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Before I begin, someone else has a fantastic thread and I definitely recommend you to check it out. With that out of the way, let's begin. https://twitter.com/belieeeeeever/status/1283850475180371969?s=20
Calling your opinion on this matter fallacious would be a big understatement. This hadith speaks of the reality of how black people and slaves were seen before Islam (i.e before Islam the people would have never obeyed a black slave).
If Muhammad (SAW) was a racist, he would have never commanded the Muslims to obey a black ruler to begin with, in fact it would have been the opposite, he would have commanded the Muslims to prevent black people to achieve high positions and he would have commanded them to revolt
By this expression, Muhammad (SAW) made it clear that we should appoint and follow leaders regardless of their skin color, status and appearance and that these reasons cannot be used to prevent people to achieve leadership and as a pretext to revolt against leaders.
This is also the interpretation of companions such as Abu Dharr (RA).
Sunan Ibn Majah 2862.
Sunan Ibn Majah 2862.
Even the compiler, Ibn Majah (RH) understood that this hadith is about obeying the ruler and not about racism. That is why he placed the hadith you cited (I assume it is Sunan Ibn Majah 2860 as you cropped the reference) under the chapter "Obedience to the Ruler".
Also hadiths such as Musnad Ahmad 22978 clearly show us that Islam is against racism.
Ibn a-Jawzi (RH) in his book he also presents these hadith in "Chapter 7 In proclamation that the white person has no superiority over the black, and that superiority lies in piety"
The Virtues of Blacks and Abyssinians page 50
The Virtues of Blacks and Abyssinians page 50
He dedicates an entire chapter for mentioning the virtues of black people. Had there been racism in Islam, Ibn Al-Jawzi (RH) wouldn't had praised black people. Instead, he would have cursed them, but as we can see Ibn al-Jawzi (RH) only praises black people.
Ibid. page 33
Ibid. page 33
He even mentions in his introduction that Allah (SWT) only favors those with piety. He also mentions that he wrote this book because he met people of color who were "disheartened due to the darkness of their skin colour".
Ibid. page 19-20
Ibid. page 19-20
If Muhammad (SAW) was a racist, he would have never criticized Abu Dharr (RA) for insulting a non-Arab servant.
Sahih Muslim 1661 A
Sahih Muslim 1661 A
and for insulting Bilal (RA) and his mother according to Shu’ab al-Iman 4760.
If Muhammad (SAW) was a racist, he would have never sent his companions to migrate to Ethiopia (Sahih Bukhari 3136, Musnad Ahmad 1740) and he would have not offered the funeral prayer for the Negus of Ethiopia (Sahih Bukhari 1318).
And lastly if Muhammad (SAW) was a racist or if Islam was a racist religion then non-Arab people would have never converted to Islam or if they converted, Muhammad (SAW) would have rejected their conversion due to their race.
Among non-Arab companions who lived and converted to Islam during the time of RasulAllah (SAW) include:
1) Africans or people of African descent:
a) Bilal ibn Ribah
b) Wahshi ibn Harb
c) Umm Ayman
d) Usama ibn Zayd
e) Ayman ibn Ubayd
f) Ashama an-Najashi
g) Umm Zufar etc.
1) Africans or people of African descent:
a) Bilal ibn Ribah
b) Wahshi ibn Harb
c) Umm Ayman
d) Usama ibn Zayd
e) Ayman ibn Ubayd
f) Ashama an-Najashi
g) Umm Zufar etc.
2) Persians or people of Persian descent:
a) Salman al-Farsi
b) Fayruz al-Daylami
c) Badhan Ibn Sasan and the rest of the Persians living in Yemen and others.
a) Salman al-Farsi
b) Fayruz al-Daylami
c) Badhan Ibn Sasan and the rest of the Persians living in Yemen and others.
3) Jews or people of Jewish descent:
a) Abdullah ibn Salam,
b) Saffiyah bint Huyayy
c) Zayd ibn Sa’ana
d) Jabal ibn Jawwal and others.
a) Abdullah ibn Salam,
b) Saffiyah bint Huyayy
c) Zayd ibn Sa’ana
d) Jabal ibn Jawwal and others.
And we even have Copts such as Maria Al-Qibtiyya and her sister Sirin bint Sham’un, and people like Jaban al-Kurdi (Kurd) and Addas (Chaldean or Assyrian), the slave boy from Nineveh who converted after he saw Muhammad (SAW) preaching in Taif (may Allah be pleased with them all).
So yeah, racism has no place in Islam. The believers are brothers that with Islam have a bond so powerful that it transcends race, status, culture and nations and the only difference between them is in piety.
Sources:
1) Sahih al-Bukhari by Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhari (RH).
1) Sahih al-Bukhari by Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhari (RH).
2) Sahih Muslim by Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (RH).
3) Sunan Ibn Majah by Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah (RH).
4) Musnad Ahmad by Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal (RH).
5) The Virtues of Blacks and Abyssinians by Ibn Al-Jawzi
6) Shu'ab al-Iman by Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn al-Bayhaqi (RH).
