As a non-black, Arabic-speaking Egyptian, I was hesitant to write about this
topic for so long because I
believe there is no one to feel the black agony better than someone who has
been through it. Moreover, our Black brothers and sisters are way more articulate than any other non-Black to address this issue. But, guess what? I felt that it's my duty to share the little knowledge I have from an Arab Muslim non-Black perspective.
BTW, my dad is from people of color; my brother, my sister, half of my inlaws are Black people from Sudan. My kids are from people of color. You don't have to be fully Black to feel for Black people or people of color. If you have someone you care about who is Black or from people of color, it is enough.
I understand that I’m obviously not Black. I didn't have to go through my Black sisters and brothers' long years of oppression and suffering. And after the
arrests, the unfairness, and the long years of insurmountable compounded racism they have been through. So I say this is tough, and it takes time to process, and it takes time to heal, but
it also takes time for the immigrant community or non-Blacks to understand.
My suggestion for my non-Black immigrant community is to reach out, ask questions, get proper knowledge. Be kind. Pick your words and be considerate of people’s sensibilities. I'm not saying I'm an expert, I too have shortcomings, but we are all still learning in the process. We all make mistakes; however, our previous mistakes will eventually lead us through.
On the other hand, and in order to fathom how hard it is and understand
how the non-black communities could educate themselves and help Blacks, let’s look in-depth at the prophetic example. Let's navigate how Prophet
Mohammed dealt with racism in his brand-new Muslim community.
As we all know, the prophet Mohammed
was born in the Arabian Peninsula and among the Arab community that was known by
showing off pride, bragging about their linguistic skills, their social rank, and
money. They even show off their outfits. Arab men and women used to
dress in a one-piece outfit, and the longer the dress train and the more it was
embellished, the richer you were.
Allah sent prophet Mohamed who was
the opposite of all of that, he was born as an orphan, he was illiterate, he was born to highly respectful
family, however, they were opposing him publicly; the Prophet Mohammed’s uncle
Abu Lahab (Abdul-Uzza) and his wife got so creative when it came to humiliating the
Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).
At some point, you might ask, “If God sent him as a
Prophet, why He almighty had to have his favorite Prophet to go through all
these traumatizing events?” I’m assuming because when the prophet himself would
go through all these atrocities, he would at some point understand where others
were coming from, and he would be able to best serve them because he had been
there.
And when we look at the most famous incident that
addressed racism in Islam, our minds are unwillingly thinking Bilal Ibn Rabah,
the famous Muslim Black-Figure. Bilal was born and lived in poverty because of
his slavery despite his well-respected but enslaved lineage.
His mom was known by Hammama. They said she named
herself so because she learned that hammama in Arabic means pigeon. So she wanted
to refer to herself as a free pigeon.
Bilal was enslaved by Ommaya Ibn Khalaf. Bilal was the smartest among his slaves, and Ommayya would
trust Bilal with his money, financial issues, and secret meetings. He rarely
left him to watch his flock of sheep and always highlighted that Bilal had too
strong mental skills and abilities to be involved in the shepherding work. This
was not good news for his mate Orwa, the second-best choice for Ommayya. Orwa
was always jealous of Bilal and was tired of his lord praising Bilal’s mental
strength and charming voice. Bilal also used to sing during Ommaya’s parties.
Orwa was the one who told on Bilal
when the latter converted to Islam. Also, Orwa was appointed by Ommaya to torture
Bilal in all sorts of ways. Orwa hit Bilal, he kicked him, he lashed him, and
he dragged Bilal all over sandy streets in Mecca's extremely hot weather while
calling on everyone passing by to watch the disobedient slave getting tortured for
disobeying his lord.
As a typical arrogant Arab, Ommaya was enraged with Bilal's
perseverance. He went on and on. Ommayya tortured Bilal and tied his hands and
limps, but nothing turned Bilal’s well. Ommaya’s last option was to place a
heavy rock on the poor slave’s body to retaliate. Bilal was weakened from the
long weeks of torture while not eating. All he could do was reciting “Ahad…
Ahad”. Ahad means God is one, which is the opposite of what Ommaya believed in.
Ommaya believed in polytheism, and like most Meccan people, he worshipped
idols.
When Abu Bakr -Prophet Mohamed’s best friend- bought
Bilal and set him free. Bilal was so in awe and disbelief!
It was too hard for the new Muslims to stay in Mecca
after what they all had been through, so they moved to Medina.
After immigration to Medina, the
Prophet Mohammed was in wonder, how to gather people all at once for prayer and how people would know that it was prayer time until one of
the companions came and told him that he dreamed of someone calling people for
prayer. So he recited the Athan recitation “the call for prayer.”
The prophet listened and asked him to teach the Athan
words to Bilal. Then the Prophet PBUH appointed Bilal as the caller for prayer.
He said Bilal had a soft and dew-like voice. He didn’t say good voice or charming voice; he said dew-like to reflect on how live and cheerful Bilal’s voice was.
When Prophet Mohamed won the battle against the Meccans and accomplished victory, he asked Bilal to go on the highest peak of the holiest figure for all Muslims, “The Kaaba,” the cuboid structure. Then, the Prophet asked Bilal
to call people for prayer. He put Bilal in the spotlight. It seemed like he put him in a standout position. He made sure people would see him in a victory moment like they saw
him in a vulnerable moment once before.
One more incident had happened when
Abu-Zarr accidentally pumped into Bilal, and he insulted Bilal, saying, “You son of
a black woman!” The Prophet Mohamed immediately called that person out and told
him, “You still have ignorance in your heart!” The Prophet referred to Abu-Zarr as someone practicing non -Islamic teaching from the pre-Islamic era.
That was how the Prophet Mohamed handled it. This is
the best way to handle racism in our community. It is to give people who suffered
from racism a voice, we need to make sure to put them in the spotlight and hand
them the responsibility to represent us and speak on our behalves and let them
lead the efforts for a better future.
The long years of suffering, oppression and the unfairness of broken racist societies are their best resume builders.
Prophet Mohamed made sure to unify people and gather
them around one god. He planned to end social discrimination and ranking people
based on their skin color, and it seemed to work very well. In the Quran, there is no
such thing, God never said a white prophet or a black prophet, and when God
spoke about race in Quran, he said, “O mankind, indeed We have created you from
male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.
Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of
you. Indeed, Allah is the All-Knowing and Aware.”
Prophet Mohammed said, “There is no superiority of an Arab
over a non-Arab, or of a non-Arab over an Arab, and no superiority of a white
person over a Black person or of a Black person over a white person, except on
the basis of personal piety and righteousness.”
Note: My opinions are opinions, they are representing only me, and they are subject to discussions and modifications.
Update: The blog was published on February 6th and I unpublished this blogpost for a while to do edits and rephrase things that were misspoken in the original blog. Thanks for all who took the time to reflect and give me honest feedback.
Also, thanks to my amazing Black sisters and brothers who reached out to me regarding my book I'm Different...I'm Special. Just to let you know, I edited the wording, and if you get the first copy, I would love to take it back and give you the second edition at no additional cost.
If you didn't get a copy yet, make sure to check the second edition here
There are always many ways to help, like supporting a Black business.
Modest Family Solutions is a Black Muslim-owned business that offers gardening classes for kids and has a homeschooling facility. Check out their Facebook and their Website.
Mixed is also a Black-Latina local business. So show your love and support. Here is their Facebook page.
Listen to Mr. B, a local talented artist. Here is his Youtube channel.
Also, if you have a good grasp of the Arabic language, you can still look up great Arab writers who wrote about Bilal in-depth and in Arabic, like the Iraqi Novelist Dr. Ahmed Khairy El- Omari, who wrote Bilal’s Code Arabic Novel. He did a brilliant job mapping and mixing both Bilal’s experience with racism during the Islamic era and the American Cultural systematic racism. Dr. Omari’s novel was transformed into Bilal’s American movie, watch the trailer here,
Make sure to check out his novel here,
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