No racism in Islam

One of the main contributors that have weakened the Muslim ummah is the disease of asabiyyah (racial discrimination). The once unified and cohesive Muslim ummah has now transformed into differing and conflicting entities due to this disease.

The drive that causes asabiyyah is the feeling of being better than others and that others are at a lower class. So, the person that has this feeling of asabiyyah thinks so highly of themselves and of those to whom they belong and thinks that other people will never be as good as them.

Islam promotes altruistic and cooperative behaviors in a multicultural society to promote social cohesion among humans in forming communities. This is why Islam is very much against racial discrimination (sifat asabiyyah) in the form of tribalism.

Narrated by at-Tabarani and al-Hakim that in one incident some people spoke very lowly about Salman al-Farsi. They spoke of the inferiority of the Persian in relation to the Arabs, and upon hearing this the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) declared, "Salman is from us, the ahl al-bayt (the Prophet's family)."

This statement of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) disassociates all links based on lineage and tribal considerations.

It was also transmitted, in two different versions, by Ibn al-Mubarak in his two books, Al-Birr and As-Salah, that some disagreement occurred between Abu Dharr and Bilal and Abu Dharr said to Bilal, "You son of a black woman."

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was extremely upset by Abu Dharr's comment, so he rebuked him by saying, "That is too much, Abu Dharr.

The Prophet (pbuh) said; "He who has a white mother has no advantage which makes him better than the son of a black mother."

This rebuke had a profound effect on Abu Dharr, who then put his head on the ground swearing that he would not raise it until Bilal had put his foot over it.

These incidents demonstrate that tribal ties have no place in Islam. Muslims are commanded to stick together and not to disassociate themselves from each other just because they come from different tribes. No tribalistic ties should ever break the unity of ummah.

Narrated by Abu Dawud that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, "He is not one us who calls for `Asabiyah, (racism/tribalism) or who fights for asabiyah or who dies for asabiyah."


Wallahu'alam