According to the perspective of Islam, the Holy Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah, humans are essentially equal in creation, and Islam rejects racism and warns about racial superiority and pride in lineage.
Of course, the beginning of the phenomenon of racism can be seen as Satan’s racist thinking. Satan’s superiority over man led to Satan’s departure and rebellion from God’s servitude (1).
Supremacy was first proposed by Iblis, which can be seen as the root of racism and false supremacy in society.
The Holy Quran says about this:
قَالَ يَا إِبْلِيسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَنْ تَسْجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَيَّ ۖ أَسْتَكْبَرْتَ أَمْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الْعَالِينَ
قَالَ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُكَ ۖ قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِنْ نَارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِينٍ
God said: O Iblis! What was holding you back from prostrating to what I have created with the hands of my power? Did you become arrogant or are you one of the high-ranking people? (2)
(God to Iblis) said: “When I commanded you, what prevented you from prostrating?” He said: “I am better than him; You created me from fire and him from clay!” (3).
In fact, what caused Satan’s desire for superiority was the illusion of superiority in creation, because he considered the primary substance of his creation, which was fire, to be superior to humans. And this was the starting point of racism.
In fact, racism is an evil thought that is rejected by the Almighty God in the Holy Qur’an, Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). We refer to a story about this.
Some of the companions of the Prophet (PBUH) talked about the superiority of their race and family.
They asked Salman Farsi:
“Tell me who are you?” Who is your father and what is his parentage?”
Salman replied:
“I am Salman, the son of God’s servant, who was lost and God guided me in the light of the presence of the Messenger of God (PBUH).
I was poor and God made me wealthy with the help of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). I was a slave whom God freed me with the blessing of Muhammad. This was my lineage and measure.”
Then Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, said:
“O Quraysh! Man’s race is his religion. His chivalry is his morals, and his root is his intellect. (4) God says in the Qur’an:
{إِنَّا خَلَقْناكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَ أُنْثى وَ جَعَلْناكُمْ شُعُوباً وَ قَبائِلَ لِتَعارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقاكُمْ}
“We created you from one male and female and made you into different nations and tribes so that you may know each other. Indeed, the most honorable of you in the sight of God is the most pious of you” (5) .
In the Holy Qur’an, the Almighty God did not consider race and ancestry to be the criteria of value, but he considered piety as the criterion of human value, as an example of one of the branches of piety that Imam Amirul Munin Ali (AS) refers to is human politeness.
In this regard, Imam Amirul Momineen Ali (AS) said:
أشرَفُ حَسَبٍ حُسْنُ أدبٍ
The best honor is good manners. (6)
And in another narration Imam Ali (AS) said:
قليلُ الأدبِ خيرٌ من كثيرِ النَّسَبِ
A little courtesy is better than a lot of ancestry. (7)
And also in another narration he said:
All honors (family honors) will end and only reason and politeness will remain. (8)
The above narrations rejects lineage and racism and what he considers to be necessary and permanent for humans is reason and politeness, which unique God has ordered and emphasized in the Holy Qur’an regarding this issue, also, the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) and Imams (pbuh) have ordered and emphasized it, and forbade people from racism.
(1) Surah A’raf, verse 7
(2) Surah S, verse 75
(3) Surah A’raf, verse 12
(4) Translation of Roze Kafi, page 228
(5) Surah Hujarat, verse 13
(6) Gharr al-Hakam, 2949
(7) Gharr al-Hakm, 6734
(8) Gharr al-Hakm, 6912, Shia hadith library.
(9) Hoze site
