meer suhail
ILM seeker
1 part
ISLAM'S ANSWER TO THE RACIAL PROBLEM
BY A GERMAN DIPLOMAT
It is a great and, as I feel, rather undeserved, honour which the Organizers of this Conference have so very kindly and generously done me by inviting me to address you and thus to contribute to the aims of the Conference, namely to develop closer relations with other religious groups, to present the teachings of Islam as they actually are. and to remove misunderstandings about, as it has been called, the most misunderstood religion in the West. so that the Western World may see it in its true image. I am most grateful for this honour and I pray to Almighty Allah* for His help and guidance so that I may be able to do justice to the task which lies before me.
The topic I have been asked to speak about is:
"Islam and the Racial Problem." When it was proposed to me I accepted it very readily, even eagerly, for some very personal reasons which I may kindly be permitted to mention very briefly.
*'ALLAH: Allah is the proper noun for God Almighty in the Semitic languages, ie- in the language of Moses, Jesus and Muhummed (peace be upon them all). See "WHAT IS HIS NAME" by Ahmed Deedat.
When I was introduced to you. you were told that I am a German Muslim, a German convert to Islam. As a German national, who was born in the late twenties, I spent my childhood and my youth under a political regime which, by the gross and utterly shameful atrocities perpetrated upon racial minorities and by its dogmatic belief in, and its ruthless application of. the "Herrenrasse" — or Master — Race Theory, meaning nothing less than the absolute supremacy of a "Germanic Race" over all other races living on this earth, has become synonymous with racism and all the ills and evils. the misery and suffering the injustice and brutality' that go with it.
Though by sheer accident of birth, not by any personal virtue or merit — and accident of birth, nothing more and nothing less, decides life and death, happiness and misery, freedom and bondage under a racist regime — I was spared the fate of becoming a victim myself of this obnoxious and pernicious creed. I cannot and shall never forget the terror and excesses which marked its rule in my country, nor shall I ever forget the plight and agonies of the innocent objects and targets of this diabolic and inhuman system of dividing man and man as I saw it practised around me in the formative years of my life.
It is against this background and with these personal experiences with racism and its problems and consequences indelibly engraved in my mind and memory that I so eagerly and readily responded to the invitation to expound, as far as my limited knowledge of Islam permits, the Islamic concept of inter-human relation, its high ideal of human brotherhood and the actualization of this ideal in history, in contrast to the antagonism between the different races of man as preached and practiced by racism.
Let me commence by taking you on a pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Islam in and around the venerable city of Mecca, in present day Saudi Arabia, the city of the "Ka'aba," the Sacred Mosque, which, according to the Holy Quran, is the first house that was ever built on earth for the worship of the One and Only God — to Mecca, the birthplace of the Holy Prophet Mohummed, upon whom be peace and the blessings of Allah, the city in which, and in whose vicinity, the Holy Prophet received the first and a large part of the remaining revelations from On High.
THE HAJJ
This annual pilgrimage, or "Hajj," as it is called in the Arabic language, is one of the "Five Pillars," one of the five fundamental religious duties to be performed by Muslims.
Without going further into the details of the conditions to be fulfilled in order to be able to proceed on this pilgrimage, or of the rites and rituals to be observed in its course, let me describe in a few words the most striking and unforgettable sight that will present itself to your eye upon reaching the sacred territory:
You will see a multitude of men, women and also children, close perhaps to 2 million, from every corner of the world, black and brown of complexion. yellow and white. Arabs and Iranians. Turks and Malays. Chinese and Africans, black and white Americans, blond and blue-eyed Europeans -— in short to quote one of our great Germanic Poets, Friedrich Schiller :"Who knows the nations, who the names of all who here together came?
NO DISTINCTION
And there is still more that fills us with wonder:
Whether black or brown, yellow or white, rich or poor, young or old, every male that our eye beholds is dressed alike, wearing two white seamless sheets of simple material, thus eliminating completely all marks and signs of distinction of dress between the African and American, the Asian. Australian and European, the mighty and wealthy and the poor and lowly. Here they have come, brother unto brother, sister unto sister, bearing witness to the brotherhood of mankind, to the equality of all human beings before their Creator, for it is to worship Him and to extol His glory that has brought them here. They have heard and heeded His call. and their reply uttered, nay cried out by all and sundry, echoing and re-echoing from the surrounding mountains is:
"LABBAIK. ALLAHUMMA LABBAIK" — HERE AM I, O ALLAH. HERE AM I. THERE IS NONE WHO IS THY PARTNER. ALL PRAISE AND BLESSING BELONG TO THEE ALONE. FOR THOU ART THE SOVEREIGN, AND THOU HAST NO PARTNER."
The pilgrimage to Mecca, the huge assembly of believers from all five continents, the gathering together of a multitude of worshippers of all races on the plain of Arafat is perhaps the most spectac1-cular expression, symbol and proof of unity and brotherhood of man as enunciated and upheld by the religion of Islam, and it is equally a symbol and proof of the equality of man before Allah, the Supreme Being, as taught by this religion.
The concept and idea of the oneness of humanity is Islam's unique contribution to human civilization. and it came as a natural sequel to its cardinal doctrine, the doctrine of "Tauhid," or the unity of God.
The doctrine, which runs through all teachings of the Holy Quran like a red thread, has found its most concise and terse expression in the 112th chapter of the Holy Book. called "Al-lkhlaas," or "Purity of Faith."
"Say: He is God, the One and Only;
God, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteh not, nor Is He begotten;
And there Is None like unto Him."
Holy Quran 112:1-4
(Read these verses and the verses following in conjunction with their commentary by A. Yusuf Ali.)
THE RABB
He, Allah, the One and Only, is the author of all existence; He is our Creator, to Him we belong and to Him is our return. And He is more than mere author and creator: He is also the "Rabb" of His creation and His creatures; and "Rabb" according to the great authority on the Holy Quran. Imam Raghib. in Arabic it signifies "THE CHERISHER, SUSTAINER AND FOSTERER OF A THING IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO MAKE IT ATTAIN ONE CONDITION AFTER ANOTHER UNTIL IT REACHES ITS GOAL OF COMPLETION AND PERFECTION." "Thus, Allah being the "Rabb ul-AlamIn," the "Rabb of the Worlds" as He is called in the opening chapter, of the Holy Quran and of all of us, whom He created." HE DEALS WITH ALL OF US ALIKE, NO MATTER TO WHICH RACE. NATION. TRIBE OR PARENTAGE WE MAY BELONG, for He created us all alike, as the Holy Quran further elucidates in numerous verses and words, such as:
"AND MANKIND IS NAUGHT BUT A SINGLE NATION."
Holy Quran 2:213
We are all the children of Adam. and Adam was made of dust. Here dawned the idea for the first time in human history that all men have a common origin and that, because of their common origin, because we belong to Allah, all and sundry, to Whom is our ultimate return, the whole of humanity is but one family, one nation, and should, ideally, form one fraternity, the universal brotherhood of man.
The differences of colour and languages, of build and of features are not regarded as differences of quality, or as marks or degrees of excellence, but as an expression of the diversity in nature:
Says the Holy Quran:
"AMONG HIS SIGNS IS THIS, THAT HE CREATED YOU FROM DUST: AND THEN. BEHOLD, YE ARE MEN SCATTERED (FAR AND WIDE)"
"AND AMONG HIS SIGNS IS THE CREATION OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. AND THE VARIATIONS AND DIVERSITY OF YOUR TONGUES AND OF YOUR COLOUR; VERILY IN THAT ARE SIGNS FOR THOSE WHO KNOW."
Holy Quran 30:22
Allama Yusuf Ali, commenting on this verse. remarks: "All mankind were created of a single pair of parents; yet they had spread to different climates and developed different languages and different shades of complexions. And yet. their basic unity remains unaltered. They feel in the same way, and are equally under God's care".
Whatever the country in which a people lives, whatever the language they speak, whatever the colour of their skin. they are recognized as one family, living under one roof — the canopy of heaven scattered, but of common origin:
Says the Holy Quran:
"O MANKIND! REVERENCE YOUR GUARDIAN-LORD, WHO CREATED YOU FROM A SINGLE PERSON, CREATED, OF LIKE NATURE, HIS MATE, AND FROM THEM TWAIN SCATTERED (LIKE SEEDS) COUNTLESS MEN AND WOMEN."
Holy Quran 4:1
ISLAM'S ANSWER TO THE RACIAL PROBLEM
BY A GERMAN DIPLOMAT
It is a great and, as I feel, rather undeserved, honour which the Organizers of this Conference have so very kindly and generously done me by inviting me to address you and thus to contribute to the aims of the Conference, namely to develop closer relations with other religious groups, to present the teachings of Islam as they actually are. and to remove misunderstandings about, as it has been called, the most misunderstood religion in the West. so that the Western World may see it in its true image. I am most grateful for this honour and I pray to Almighty Allah* for His help and guidance so that I may be able to do justice to the task which lies before me.
The topic I have been asked to speak about is:
"Islam and the Racial Problem." When it was proposed to me I accepted it very readily, even eagerly, for some very personal reasons which I may kindly be permitted to mention very briefly.
*'ALLAH: Allah is the proper noun for God Almighty in the Semitic languages, ie- in the language of Moses, Jesus and Muhummed (peace be upon them all). See "WHAT IS HIS NAME" by Ahmed Deedat.
When I was introduced to you. you were told that I am a German Muslim, a German convert to Islam. As a German national, who was born in the late twenties, I spent my childhood and my youth under a political regime which, by the gross and utterly shameful atrocities perpetrated upon racial minorities and by its dogmatic belief in, and its ruthless application of. the "Herrenrasse" — or Master — Race Theory, meaning nothing less than the absolute supremacy of a "Germanic Race" over all other races living on this earth, has become synonymous with racism and all the ills and evils. the misery and suffering the injustice and brutality' that go with it.
Though by sheer accident of birth, not by any personal virtue or merit — and accident of birth, nothing more and nothing less, decides life and death, happiness and misery, freedom and bondage under a racist regime — I was spared the fate of becoming a victim myself of this obnoxious and pernicious creed. I cannot and shall never forget the terror and excesses which marked its rule in my country, nor shall I ever forget the plight and agonies of the innocent objects and targets of this diabolic and inhuman system of dividing man and man as I saw it practised around me in the formative years of my life.
It is against this background and with these personal experiences with racism and its problems and consequences indelibly engraved in my mind and memory that I so eagerly and readily responded to the invitation to expound, as far as my limited knowledge of Islam permits, the Islamic concept of inter-human relation, its high ideal of human brotherhood and the actualization of this ideal in history, in contrast to the antagonism between the different races of man as preached and practiced by racism.
Let me commence by taking you on a pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Islam in and around the venerable city of Mecca, in present day Saudi Arabia, the city of the "Ka'aba," the Sacred Mosque, which, according to the Holy Quran, is the first house that was ever built on earth for the worship of the One and Only God — to Mecca, the birthplace of the Holy Prophet Mohummed, upon whom be peace and the blessings of Allah, the city in which, and in whose vicinity, the Holy Prophet received the first and a large part of the remaining revelations from On High.
THE HAJJ
This annual pilgrimage, or "Hajj," as it is called in the Arabic language, is one of the "Five Pillars," one of the five fundamental religious duties to be performed by Muslims.
Without going further into the details of the conditions to be fulfilled in order to be able to proceed on this pilgrimage, or of the rites and rituals to be observed in its course, let me describe in a few words the most striking and unforgettable sight that will present itself to your eye upon reaching the sacred territory:
You will see a multitude of men, women and also children, close perhaps to 2 million, from every corner of the world, black and brown of complexion. yellow and white. Arabs and Iranians. Turks and Malays. Chinese and Africans, black and white Americans, blond and blue-eyed Europeans -— in short to quote one of our great Germanic Poets, Friedrich Schiller :"Who knows the nations, who the names of all who here together came?
NO DISTINCTION
And there is still more that fills us with wonder:
Whether black or brown, yellow or white, rich or poor, young or old, every male that our eye beholds is dressed alike, wearing two white seamless sheets of simple material, thus eliminating completely all marks and signs of distinction of dress between the African and American, the Asian. Australian and European, the mighty and wealthy and the poor and lowly. Here they have come, brother unto brother, sister unto sister, bearing witness to the brotherhood of mankind, to the equality of all human beings before their Creator, for it is to worship Him and to extol His glory that has brought them here. They have heard and heeded His call. and their reply uttered, nay cried out by all and sundry, echoing and re-echoing from the surrounding mountains is:
"LABBAIK. ALLAHUMMA LABBAIK" — HERE AM I, O ALLAH. HERE AM I. THERE IS NONE WHO IS THY PARTNER. ALL PRAISE AND BLESSING BELONG TO THEE ALONE. FOR THOU ART THE SOVEREIGN, AND THOU HAST NO PARTNER."
The pilgrimage to Mecca, the huge assembly of believers from all five continents, the gathering together of a multitude of worshippers of all races on the plain of Arafat is perhaps the most spectac1-cular expression, symbol and proof of unity and brotherhood of man as enunciated and upheld by the religion of Islam, and it is equally a symbol and proof of the equality of man before Allah, the Supreme Being, as taught by this religion.
The concept and idea of the oneness of humanity is Islam's unique contribution to human civilization. and it came as a natural sequel to its cardinal doctrine, the doctrine of "Tauhid," or the unity of God.
The doctrine, which runs through all teachings of the Holy Quran like a red thread, has found its most concise and terse expression in the 112th chapter of the Holy Book. called "Al-lkhlaas," or "Purity of Faith."
"Say: He is God, the One and Only;
God, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteh not, nor Is He begotten;
And there Is None like unto Him."
Holy Quran 112:1-4
(Read these verses and the verses following in conjunction with their commentary by A. Yusuf Ali.)
THE RABB
He, Allah, the One and Only, is the author of all existence; He is our Creator, to Him we belong and to Him is our return. And He is more than mere author and creator: He is also the "Rabb" of His creation and His creatures; and "Rabb" according to the great authority on the Holy Quran. Imam Raghib. in Arabic it signifies "THE CHERISHER, SUSTAINER AND FOSTERER OF A THING IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO MAKE IT ATTAIN ONE CONDITION AFTER ANOTHER UNTIL IT REACHES ITS GOAL OF COMPLETION AND PERFECTION." "Thus, Allah being the "Rabb ul-AlamIn," the "Rabb of the Worlds" as He is called in the opening chapter, of the Holy Quran and of all of us, whom He created." HE DEALS WITH ALL OF US ALIKE, NO MATTER TO WHICH RACE. NATION. TRIBE OR PARENTAGE WE MAY BELONG, for He created us all alike, as the Holy Quran further elucidates in numerous verses and words, such as:
"AND MANKIND IS NAUGHT BUT A SINGLE NATION."
Holy Quran 2:213
We are all the children of Adam. and Adam was made of dust. Here dawned the idea for the first time in human history that all men have a common origin and that, because of their common origin, because we belong to Allah, all and sundry, to Whom is our ultimate return, the whole of humanity is but one family, one nation, and should, ideally, form one fraternity, the universal brotherhood of man.
The differences of colour and languages, of build and of features are not regarded as differences of quality, or as marks or degrees of excellence, but as an expression of the diversity in nature:
Says the Holy Quran:
"AMONG HIS SIGNS IS THIS, THAT HE CREATED YOU FROM DUST: AND THEN. BEHOLD, YE ARE MEN SCATTERED (FAR AND WIDE)"
"AND AMONG HIS SIGNS IS THE CREATION OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. AND THE VARIATIONS AND DIVERSITY OF YOUR TONGUES AND OF YOUR COLOUR; VERILY IN THAT ARE SIGNS FOR THOSE WHO KNOW."
Holy Quran 30:22
Allama Yusuf Ali, commenting on this verse. remarks: "All mankind were created of a single pair of parents; yet they had spread to different climates and developed different languages and different shades of complexions. And yet. their basic unity remains unaltered. They feel in the same way, and are equally under God's care".
Whatever the country in which a people lives, whatever the language they speak, whatever the colour of their skin. they are recognized as one family, living under one roof — the canopy of heaven scattered, but of common origin:
Says the Holy Quran:
"O MANKIND! REVERENCE YOUR GUARDIAN-LORD, WHO CREATED YOU FROM A SINGLE PERSON, CREATED, OF LIKE NATURE, HIS MATE, AND FROM THEM TWAIN SCATTERED (LIKE SEEDS) COUNTLESS MEN AND WOMEN."
Holy Quran 4:1