Much has been said of Islam as a religion of mercy, peace and hope. It is a religion that embraces diversity.
Why then does its followers not adhere to these noble and honourable virtues?
Why the spew of racial hatred from the followers of this great religion as espoused by some Malay Muslim groups resolved on promoting racial discord?
The recent calling of Chinese and Indians with derogatory remarks is testimony to this. They are Muslims and yet words which reflect a deep hatred for other races are still being uttered.
Hence, one must make a difference between Islam as a religion and its followers. Let us take a look at what Islam has to say about this.
Islam has always promoted mercy and peace as a manner for building bridges among races. Allah the Almighty has mentioned this in the Quran whereby He has created mankind into nations and tribes so that they may know each other.
He went on to say that the noblest among you are the most God-fearing, not by skin colour or birth right.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) embodied this divine revelation in his persona and character. When he arrived in Medina, after the Hijrah from Mecca, the first political document initiated by the Prophet was the “Sahifah Madinah” or commonly known as the Constitution of Medina.
This document, albeit in its primitive form, laid the foundation for a nation state based on citizens’ rights, their responsibilities, sovereignty of Medina, rule of law, recognition of society and religious pluralism and other matters concerning citizenship and laws.
According to Rashid Al-Ghannoushi, the principles which we could extract from this document are the following:
The confirmation of the ummah (nation or community) concept. The Medina constitution reaffirms the status of the Muhajirin, who are immigrants, and the Ansar, who are the natives, as one ummah of the same faith and belief (Article 2).
But, interestingly, the constitution also extended this ummah concept to the non-Muslims such as the Jews in the framework of citizens of Medina. Hence, the Muslims and non-Muslims were considered as one ummah, that is, by virtue of being citizens of Medina (Article 24).
Medina was also an open nation. This means that it can accept anyone as citizens as long as they reside in Medina and willing to protect other citizens. This was stated in Article 1 as the following clause: “This is a document from Muhammad between Mukmin and Muslim from Quraish and the people of Yathrib (Medina) and anyone who joins them and strive to protect Medina with them”.
In addition, any Muslim who lives outside of Medina were also deemed to be citizens based on their loyalty to defend Medina together with other citizens.
The Medina constitution also recognised the reality of a plural society. This can be seen from the fact that every party involved – including the non-Muslims – were mentioned one-by-one in all 47 articles of the constitution.
The non-Muslims were not forced to renounce their religion as contained in Article 20. They must however declare their loyalty to defend and protect Medina from enemy incursion.
At the same time, manifestation of different religions and groups were duly recognised under Article 23 which also stated that any dispute must be referred to Allah and Muhammad.
Interestingly, any party or tribe was allowed to preserve their rules and regulations as prescribed by their customs and culture in any dealings among them, in what has been described as ‘Rab’ah’ (local customs and culture) in the Constitution.
Hence, the Medina Constitution guaranteed the freedom to practise ‘Rab’ah’ amongst the communities so long as it did not usurp the rights of other people and it did not contravene the Islamic principles.
From the above principles, not only it is crystal clear that Islam does not condone racism, it also promotes harmony and well-being among different races and religions.
Recognition of plural society, local customs and traditions and openness of the nation are not alien concepts to Islam.
The notion that Muslims and non-Muslims could be considered as one ummah within the framework of citizens of a country is certainly something which can be built upon to discuss the present context of racial malaise in our country.
Why then does its followers not adhere to these noble and honourable virtues?
Why the spew of racial hatred from the followers of this great religion as espoused by some Malay Muslim groups resolved on promoting racial discord?
The recent calling of Chinese and Indians with derogatory remarks is testimony to this. They are Muslims and yet words which reflect a deep hatred for other races are still being uttered.
Hence, one must make a difference between Islam as a religion and its followers. Let us take a look at what Islam has to say about this.
Islam has always promoted mercy and peace as a manner for building bridges among races. Allah the Almighty has mentioned this in the Quran whereby He has created mankind into nations and tribes so that they may know each other.
He went on to say that the noblest among you are the most God-fearing, not by skin colour or birth right.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) embodied this divine revelation in his persona and character. When he arrived in Medina, after the Hijrah from Mecca, the first political document initiated by the Prophet was the “Sahifah Madinah” or commonly known as the Constitution of Medina.
This document, albeit in its primitive form, laid the foundation for a nation state based on citizens’ rights, their responsibilities, sovereignty of Medina, rule of law, recognition of society and religious pluralism and other matters concerning citizenship and laws.
According to Rashid Al-Ghannoushi, the principles which we could extract from this document are the following:
The confirmation of the ummah (nation or community) concept. The Medina constitution reaffirms the status of the Muhajirin, who are immigrants, and the Ansar, who are the natives, as one ummah of the same faith and belief (Article 2).
But, interestingly, the constitution also extended this ummah concept to the non-Muslims such as the Jews in the framework of citizens of Medina. Hence, the Muslims and non-Muslims were considered as one ummah, that is, by virtue of being citizens of Medina (Article 24).
Medina was also an open nation. This means that it can accept anyone as citizens as long as they reside in Medina and willing to protect other citizens. This was stated in Article 1 as the following clause: “This is a document from Muhammad between Mukmin and Muslim from Quraish and the people of Yathrib (Medina) and anyone who joins them and strive to protect Medina with them”.
In addition, any Muslim who lives outside of Medina were also deemed to be citizens based on their loyalty to defend Medina together with other citizens.
The Medina constitution also recognised the reality of a plural society. This can be seen from the fact that every party involved – including the non-Muslims – were mentioned one-by-one in all 47 articles of the constitution.
The non-Muslims were not forced to renounce their religion as contained in Article 20. They must however declare their loyalty to defend and protect Medina from enemy incursion.
At the same time, manifestation of different religions and groups were duly recognised under Article 23 which also stated that any dispute must be referred to Allah and Muhammad.
Interestingly, any party or tribe was allowed to preserve their rules and regulations as prescribed by their customs and culture in any dealings among them, in what has been described as ‘Rab’ah’ (local customs and culture) in the Constitution.
Hence, the Medina Constitution guaranteed the freedom to practise ‘Rab’ah’ amongst the communities so long as it did not usurp the rights of other people and it did not contravene the Islamic principles.
From the above principles, not only it is crystal clear that Islam does not condone racism, it also promotes harmony and well-being among different races and religions.
Recognition of plural society, local customs and traditions and openness of the nation are not alien concepts to Islam.
The notion that Muslims and non-Muslims could be considered as one ummah within the framework of citizens of a country is certainly something which can be built upon to discuss the present context of racial malaise in our country.
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