Exemplary Men

Exemplary Men

Abdul Aziz Kamal

In the bosom of Islam

The first example cited by Muslims in illustration of I slam's view of humanity as transcending racial distinctions is that of Bilal- ibn-Rabab, the Ethiopian who was the prophet's muezzin. In the mosque of AL-Madinah, the Prophet was the Imam (leader in prayer) of the Muslims while Bilal called them to prayer; and these two functions, of Imam and muezzin, are the two most important offices of the mosque. 

Umar ibn-al-Khattab, the second Caliph, said; Abu Bakr is our master, and liberated our master (meaning Bilal) who is the third of Islam (i.e. the third person to embrace Islam) 

Among the Sudan (this was the name given by Arabs to all who were black-skinned) it is Al-Niqdad (Ibn al-Aswad a companion of the Prophet who is cited. He was one of the most disti­nguished members of the Companion-ship and, with the prophet, had witnessed the great battle at Badr as well as all the other events. Al-Miqdad says, when we came down to AL-Madinah, the Messenger of God divided us into groups of ten and quartered each group in a  different house and I was among those who were with the Prophet(ﷺ) , and we had naught but an ewe, from whose milk was we could satisfy ourselves. 

Then there was Julaibio of whom it is related that the prophet, while on a raid asked his Companions if they had missed any or their men. They repl­ied; Yes we have lost some and named them later he twice repeated to them the same question and the third time, they replied: No one. He said. But I do not" find Julaibib; look for him. And when they had searched, the Prophet then said He has slain seven, and now he has been slained. He is of me and I am of him. He then carried him in his arms until they had dug a grave for him. He had no bed save the arms of the Messenger of God. 

In The Accounts Of Chronicler And Geographers Of Islam 

 Islamic scholars in their  writings on history, geography and civilization have  never adopted a hostile attitude towards any race  merely on account of its colour. 

For instance, AL -Mas'udi, in his a account of various races, describes the land of the Sudan — by which he means the inhabitants of Africa south of the Sahara — in a spirit of objectivity, and remarks on the eloquence of the ne negroes and the forcefulness of their native preachers. 

In his accounts of the Chinese monarchs, he speaks of their sense of  justice, and the steps they take to safeguard the rights of foreign traders travelling through their lands. 

The same approach can be found in Al-Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun in the passage where he describes the races of. He does not attach too much importance to the influence of the natural environment and the bodily characteristics tor which it is responsible, but concentrates on Social factors, and attempts to show the influence of people's occupations and ways of life, to which he attributes the principal role in the developing of their different temperament and disposition 

His theory is clearly summarized in a comparison which he draws between' eastern and western Islam when discussing the art of teaching in the sixth chapter of AL-Muqaddimah. The people of the East are, on the whole, better teachers and more cultivated than those of the West, to such an extent that many Westerners who have studied in East believe that the Easter­ners are more intelligent than themselves arid possess some sort of nat­ural intellectual superiority. However this is not the case; the superiority of the Easterners is simply a matter of grea­ter intellectual alertness due to the influence of their settled civilization. The common belief that there is some sort of basic, constitutional difference between the inhabitants of East and West has no foundation. 

This approach, which regards the distinguishing qualities and characteristi­cs of different peoples as a function of the social circumstances in which they live and as something quite independent of physical conformation is corroborated by modern research and it is precisely this attitude that is consistently advocated by Unesco 

The Quran And Its Attitude

This principle in Islam is base cased on the attitude of the Quran to colour. We may do dwell on two words or notions in the Quran; black( al-aswad)  and white (al-bayad). 

The root denoting blackness occurs ten times in the Quran. Three times it has the meaning of lordship (al-siyadda). The first is in the account of our lord Yahya (john the Baptis) . And the angels called to him (this refers to our lord Zachariah as he stood praying in the chamber."God gives thee glad tidings of Yahya who shall testifying to the truth of a word from God —noble SAYYID) and chaste a prophet from among the righteous (3:39) The second is about the (HIGH RANKING court tier of Egypt in the story of Joseph (Yusuf) ,where God's word is as follows, And they both raced to the door (referring to Joseph and wife of the Aziz) and she tore his shirt from behind  and they found her lord at the door...(12;2b). The third is in the following verse; And they will say, "Our lord we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones and they led us astray from the way (3; 67) 

In these examples, we find lordship (al-siyadah) in a context of para ,then in some censure, and the third time in an expository passage, without praise or blame. 

Blackness( al-sawad) occurs five times as a description of a condition — rather than an inhe­rent characteristic of the countenance. Thus, it appears twice in a verse descr­ibing the darkening of the unbelievers faces on the day of the Resurrection (3;106).The reference here is to their punishment s and not to their original colour. The same phenomenon is referred to in the thirty-ninth sura, verse 60. Twice we read of people whose faces dark darken on hearing of birth of a female child; in the sixteenth sura; Aid when to while he suppresses (his inward) grief (16:58) 

A type of discrimination between the two sexes for which the Quran: rebukes pagan society— and in the forty-third sura: Yet when tidings are given to one of them of that the like of which he ascribes to the Gracious (God) (i.e.) a female — when the very same people used to describe the angels as a daughters of God) his face becomes darkened and he is choked with grief (43: 17). 

There remain two uses of the word, one of them a description of mountains in: And among the mountains are streaks while white and red, of diverse hues and others raven black. This description is intended to show the power of God Almighty and blackness is hare coupl­ed with a reference to the white and red o parts of the landscape, The tenth an and last occurrence is in a description of night: And eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you fr­om the black thread of the dawn (2; 187). 

In short it may be said that the root S-W-D, from which all the words we have been condering are derived, appear in the Quran in connexion with lordship (siyadah) in both a laudatory and a pejorative context, with natural phen­omena such as the succession of night and day and the diversity of the colours of rocks; and as a description of certain spectacles to be witnessed at the Resurrection of a passing condition that suffuses the face as a result? of some inward agitation.lt is not limited to or even connected with any particular notion of good or bad. So it can be affirmed that in the Quran the colour black has no special status distinguishing it from the remaining colours.

It is the same when we turn to the colour white (abyad) of which the root B-Y-D occurs in the Quran eleven times and in a total of seven Different forms. 

Whiteness appears in the sura of Joseph where our Lord tells us of the extre­mes grief suffered by Jacob( And his eyes became white because of grief (12;84).it is used twice to describe the believers faces on the day of Resurrection; On the day when some faces shall be white and some day faces shall be black. And for those whose faces will be black (it will be said to them) "Did you disbelieve after believing? Taste, the punishment because you disbelieved. And as for those whose faces will be white they will be in the mercy of God; therein will they abide (3;106, 107) The blackening here means the suffusion of their faces with sorrow, and the whiten there irradia­tion with joy. Then we find an expre-charaterzing the hour is in paradise as if they as were closely guarded (37:49) where the bayed (eggs) means riches, eggs, quoted by the arabs as an example of purity. Dawn is described in the words; And eat drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn (2:187); in a passage dealing with the beginning. Next a description of mountains .... among the mountains are streak white and red (35:27),It is also used four times in describing the miracle of the hand of our loss. Moses the verses in question which link whiteness with immunity from evil are 108 ,20; 22; 27; 12 and 26 and 28; 32) Finally, the word appears in an account of the beverage served to the swellers  in paradise, They will be serve a round with a cup from a flowing fountain, white delicious to the drinkers (37; 45,46)

Thus the use of the colour white in the Quran may also point to deep Sorrow or to rich rewards; it may refer to some manifestation of God's omnipotent in nature, whet her animate or inanimate or it may refer to women or the hands of men, with the absence of evil expressly stipulated —for ext­reme whiteness as is well known can be a symptom of disease. 

In short it may be said that the Quran does not attach the colour white to any special notion of good or bad nor does it connect it with any specific position in the world. The main principle of the Quran, as may be observed in its precepts is that of equality among all men while progress may only be achieved by following God's ordinances; Verily the most honorable among you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous among you.       (49:13)