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Prince Muhammad bin Fahad University
Arabic Language and Islamic Studies 1
ALIS1211 Self-Study
Practice Critique
Discrimination in Islam
Dr.Hala Gutta
Farah Alturki
201002577
Introduction
Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was sent by Allah to spread his
religion and message; part of his religion and message were in the Prophet's (Peace
Be Upon Him) behavior. As a result the Prophet was always well behaved and treated
everybody well, even before Islam, not only to insure the spread of the message but
also to make sure that every Muslim follows his footstep; and show the non-Muslims
what Islam is actually about. However, some Muslims today have forgotten that and
their behavior is very much similar to Aljahleen's (Arab before Islam) behavior. Some
are sexist, while others are racist, and the only thing in common between those two
groups that both are discriminative; they have been discriminating against people
according to their religion and social status. Such Muslims forget that Prophet
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) treated everybody equally he was never sexist,
racist, nor did he ever discriminate against people according to their religion or social
status. This practice critique essay will remind those Muslims how to behave like the
Prophet(Peace Be Upon Him), and show the non Muslims how the Prophet (Peace Be
Upon Him) and the real Muslims truly behave; by giving some narratives related to
the following topics , sexism, racism, religious and social discrimination.
Sexism
Some Muslim men today have been objectifying women, being complete
womanizers; by simply under treating or miss treating the women in their lives. Some
of those of men have been taking an advantage of polygamy, since it is allowed in
Islam; by not treating their wives equally, others are strict to their daughters believing
that pampering will lead to no good, while some others consider them unequal to
men; professional wise. Apparently those men do not know how that the prophet was
never sexist, and he treated his wives, daughters, and other women well. Prophet
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) treated all his wives equally, even though it was
commonly known he favored Aisha. It was narrated that, one time the Prophet(Peace
Be Upon Him) was sitting with all his wives, and they asked him ''which one of us is
your favorite?'' he answered '' I will tell you tomorrow '' , by midnight he went to each
one of them and gave her a token (dinar) and told her not to tell anyone about it. The
next day they all gathered and asked him to revile his favorite, he answered '' the one
with the token ''. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) treated his daughters and
granddaughters very well, it has been told that Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon
Him) used to carry his granddaughter Omamah bent abi Alas; daughter of his
daughter Zynb everywhere no matter what he is doing. He even used to carry her
when he was praying ; put her down when prostrating and lifting her when standing.
This shows how kind the prophet was to his granddaughter, he could have left her
home or with anybody else but he did not; he preferred carrying her himself. The
Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) also treated other Muslim women very well, and
considered them equal to men he said '' They are the sisters of men'' which means that
they are almost equal to them, thus they should never be prohibited from leading a
professional career in a male centered field for example, he never stopped Alrumysa
(Om Saleem bent Mulhen) from participating in Jihad nor did he disrespect Khadyja
for being a merchant. Unlike men today who ban woman from participating in such
fields, disrespect them and consider them unequal to men. I highly believe that men
should treat women really well and as mentioned take the prophet as an example, I
also believe that a man should make extra effort if he is a polygamous also like the
Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), those men should treat their daughters right, and never
disrespect them nor consider them unequal.
Racism
Racism, is another problem that some Muslims suffer from. Those Muslims
despise people based on their skin tone color, or origin; believing that they are
somehow more superior to them. Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) never
discriminated against others biased on their skin tone, matter of fact Balal bin Rabah,
who was the first muzzine, person who calls for prayer in Islam, was black. The
Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) supported Bilal and encouraged him to call the azan,
which is the prayer calling in Islam; even though he barely pronounced the letter ''
sheen'' in Arabic and pronounced it ''' seen''. It has been told that Balal stopped calling
out the azan after the Prophet's (Peace Be Upon Him) death. It was narrated that the
Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said '' there is no difference between an Arab or Ajami
(foreigner) except in taqwa (faith and believe in Allah)''. Arabs during the Prophets
(Peace Be Upon Him) era considered themselves superiors, and they considered nonArabs (foreigners) to be beneath them. However the Prophet(Peace Be Upon Him)
set them straight and explained that there is no difference between Arabs and
foreigners except in faith and believe, by that he means how much faith, believe and
good deed this person does to get closer to Allah and please him. I personally have
noticed that people today are more racist than ever before, woman refusing to marry
men just because they are black and men asking people who they just met where they
are originally from; to make sure they came from the proper tribe and they are locals.
They should follow the Prophet's (Peace Be Upon Him) footstep and try to fight
racism and vanish.
Religious Discrimination
Some Muslims think they have the right to hate people just because they not
Muslims, or even worse cut ties and disrespect them, and with the current event
boycott those non Muslims. Aisha narrated '' The Prophet purchased food grains from
a Jewish on credit and mortgaged his iron armor to him''. This shows how the Prophet
never let religious matters come between him and the non Muslims, and how he deals
with them on a professional bases. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) also respected
the non-Muslims it was narrated that '' Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him)
stood and asked his companions to stand up when a funeral procession passed by.
When the companions said it was the funeral of a Jew, the prophet said: “Is he not a
human being?''. As mentioned some Muslims are boycotting non-Muslim, thus to
their hustle behavior toward Islam. What they do not know is by boycotting they will
show those people that Islam is not forgiving and religiously discriminate against the
non-Muslims. I am against boycotting and disrespecting other people biased on their
religion.
Social Discrimination
Social discrimination has been around since the '' aljahlya'' (Pre-Islamic era)
period. It is one of the things that Islam has banned and the Prophet (Peace Be Upon
Him) made sure that every Muslim and non Muslim person know where he and Islam
stand from such behavior. It was narrated that the Prophet said '' The best richness is
the richness of the soul'', which means that nor money or social status matter and that
it is all about good deeds. The Prophet(Peace Be Upon Him) also made a statement
by being modest; it was told that when the Prophet was in Macca he came across an
old poor lady who needed help with carrying her belongings, so the Prophet (Peace
Be Upon Him) offered to carry them. On his way with the old poor woman she told
him '' there is this man, his name is Muhammad; he claims to be a prophet!! do not
believe him ''. Not only the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) was modest, but he was
also modest with a woman who was not a Muslim and disbelieved him, if it was
someone else who have carried the woman's belongings he would have dropped them.
I really believe that this not just shows how the Prophet(Peace Be Upon Him) is a
devein creature.
Conclusion
In conclusion Allah said in Surat Al-Hujurat (The Rooms) [49:13] '' 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 most noble of you in the sight on Allah is
the most righteous of you. Indeed Allah is knowing and acquainted''. If Allah wanted
us to be all the same and equal he would not have created us different, and have
created us all the same. Sex, race, religion, social status is a gift from Allah; no matter
what. We all should thank him for them and not discriminate against people based on
them. We all, especially Muslims who behave in such behavior(pre-Islam Arabs);
should follow the Prophets (Peace Be Upon Him) footsteps and behave like him as
much as we can by the following, first treat all women right; wives, sisters, and
general women, without discriminating against them. Second those Muslims, and us,
should not be racist, and consider all people, especially Muslims, equal despite their
color or background. Third respect the non Muslims; not because they are not
Muslims it mean that we, and those discriminative Muslims, are supposed to boycott
them or hate them. Fourth and final; we , and those discriminative Muslims, should
not treat people based on their social status and always be modest. I really believe,
whether we are one of those Muslims who discriminate or not, that before reacting, or
behaving; we should always ask ourselves '' What would Prophet Muhammad (Peace
Be Upon Him) do?'' or ''Is this something the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) would
have done ?''. I really ask Allah to guide all of those people, sexist racist, social and
religious discriminative, myself , and every single Muslims. I also ask Allah for his
forgiveness; forgiveness for myself, them, and every Muslim.