, Blacks or Whites. Islam in its divine writ of the Quran is a racist and Arab supremacist religion. Allah glorifies Arabs as the best of peoples, His chosen race, whom He will help in establishing their supremacy and domination over all peoples of the earth. This is somewhat like the Israelites, who are G-d’s chosen people, but the expanse of their domination is to remain confined to Israel alone. The Arabs of Hejaz, asserts the Islamic God, are the best of nations (peoples, races) in the world: ‘Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah…’ [Quran 3:110]. According to Muhammad’s early biographer Ibn Sa’d, the Prophet also claimed the same in saying [Ibn Sa’d AAM (1972) Kitab al-Tabaqat, Trans. S. Moinul Haq, Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, Vol. I., p. 2]:
‘God divided the earth in two halves and placed (me) in the better of the two, then He divided the half in three parts, and I was in the best of them, then He chose the Arabs from among the people, then He chose the Quraysh from among the Arabs, then He chose the children of ‘Abd al–Muttalib from among the Banu Hashim, then he chose me from among the children of ‘Abd al–Muttalib.’
In fact, Allah had wished Islam to be a religion solely for the Arabs, to whom no revelation had been sent before: ‘Or do they say, ‘He (Muhammad) has forged it?’ Nay, it is the Truth from thy Lord, that thou mayest admonish a people (Arabs) to whom no warner has come before thee: in order that they may receive guidance’ [Quran 32:3]. Allah chose Muhammad’s Quraysh tribe as the best race to lead the world under the banner of Islam says a prophetic tradition: ‘Allah’s Apostle said, ‘Authority of ruling will remain with Quraysh, and whoever bears hostility to them, Allah will destroy him as long as they abide by the laws of the religion’’ [Bukhari 4:56:704].
Therefore, the Islamic deity clearly revealed Islam to be an Arab-supremacist religion—opposed to what many great scholars have to say about the egalitarian nature of Islam. Not only that, the Islamic deity is also a white supremacist—that is, an anti-Black racist—who will turn the doomed unbelievers black on the day of Judgement:
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- ‘On the Day of Judgment wilt thou see those who told lies against Allah; their faces will be turned black…’ [Quran 39:60]
- ‘On the Day when some faces will be white, and some faces will be black: To those whose faces will be black (will be said): ‘Did ye reject Faith after accepting it? Taste then the penalty for rejecting Faith.’ But those, whose faces will be white, they will be in Allah’s mercy...’ [Quran 3:106–07]
- ‘For those who do good is good (reward) and more (than this); and blackness or ignominy shall not cover their faces… And those who have earned evil… they shall have none to protect them from Allah—as if their faces had been covered with slices of the dense darkness of night…’ [Quran 10:26–27]
The Arab supremacism and anti-Black racism were not simply the divine writ in Islam to sit idle; they were a living reality since the early time of Islam to the present day. Today, the Middle East Arabs treat their Muslim coreligionists from countries like Bangladesh or Africa with contempt and belittlement. Famous Islamic scholar Ignaz Goldziher, out of his ignorance of the Quranic scruples, also thought that Islam taught unequivocal equality of all Muslims before God. Goldziher is, therefore, unnecessarily at pain for the Arabs’ historical disregard for Islam’s alleged equality for all, as he says, ‘the Muslim teachings of the equality of all men in Islam remained a dead letter for a long time, never realized in the consciousness of Arabs, and roundly denied in their day to day behaviour.’ [Goldziher, I (1967) Muslim Studies, p. 98]
After the Arab Muslims burst out of Arabia, and conquered vast territories and established rule over them, they never conceded equality to the non-Arab converts; they were the ruling lords and the Muslims of other races were second-class subjects. Of course, that’s how it was to be in the writ of Allah. The Arabs treated the non-Arab converts with belittlement, subjecting them ‘to a whole series of fiscal, social, political, military and other disabilities.’[Lewis B (1966) The Arabs in History, p. 38] The Arabs exercised a policy of apartheid against their non-Arab Muslim brethren. According to Cambridge History of Islam [cited in Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not A Muslim, 1995, p. 202]:
They lead them into battles on foot. They deprived them of booty. They would not walk on the same side of the street with them, nor sit at the same repast. In nearly every place, separate encampments and mosques were constructed for their use. Marriage between them and the Arabs was considered a social crime.
Islam was born, undoubtedly, to be a global imperialism ruled by the Arabs, and preferably, by the Quraysh—the tribe of Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, throughout history, it became a fashion, indeed a necessity for legitimacy, for Muslim monarchs to link their genealogy to the Arabs, more specifically, to the clan of Quraysh. Well into mid-twentieth century, the dark-skinned Nawab of Bahawalpur (Sindh), who had an obsession for white women for producing brighter children, fanatically claimed his ancestry to the Abbasid family of the Quraysh clan. The latest Encyclopedia of Islam has categorically dismissed this claim. [Naipaul VS (1998) Beyond Belief, p. 329-31] In Southeast Asia, the Mongol-looking rulers of the Sulu Sultanate claimed their descent from the Prophet to reinforce their Islamic credentials for legitimizing their hold on power. Historically, the Muslim monarchs in North Africa normally claimed their ancestry to the Arabs. Sultan Moulay Ismail (d. 1727) had claimed his descent from the family of the Prophet. Shah Ismail (r. 1502–24), the founder of the Safavid dynasty in Persia, despite being a Turk and embracing Persian culture, claimed his descent from Muhammad. Such claims amongst Muslim monarchs throughout history are almost universal. It is still the Arabs, who rule in North Africa in many cases, namely in Sudan and Morocco.
Allah obviously takes the least of liking for the Black people amongst the races. Accordingly, the Blacks suffered the worst treatment and cruelty in the hands of Arab invaders. The Arabs had turned Africa into a slave-hunting and breeding ground over the centuries (see Chapter VII)—a fate that haunts them till today in one form or another, such as in Sudan (Chapter VII; Section: Revival of slavery in Sudan). Since early Islam, many famous poets of the Arabs were Blacks, who frequently expressed their sufferance of racism and belittlement from the Arabs in such lamenting terms as ‘I am black but my soul is white’ or ‘Women would love me if I were white.’ Noting that racism in the modern sense of it was absent in pre-Islamic Arabia, Lewis adds:
The Islamic dispensation, far from encouraging it, condemns even the universal tendency to ethnic and social arrogance and proclaims the equality of all Muslims before God. Yet, from the literature, it is clear that a new and sometimes vicious pattern of social hostility and discrimination had emerged within the Islamic world. [Lewis, 1966, p. 36]
Lewis is obviously unaware of the Arab supremacist and anti-Black racist dispensation imbedded in the holy scriptures of Islam; and what has transpired and continues to this day (Arabs are the most racist people in the world today) is what the Islamic God unequivocally intended.
…
On the oft-repeated and well-received, but baseless, claim that Islam brought high culture, human brotherhood and social egalitarianism, Anwar Shaikh wrote [Islam: The Arab National Movement, 1995, Preface]:
Islam has caused more damage to the national dignity and honour of non-Arab Moslems than any other calamity that may have affected them, yet they believe that this faith is the ambassador of: 1) Equality, and 2) Human love… This is a fiction which has been presented as a fact with an unparalleled skill. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad divided humanity into two sections—the Arabs and the non-Arabs. According to this categorisation, the Arabs are the rulers and the non-Arabs are to be ruled through the yoke of the Arab Cultural Imperialism… The Islamic love of mankind is a myth of even greater proportions. Hatred of non-Moslems is the pivot of the Islamic existence. It not only declares all dissidents as the denizens of hell but also seeks to ignite a permanent fire of tension between the Moslems and non-Moslems…
Conclusion
To show Islam as non-racist and egalitarian, the only passage that Muslims quote, allegedly from Prophet Muhammad’s Farewell Sermon, is not found in Sahih hadith collections and original biographies of Prophet Muhammad. That passage is absent in the version of the Farewell Sermon we find in Prophet’s original biographies. And even Faizi’s version of sermon is of racist undertone. Apart from this, the Quran, Sahih hadiths and original biographies of Prophet Muhammad contain ample verses and passages that clearly and irrefutably establish Islam as a racist, Arab supremacist theological doctrine.
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