Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Race and Tribe: Difference between revisions

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{{QuranHadithScholarsIndex}}
{{QuranHadithScholarsIndex}}


Many passages of the Qur'an and the hadith call for the equality of all peoples in Islam. Yet at the same time, Islamic scriptures contain agitation against the Jews which would be considered today to be anti-Semitism (see [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islamic_Antisemitism Islamic anti-Semitism]), and the Arabs and their language are given a superior place in the eyes of Allah and the tradition. Derogatory descriptions of black people, Ethiopians in particular, are found in sahih hadiths. Furthermore, overt racism against black people and Arab supremacism - the latter in the form of doctrine - are found in the works of many highly regarded Islamic scholars. All in all the picture of race, ethnicity, and what may be called "race-relations" is a complicated on in the Islamic tradition.  
Many passages of the Qur'an and the hadith call for the equality of all peoples in Islam. Yet at the same time, Islamic scriptures contain agitation against the Jews which would be considered today to be anti-Semitism (see [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islamic_Antisemitism Islamic anti-Semitism]), and the Arabs and their language are given a superior place in the eyes of Allah and the tradition. Derogatory descriptions of black people, Ethiopians in particular, are found in sahih hadiths. Furthermore, overt racism against black people and Arab supremacism - the latter in the form of doctrine - are found in the works of many highly regarded Islamic scholars. All in all the picture of race, ethnicity, and what may be called "race-relations" is a complicated one in the Islamic tradition.  


==Anti-racism in scripture==
==Anti-racism in scripture==
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In a hadith graded sahih by al-Albani<ref>[https://islamqa.info/ar/182686 Islamqa.info]</ref>, Muhammad said the following during the farewell pilgrimage (the word translated "righteousness" is taqwa - piety or reliosity):
In a hadith graded sahih by al-Albani<ref>[https://islamqa.info/ar/182686 Islamqa.info]</ref>, Muhammad said the following during the farewell pilgrimage (the word translated "righteousness" is taqwa - piety or reliosity):


{{quote|1=[http://dailyhadith.abuaminaelias.com/2011/12/30/farewell-sermon-your-lord-is-one-your-father-is-one-your-lives-are-sacred/ Musnad Aḥmad 22978]|2= Abu Nadrah reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said during the middle of the day at the end of the pilgrimage,“O people, your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no virtue of an Arab over a foreigner nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither white skin over black skin nor black skin over white skin, except by righteousness. Have I not delivered the message?” They said, “The Messenger of Allah has delivered the message.”}}
{{quote|1=[http://dailyhadith.abuaminaelias.com/2011/12/30/farewell-sermon-your-lord-is-one-your-father-is-one-your-lives-are-sacred/ Musnad Aḥmad 23489]|2= Abu Nadrah reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said during the middle of the day at the end of the pilgrimage,“O people, your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no virtue of an Arab over a foreigner nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither white skin over black skin nor black skin over white skin, except by righteousness. Have I not delivered the message?” They said, “The Messenger of Allah has delivered the message.”}}


In a sahih hadith Muhammad criticizes boasting and reviling based on ancestry, which could be interpreted to apply to tribe and even ethnicity.
In a sahih hadith Muhammad criticizes boasting and reviling based on ancestry, which could be interpreted to apply to tribe and even ethnicity.
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Unfortunately as we shall see in the following sections, such sentiments are somewhat undermined by some other sahih hadiths where we find prejudice against some Arab groups, and black people are used as negative imagery. In addition, many classical and modern Islamic scholars of high repute are guilty of promoting explicitly racist attitudes.  
Unfortunately as we shall see in the following sections, such sentiments are somewhat undermined by some other sahih hadiths where we find prejudice against some Arab groups, and black people are used as negative imagery. In addition, many classical and modern Islamic scholars of high repute are guilty of promoting explicitly racist attitudes.  


==Race and Tribe in scripture==
==Race and tribe in scripture==


===In the Quran===
===In the Quran===
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I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Verily '''Allah granted eminence to Kinana from amongst the descendants of Isma'il, and he granted eminence to the Quraish amongst Kinana, and he granted eminence to Banu Hashim amonsgst the Quraish''', and he granted me eminence from the tribe of Banu Hashim.}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3605}}|Narrated Wathilah bin Al-Asqa': that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Indeed '''Allah has chosen [''istafa''; lit. "taken 'the best' from"<ref>[http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=h619,ll=1750,ls=h5,la=h2468,sg=h604,ha=h412,br=h554,pr=h93,aan=h337,mgf=h517,vi=h225,kz=h1360,mr=h364,mn=h783,uqw=h934,umr=h614,ums=h516,umj=h459,ulq=h1085,uqa=h249,uqq=h195,bdw=h524,amr=h371,asb=h550,auh=h897,dhq=h318,mht=h517,msb=h138,tla=h65,amj=h450,ens=h893,mis=h1231 Lane's Lexicon اصطفاه]</ref>] Isma'il from the children of Ibrahim, and He chose Banu Kinanah from the children of Isma'il, and He chose the Quraish from Banu Kinanah, and He chose Banu Hashim from Quraish''', and He chose me from Banu Hashim." <br> Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3927}}|Narrated Salman: "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to me: 'O Salman! Do not detest me and thereby leave your religion.' I said: 'O Messenger of Allah! How could I detest you while Allah guided us by you.' He said: ''''You will detest the Arabs and thereby detest me.''''" <br> Grade: Da'if (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3928}}|Narrated 'Uthman bin 'Affan:
I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Verily '''Allah granted eminence to Kinana from amongst the descendants of Isma'il, and he granted eminence to the Quraish amongst Kinana, and he granted eminence to Banu Hashim amonsgst the Quraish''', and he granted me eminence from the tribe of Banu Hashim.}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3605}}|Narrated Wathilah bin Al-Asqa': that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Indeed '''Allah has chosen [''istafa''; lit. "taken 'the best' from"<ref>[http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=h619,ll=1750,ls=h5,la=h2468,sg=h604,ha=h412,br=h554,pr=h93,aan=h337,mgf=h517,vi=h225,kz=h1360,mr=h364,mn=h783,uqw=h934,umr=h614,ums=h516,umj=h459,ulq=h1085,uqa=h249,uqq=h195,bdw=h524,amr=h371,asb=h550,auh=h897,dhq=h318,mht=h517,msb=h138,tla=h65,amj=h450,ens=h893,mis=h1231 Lane's Lexicon اصطفاه]</ref>] Isma'il from the children of Ibrahim, and He chose Banu Kinanah from the children of Isma'il, and He chose the Quraish from Banu Kinanah, and He chose Banu Hashim from Quraish''', and He chose me from Banu Hashim." <br> Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3927}}|Narrated Salman: "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to me: 'O Salman! Do not detest me and thereby leave your religion.' I said: 'O Messenger of Allah! How could I detest you while Allah guided us by you.' He said: ''''You will detest the Arabs and thereby detest me.''''" <br> Grade: Da'if (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3928}}|Narrated 'Uthman bin 'Affan:


that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: '''"Whoever cheats the Arabs, he will not be included in my intercession, and my love shall not reach him."'''  <br>Grade: Da'if (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Muwatta|45||17}}|Yahya related to me from Malik from Ismail ibn Abi Hakim that he heard Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz say, "One of the last things that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said was, ''''May Allah fight the jews and the christians.''' They took the graves of their Prophets as places of prostration. '''Two deens shall not co-exist in the land of the Arabs.''''"}}{{Quote|{{Tabari|9|p. 69}}|'''Arabs are the most noble people in lineage, the most prominent, and the best in deeds.''' We were the first to respond to the call of the Prophet. We are Allah’s helpers and the viziers of His Messenger. We fight people until they believe in Allah. He who believes in Allah and His Messenger has protected his life and possessions from us. As for one who disbelieves, we will fight him forever in Allah’s Cause. Killing him is a small matter to us.}}{{Quote|Ibn Sa'd, Vol. 1, p. 12| Ali Ibn Abi Talib, said: Verily the Prophet said: God divided the earth in two halves and placed (me) in the better of the two, then He divided the half in three parts, and I was in the best of them, then '''He chose the Arabs from among the people''', then He chose the Quraysh from among the Arabs, then He chose the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib from among the Banu Hashim, then he chose me from among the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib, and from them he chose me.<ref>Ibn Sa'd, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad. Kitab al-Tabaqat, vol i. Translated in English by S. Moinul Haq, Kitab Bhavan, 1784, Kalan Mahal, Daraya Ganj, New Delhi, India, 1972, p12.</ref>}}{{Quote|Ibn Taymiyya, Vol. 31, pp. 376-377|"A man married a maid-slave who bore him a child. Would that child be free or would he be an owned slave?" "Her child whom she bore from him would be the property of her master according to all the Imams (heads of the four Islamic schools of law) because the child follows the (status) of his mother in freedom or slavery. If the child is not of the race of Arabs, then he is definitely an owned slave according to the scholars, but the scholars disputed (his status) among themselves if he was from the Arabs - whether he must be enslaved or not because '''when A'isha (Muhammad's wife) had a maid-slave who was an Arab, Muhammad said to A'isha, `Set this maid free because she is from the children of Ishmael.''''"}}
that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: '''"Whoever cheats the Arabs, he will not be included in my intercession, and my love shall not reach him."'''  <br>Grade: Da'if (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Muwatta|45||17}}|Yahya related to me from Malik from Ismail ibn Abi Hakim that he heard Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz say, "One of the last things that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said was, ''''May Allah fight the jews and the christians.''' They took the graves of their Prophets as places of prostration. '''Two deens shall not co-exist in the land of the Arabs.''''"}}{{Quote|Ibn Sa'd, Vol. 1, p. 2| Ali Ibn Abi Talib, said: Verily the Prophet said: God divided the earth in two halves and placed (me) in the better of the two, then He divided the half in three parts, and I was in the best of them, then '''He chose the Arabs from among the people''', then He chose the Quraysh from among the Arabs, then He chose the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib from among the Banu Hashim, then he chose me from among the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib, and from them he chose me.<ref>Ibn Sa'd, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad. Kitab al-Tabaqat, vol i. Translated in English by S. Moinul Haq, Kitab Bhavan, 1784, Kalan Mahal, Daraya Ganj, New Delhi, India, 1972, p12.</ref>}}{{Quote|Ibn Taymiyya, Vol. 31, pp. 376-377|"A man married a maid-slave who bore him a child. Would that child be free or would he be an owned slave?" "Her child whom she bore from him would be the property of her master according to all the Imams (heads of the four Islamic schools of law) because the child follows the (status) of his mother in freedom or slavery. If the child is not of the race of Arabs, then he is definitely an owned slave according to the scholars, but the scholars disputed (his status) among themselves if he was from the Arabs - whether he must be enslaved or not because '''when A'isha (Muhammad's wife) had a maid-slave who was an Arab, Muhammad said to A'isha, `Set this maid free because she is from the children of Ishmael.''''"}}
====Quraysh====
====Quraysh====
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|704}}|Narrated Muhammad bin Jubair bin Mut`im: That while he was with a delegation from Quraish to Muawiya, the latter heard the news that `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As said that there would be a king from the tribe of Qahtan. On that Muawiya became angry, got up and then praised Allah as He deserved, and said, "Now then, I have heard that some men amongst you narrate things which are neither in the Holy Book, nor have been told by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Those men are the ignorant amongst you. Beware of such hopes as make the people go astray, for I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, ''''Authority of ruling will remain with Quraish, and whoever bears hostility to them, Allah will destroy him''' as long as they abide by the laws of the religion.' "}}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|705}}; see also {{muslim|20|4476}}|Narrated Ibn `Umar: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, '''"Authority of ruling will remain with Quraish, even if only two of them remained."'''}}{{Quote|{{muslim|20|4473}}|It has been narrarted on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:  
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|704}}|Narrated Muhammad bin Jubair bin Mut`im: That while he was with a delegation from Quraish to Muawiya, the latter heard the news that `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As said that there would be a king from the tribe of Qahtan. On that Muawiya became angry, got up and then praised Allah as He deserved, and said, "Now then, I have heard that some men amongst you narrate things which are neither in the Holy Book, nor have been told by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Those men are the ignorant amongst you. Beware of such hopes as make the people go astray, for I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, ''''Authority of ruling will remain with Quraish, and whoever bears hostility to them, Allah will destroy him''' as long as they abide by the laws of the religion.' "}}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|705}}; see also {{muslim|20|4476}}|Narrated Ibn `Umar: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, '''"Authority of ruling will remain with Quraish, even if only two of them remained."'''}}{{Quote|{{muslim|20|4473}}|It has been narrarted on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:  
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====Blacks====
====Blacks====
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|9|87|161}}, {{Bukhari|9|87|162}}, {{Bukhari|9|87|163}}|Narrated `Abdullah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "'''I saw (in a dream) a black woman with unkempt hair''' going out of Medina and settling at Mahai'a, i.e., Al-Juhfa. '''I interpreted that as a symbol of epidemic''' of Medina being transferred to that place (Al-Juhfa).}}{{Quote|{{Muslim|10|3901}}|Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported: There came a slave and pledg- ed allegiance to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) on migration; he (the Holy Prophet) did not know that he was a slave. Then there came his master and demanded him back, whereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: '''Sell him to me. And he bought him for two black slaves''', and he did not afterwards take allegiance from anyone until he had asked him whether he was a slave (or a free man)}}{{Quote|{{citation|author=Ibn Ishaq|page=243|editor=A. Guillaume|trans_title=The Life of Muhammad|title=Sirat Rasul Allah|publisher=Oxford University Press|ISBN= 0 19 636033 1|year=2004}}|I have heard that it was of him that the apostle said, ''''Whoever wants to see Satan let him take a look at Nabtal b. al-Harith!' He was a sturdy black man with long flowing hair, inflamed eyes, and dark ruddy cheeks.''' He used to come and talk with the Prophet and listen to him. He would carry what he had said to the hypocrites. Nabtal said, 'Muhammad is all ears. If anyone tells him something he believes it.' Allah sent down concerning him: 'To those who annoy the Prophet and say that he is all ears, say, 'Good ears for you.' For those who annoy the Apostle there is a painful punishment."}}{{Quote|{{citation|pages=471-472|title=The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet|url=https://archive.org/details/TheSealedNectar-Alhamdulillah-library.blogspot.in.pdf/page/n399/mode/2up|author=Saifur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri|page=399|publisher=Darussalam|year=1996|edition=1st}}|He [the prophet] sent Khalid bin al-Walid in Ramadan 8 A.H., to '''a spot called Nakhlah ‎where there was a goddess called Al-‘Uzza''' venerated by the Quraish and Kinanah . . . On ‎his return, the Prophet asked him if he had seen anything there, to which Khalid gave a ‎negative answer . . . He went back again and there '''he saw a black woman, naked with torn ‎hair. Khalid struck her with his sword into two parts.''' He returned and narrated the story ‎to the Prophet, who then confirmed the fulfillment of the task.‎}}{{Quote|{{citation|pages=471-472|title=The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet|url=https://archive.org/details/TheSealedNectar-Alhamdulillah-library.blogspot.in.pdf/page/n399/mode/2up|author=Saifur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri|page=400|publisher=Darussalam|year=1996|edition=1st}}|Sa’d bin Zaid Al-Ashhali was also sent in the same month and '''on the same mission to Al-‎Mushallal to destroy an idol, Manat''', respected by both Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj tribes. '''Here ‎also a black woman, naked with messy hair appeared wailing and beating on her chest. ‎Sa’d immediately killed her''' . . .‎}}{{Quote|{{Muslim|5|2334}}|'Ubaidullah b. Abu Rafi', the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him), said: When Haruria (the Khwarij) set out and as he was with 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) they said," There is no command but that of Allah." Upon this 'Ali said: The statement is true but it is intentionally applied (to support) a wrong (cause). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him described their characteristics and I found these characteristics in them. They state the truth with their tongue, but it does not go beyond this part of their bodies (and the narrator pointed towards his throat). '''The most hateful among the creation of Allah is one black man among them (Khwarij). One of his hand is like the teat of a goat or the nipple of the breast.''' When 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) killed them, he said: Search (for his dead body). They searched for him, but they did not find it (his dead body). Upon this he said: Go (and search for him). By Allah, neither I have spoken a lie nor has the lie been spoken to me. 'Ali said this twice and thrice. They then found him (the dead body) in a rain. They brought (his dead) body till they placed it before him (Hadrat 'Ali). 'Ubaidullah said: And, I was present at (that place) when this happened and when 'Ali said about them. A person narrated to me from Ibn Hanain that he said: I saw that black man.}}{{Quote|{{Tabari|2|p. 11}}|Shem, the son of Noah was the father of the Arabs, the Persians, and the Greeks; Ham was the father of the Black Africans; and Japheth was the father of the Turks and of Gog and Magog who were cousins of the Turks. Noah prayed that the prophets and apostles would be descended from Shem and kings would be from Japheth. '''He prayed that the African’s color would change so that their descendants would be slaves to the Arabs and Turks.'''}}{{Quote|{{Tabari|2|p. 21}}|'''Ham [Africans] begat all those who are black and curly-haired''', while Japheth [Turks] begat all those who are full-faced with small eyes, and Shem [Arabs] begat everyone who is handsome of face with beautiful hair. Noah prayed that the hair of Ham’s descendants would not grow beyond their ears, and that whenever his descendants met Shem’s, '''the latter would enslave them.'''}}{{Quote|Ishaq:450|It is your folly to fight the Apostle, for Allah’s army is bound to disgrace you. We brought them to the pit. Hell was their meeting place. '''We collected them there, black slaves, men of no descent.'''}}{{Quote|Ishaq:374|The black troops and slaves of the Meccans cried out and the Muslims replied, ‘Allah destroy your sight, you impious rascals.}}{{Quote|Mishkat, Vol. 3, p. 117. ''Al-Tirmidhi No. 38'', Alim.org ([https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20120512074140/http://www.alim.org/library/hadith/TIR/38 Archived]).|"Abu Darda reported that the Holy Prophet said: Allah created Adam when he created him (sic). Then He stroke (sic) his right shoulder and took out a white race as if they were seeds, and He stroke (sic) his left shoulder and took out a black race as if they were coals. Then He said to those who were in his right side: Towards paradise and I don't care. He said to those who were on his left shoulder: Towards Hell and I don't care. - Ahmad"}}
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|9|87|161}}, {{Bukhari|9|87|162}}, {{Bukhari|9|87|163}}|Narrated `Abdullah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "'''I saw (in a dream) a black woman with unkempt hair''' going out of Medina and settling at Mahai'a, i.e., Al-Juhfa. '''I interpreted that as a symbol of epidemic''' of Medina being transferred to that place (Al-Juhfa).}}{{Quote|{{Muslim|10|3901}}|Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported: There came a slave and pledg- ed allegiance to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) on migration; he (the Holy Prophet) did not know that he was a slave. Then there came his master and demanded him back, whereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: '''Sell him to me. And he bought him for two black slaves''', and he did not afterwards take allegiance from anyone until he had asked him whether he was a slave (or a free man)}}{{Quote|{{citation|title=The Life of Muhammad|trans_title=Sirat Rasul Allah|ISBN=0-19-636033-1|year=1955|publisher=Oxford UP|author1=Ibn Ishaq (d. 768)|author2=Ibn Hisham (d. 833)|editor=A. Guillaume|url=https://archive.org/details/GuillaumeATheLifeOfMuhammad/page/n1/mode/2up|page=243}}
<BR>{{citation|title=سيرة ابن هشام ت السقا|author1=ابن إسحاق|author2=ابن هشام|url=https://app.turath.io/book/23833|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol.1|page=521}}|I have heard that it was of him that the apostle said, ''''Whoever wants to see Satan let him take a look at Nabtal b. al-Harith!' He was a sturdy black man with long flowing hair, inflamed eyes, and dark ruddy cheeks.''' He used to come and talk with the Prophet and listen to him. He would carry what he had said to the hypocrites. Nabtal said, 'Muhammad is all ears. If anyone tells him something he believes it.' Allah sent down concerning him: 'To those who annoy the Prophet and say that he is all ears, say, 'Good ears for you.' For those who annoy the Apostle there is a painful punishment."}}{{Quote|{{citation|pages=471-472|title=The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet|url=https://archive.org/details/TheSealedNectar-Alhamdulillah-library.blogspot.in.pdf/page/n399/mode/2up|author=Saifur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri|page=399|publisher=Darussalam|year=1996|edition=1st}}|He [the prophet] sent Khalid bin al-Walid in Ramadan 8 A.H., to '''a spot called Nakhlah ‎where there was a goddess called Al-‘Uzza''' venerated by the Quraish and Kinanah . . . On ‎his return, the Prophet asked him if he had seen anything there, to which Khalid gave a ‎negative answer . . . He went back again and there '''he saw a black woman, naked with torn ‎hair. Khalid struck her with his sword into two parts.''' He returned and narrated the story ‎to the Prophet, who then confirmed the fulfillment of the task.‎}}{{Quote|{{citation|pages=471-472|title=The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet|url=https://archive.org/details/TheSealedNectar-Alhamdulillah-library.blogspot.in.pdf/page/n399/mode/2up|author=Saifur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri|page=400|publisher=Darussalam|year=1996|edition=1st}}|Sa’d bin Zaid Al-Ashhali was also sent in the same month and '''on the same mission to Al-‎Mushallal to destroy an idol, Manat''', respected by both Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj tribes. '''Here ‎also a black woman, naked with messy hair appeared wailing and beating on her chest. ‎Sa’d immediately killed her''' . . .‎}}{{Quote|{{Muslim|5|2334}}|'Ubaidullah b. Abu Rafi', the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him), said: When Haruria (the Khwarij) set out and as he was with 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) they said," There is no command but that of Allah." Upon this 'Ali said: The statement is true but it is intentionally applied (to support) a wrong (cause). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him described their characteristics and I found these characteristics in them. They state the truth with their tongue, but it does not go beyond this part of their bodies (and the narrator pointed towards his throat). '''The most hateful among the creation of Allah is one black man among them (Khwarij). One of his hand is like the teat of a goat or the nipple of the breast.''' When 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) killed them, he said: Search (for his dead body). They searched for him, but they did not find it (his dead body). Upon this he said: Go (and search for him). By Allah, neither I have spoken a lie nor has the lie been spoken to me. 'Ali said this twice and thrice. They then found him (the dead body) in a rain. They brought (his dead) body till they placed it before him (Hadrat 'Ali). 'Ubaidullah said: And, I was present at (that place) when this happened and when 'Ali said about them. A person narrated to me from Ibn Hanain that he said: I saw that black man.}}{{Quote|{{citation|title=The History of al-Tabari|trans_title=Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk|volume=vol. II|ISBN=0-88706-313-6|year=1987|publisher=SUNY Press|author=al-Tabari (d. 923)|editor1=William M Brinner|url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryAlTabari40Vol/History_Al-Tabari_10_Vol/page/n435/mode/2up|page=267}}<BR>{{citation|title=تاريخ الرسل والملوك|author=أبو جعفر الطبري|url=https://app.turath.io/book/9783|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol.1 |page=97}}<BR> {{citation|title=سيرة ابن هشام ت طه عبد الرؤوف سعد|author1=ابن إسحاق|author2=ابن هشام|url=https://app.turath.io/book/7450|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol.2|page=67}}
|It is related by Damrah b. Rabi`ah-Ibn `Ata'-his father:Ham begat all those who are black and curly-haired, while Japheth begat all those who are full-faced with small eyes, and
Shem begat everyone who is handsome of face with beautiful hair. Noah prayed that the hair of Ham's descendants would not grow beyond their ears, and that wherever his descendants met the children of Shem, the latter would enslave them}}{{Quote|{{citation|title=The Life of Muhammad|trans_title=Sirat Rasul Allah|ISBN=0-19-636033-1|year=1955|publisher=Oxford UP|author1=Ibn Ishaq (d. 768)|author2=Ibn Hisham (d. 833)|editor=A. Guillaume|url=https://archive.org/details/GuillaumeATheLifeOfMuhammad/page/n1/mode/2up|page=374}}<BR>|Asim b. 'Umar b. Qataada told me that Abu 'Amir 'Abdu 'Amr b.  Sayfi b. Malik b. al-Nu'man, one of the B. Dubay'a who had seperated  from the apostle and gone off to Mecca along with fifty young men of al-Aus [Tabari:among whom was 'Uthman b. Hunayf] though some people say there were only fifteen of them, was promising Quraysh that if he met his people no two men of them would exchange blows with him; and when  the battle was joined the first one to meet them was Abu 'Amir with the,black troops and the slaves of the Meccans,and he cried out,'O men of Aus, I am Abu' Amir.' They replied, 'Then God destroy your sight, you  impious rascal.' {In the pagan period he was called 'the monk'; the apostle called him 'the impious'.) }}{{Quote|Mishkat, Vol. 3, p. 117. ''Al-Tirmidhi No. 38'', Alim.org ([https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20120512074140/http://www.alim.org/library/hadith/TIR/38 Archived]).|"Abu Darda reported that the Holy Prophet said: Allah created Adam when he created him (sic). Then He stroke (sic) his right shoulder and took out a white race as if they were seeds, and He stroke (sic) his left shoulder and took out a black race as if they were coals. Then He said to those who were in his right side: Towards paradise and I don't care. He said to those who were on his left shoulder: Towards Hell and I don't care. - Ahmad"}}
 
====Other hierarchies, races, and tribes====
====Other hierarchies, races, and tribes====
{{Quote|{{bukhari|4|56|718}}; see also {{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3950}}|Narrated Abu Bakra: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, '''"Do you think that the tribes of Juhaina, Muzaina, Aslam and Ghifar are better than the tribes of Bani Tamim, Bani Asad, Bani `Abdullah bin Ghatafan and Bani Amir bin Sasaa?"''' A man said, "They were unsuccessful and losers." The Prophet (ﷺ) added, "'''(Yes), they are better''' than the tribes of Bani Tamim, Bani Asad, Bani `Abdullah bin Ghatafan and Bani Amir bin Sasaa."}}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|726}}; see also|Narrated Abu Hurairah (ra):
{{Quote|{{bukhari|4|56|718}}; see also {{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3950}}|Narrated Abu Bakra: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, '''"Do you think that the tribes of Juhaina, Muzaina, Aslam and Ghifar are better than the tribes of Bani Tamim, Bani Asad, Bani `Abdullah bin Ghatafan and Bani Amir bin Sasaa?"''' A man said, "They were unsuccessful and losers." The Prophet (ﷺ) added, "'''(Yes), they are better''' than the tribes of Bani Tamim, Bani Asad, Bani `Abdullah bin Ghatafan and Bani Amir bin Sasaa."}}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|726}}; see also|Narrated Abu Hurairah (ra):
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, '''(The people of) Aslam, Ghifar and some people of Muzaina and Juhaina''' or said (some people of Juhaina or Muzaina) '''are better with Allah''' or said (on the Day of resurrection) '''than the tribe of Asad, Tamim, Hawazin and Ghatafan'''.}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3911}}|Narrated Abu Usaid As-Sa'idi: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "'''The Best houses of the Ansar are the houses of Banu An-Najjar, then the house of Banu 'Abdul-Ashhal, then Banu Al-Harith bin Al-Khazraj, then Banu Sa'idah.''' And in all of the houses of the Ansar there is good." So Sa'd said: "I do not see except that the Prophet (ﷺ) has preferred everyone over us." So it was said: "He preferred you over many."<br>Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3935}}|Narrated Abu Hurairah: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "'''The people of Yemen''' have come to you. They '''are weaker in heart and softer in understanding, faith is Yemeni and wisdom is Yemeni.'''" <br>Grade: Hasan (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3838}}|Narrated Abu Hurairah: "The Prophet (ﷺ) said to me: 'Who are you from?' I said: 'From Daws.' He said: ''''I did not think there was anyone from Daws in whom there was good.''''" <br>Grade: Hasan (Darussalam)}}
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, '''(The people of) Aslam, Ghifar and some people of Muzaina and Juhaina''' or said (some people of Juhaina or Muzaina) '''are better with Allah''' or said (on the Day of resurrection) '''than the tribe of Asad, Tamim, Hawazin and Ghatafan'''.}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3911}}|Narrated Abu Usaid As-Sa'idi: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "'''The Best houses of the Ansar are the houses of Banu An-Najjar, then the house of Banu 'Abdul-Ashhal, then Banu Al-Harith bin Al-Khazraj, then Banu Sa'idah.''' And in all of the houses of the Ansar there is good." So Sa'd said: "I do not see except that the Prophet (ﷺ) has preferred everyone over us." So it was said: "He preferred you over many."<br>Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3935}}|Narrated Abu Hurairah: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "'''The people of Yemen''' have come to you. They '''are weaker in heart and softer in understanding, faith is Yemeni and wisdom is Yemeni.'''" <br>Grade: Hasan (Darussalam)}}{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3838}}|Narrated Abu Hurairah: "The Prophet (ﷺ) said to me: 'Who are you from?' I said: 'From Daws.' He said: ''''I did not think there was anyone from Daws in whom there was good.''''" <br>Grade: Hasan (Darussalam)}}


==Race and Tribe in Islamic law==
==Race and tribe in Islamic law==


===''Kafa'ah'' ("equivalence") in marriage<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam|publisher=E.J. Brill|volume=4 IRAN-KHA|editor1=E. van Donzel|editor2=B. Lewis|editor3=Ch. Pellat|editor4=C.E. Bosworth|edition=New Edition [2nd]|location=Leiden|chapter=Kafa'a|publication-date=1997|isbn=90 04 05745 5|page=404}}</ref>===
===''Kafa'ah'' ("equivalence") in marriage<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam|publisher=E.J. Brill|volume=4 IRAN-KHA|editor1=E. van Donzel|editor2=B. Lewis|editor3=Ch. Pellat|editor4=C.E. Bosworth|edition=New Edition [2nd]|location=Leiden|chapter=Kafa'a|publication-date=1997|isbn=90 04 05745 5|page=404}}</ref>===
Line 137: Line 141:
He said: The hadd will be implemented upon him according to Malik if he [the victim] ‎was an Arab or a non-Arab unless there is a black person among his forefathers. […]‎
He said: The hadd will be implemented upon him according to Malik if he [the victim] ‎was an Arab or a non-Arab unless there is a black person among his forefathers. […]‎


‎'''Chapter: Regarding he who said to a white man, ‘Oh son of a black person’ or ‘Oh one ‎blind in an eye!’''' […]‎
‎'''Chapter: Regarding he who said to a white man, ‘Oh son of a black person’ or ‘Oh one ‎blind in an eye!’ and he is healthy [i.e. not blind]''' […]‎


I said: What about the man who says to an Arab, ‘Oh non-Arab!’ Is he punished with the ‎hadd or not according to Malik?‎
I said: What about the man who says to an Arab, ‘Oh non-Arab!’ Is he punished with the ‎hadd or not according to Malik?‎
Line 157: Line 161:


====Classical views====
====Classical views====
{{Quote|{{citation|author=Ibn Taymiyyah|title=Iqtida Sirat al-Mustaqim|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila|Chapter=The difference between the Arab and non-Arab races|volume=1|pages=419-461|url=https://app.turath.io/book/11620}}|‎'''The Arabs are more intelligent than those other than themselves and are more capable ‎in delivery and expression''' . . . verily, what the people of the sunnah are upon is the belief ‎‎(i’tiqaad) that '''the Arab race is better (afdal) than the Non-Arab race'''. Whether (the Non-‎Arabs) are Hebrews, Aramaic, Romans, Persians and other than them . . . not simply due to ‎the fact the prophet peace be upon him is from them – even though this is [a point] of ‎superiority – but instead, '''they themselves are superior within themselves''' . . . [for] '''Allah the ‎Most High has designated the Arabs and their language with rulings that are peculiar and ‎unique.'''”}}{{Quote|Abu Hanifah quoted in {{citation|author=Muhammad al-Shaybani|title=al-Jami al-Sagheer|pages=140-141}} quoted in {{citation|author=Susan A. Spectorsky|title=Women in Classical Islamic Law|publisher=Brill|page=77|ISBN=978 90 04 17435 1|year=2010}}|'''The Quraysh are each other’s equals, and the Arabs are each other’s equals'''. Among the ‎non-Arabs, whoever has two Muslim parents or grandparents are each other’s equal.‎}}{{Quote|{{citation|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila|author=[[Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti]]|page=48|url=https://app.turath.io/book/151019|title=Sawn al-Mantiq wal-Kalam an Fanni al-Mantiq wal-Kalam}}|Imam Shafi'i said, "'''People do not become ignorant and do not disagree except due to their leaving the tongue ‎of the Arabs''' and their adoption of the tongue of Aristotle‎"}}{{Quote|Ahmad ibn Hanbal quoted in {{citation|author=Ibn Hani|title=Masail Ahmad b. Hanbal|page=200|chapter=no. 992}} quoted in {{citation|author=Susan A. Spectorsky|title=Women in Classical Islamic Law|publisher=Brill|page=78|ISBN=978 90 04 17435 1|year=2010}}|'''Arabs are of equal standing with each other, and the Quraysh are of equal standing with ‎each other.‎'''}}{{Quote|{{citation|author=Ibn Abi Ya'la|volume=1|page=30|title=Tabaqat al-Hanabilah|url=https://app.turath.io/book/9543|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila}}; translated in {{citation|page=32|author=Nimrod Hurvitz|publisher=Routledge|title=The Formation of Hanbalism|year=2002|ISBN=978-0-415-61641-6}}|He '''(Ibn Hanbal) acknowledged the Arab’s due, and their superiority (fadlaha) and their ‎priority (sabiqataha)''' and he loved the . . . he (Ibn Hanbal) did not adhere to the doctrine ‎of '''the Shu’ubiyya ‎[a Persian sect that believed in racial egalitarianism]''' and the ‎contemptible (among) the mawali [non-Arabs] that disliked the Arabs and did not ‎concede to them their [Arabs] superiority. '''He (ascribed to) them (Shu’ubiyya) innovation, ‎hypocrisy and controversy.‎'''}}
{{Quote|{{citation|author=Ibn Taymiyyah|title=Iqtida Sirat al-Mustaqim|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila|Chapter=The difference between the Arab and non-Arab races|volume=1|pages=419-461|url=https://app.turath.io/book/11620}}|‎'''The Arabs are more intelligent than those other than themselves and are more capable ‎in delivery and expression''' . . . verily, what the people of the sunnah are upon is the belief ‎‎(i’tiqaad) that '''the Arab race is better (afdal) than the Non-Arab race'''. Whether (the Non-‎Arabs) are Hebrews, Aramaic, Romans, Persians and other than them . . . not simply due to ‎the fact the prophet peace be upon him is from them – even though this is [a point] of ‎superiority – but instead, '''they themselves are superior within themselves''' . . . [for] '''Allah the ‎Most High has designated the Arabs and their language with rulings that are peculiar and ‎unique.'''”}}{{Quote|Abu Hanifah quoted in {{citation|author=Muhammad al-Shaybani|title=al-Jami al-Sagheer|pages=140-141}} quoted in {{citation|author=Susan A. Spectorsky|title=Women in Classical Islamic Law|publisher=Brill|page=77|ISBN=978 90 04 17435 1|year=2010}}|'''The Quraysh are each other’s equals, and the Arabs are each other’s equals'''. Among the ‎non-Arabs, whoever has two Muslim parents or grandparents are each other’s equal.‎}}{{Quote|{{citation|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila|author=[[Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti]]|page=48|url=https://app.turath.io/book/151019|title=Sawn al-Mantiq wal-Kalam an Fanni al-Mantiq wal-Kalam}}|Imam Shafi'i said, "'''People do not become ignorant and do not disagree except due to their leaving the tongue ‎of the Arabs''' and their adoption of the tongue of Aristotle‎"}}{{Quote|Ahmad ibn Hanbal quoted in {{citation|author=Ibn Hani|title=Masail Ahmad b. Hanbal|page=200|chapter=no. 992}} quoted in {{citation|author=Susan A. Spectorsky|title=Women in Classical Islamic Law|publisher=Brill|page=78|ISBN=978 90 04 17435 1|year=2010}}|'''Arabs are of equal standing with each other, and the Quraysh are of equal standing with ‎each other.‎'''}}{{Quote|{{citation|author=Ibn Abi Ya'la|volume=1|page=30|title=Tabaqat al-Hanabilah|url=https://app.turath.io/book/9543|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila}}; translated in {{citation|page=32|author=Nimrod Hurvitz|publisher=Routledge|title=The Formation of Hanbalism|year=2002|ISBN=978-0-415-61641-6}}|He '''(Ibn Hanbal) acknowledged the Arab’s due, and their superiority (fadlaha) and their ‎priority (sabiqataha)''' and he loved the . . . he (Ibn Hanbal) did not adhere to the doctrine ‎of '''the Shu’ubiyya ‎[a Persian sect that believed in racial egalitarianism]''' and the ‎contemptible (among) the mawali [non-Arabs] that disliked the Arabs and did not ‎concede to them their [Arabs] superiority. '''He (ascribed to) them (Shu’ubiyya) innovation, ‎hypocrisy and controversy.‎'''}}Islamic scholar Michael Cook discusses how in early Islamic empires/caliphates, non-Arabs were treated as second class citizens.
{{Quote|1=[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ancient_Religions_Modern_Politics/F3CYDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover Cook, Michael A.. Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (pp. 9-10). Princeton University Press.]|2=In the conditions of early Islamic times there was more to this special status of the Arabs than mere sentiment. The empire that emerged from the rise of Islam was conquered and ruled by Arabs. “We Arabs were underdogs (innā maʿshar al-ʿArab kunnā adhilla), people walked all over us while we didn’t do the same to them; then God sent a prophet from among us,” as an Arab emissary informed the Persians in the heart of their country; “he told us things that we found to be just as he said, and among the things he promised us was that we would take possession of all this and prevail over it.” The resulting structure of power was neatly reflected in the way in which non-Arabs converted to Islam.
The key institution here was clientage (walāʾ).Individual non-Arabs who had either voluntarily left their native societies to join the conquerors, or been involuntarily removed from them by enslavement in the course of the conquests, became the clients (mawālī) of individual Arabs and converted to Islam at their hands. <b>The result was to create a social structure through which individual non-Arabs were incorporated into the Muslim community while remaining what we would call second-class citizens—and exposed to no small amount of Arab chauvinism.</b> We are told, for example, that Arabs did not walk side by side with clients, that clients present at a meal were left standing while Arabs sat and ate, and that a client would not be allowed to undertake the prayer at a funeral if an Arab were present. In other words, in this early period non-Arab people could convert to Islam, but non-Arab peoples could not; in that sense the community remained effectively monoethnic.
The linguistic aspect of this is caught in a remark of an early Shīʿite: to establish the fact that people recognize the superiority of Arabic over Persian, he observes that “no Persian who converts to this religion fails to give up the language of his people and adopt the language of the Arabs.”}}
And as the empire/caliphate expanded and they began to lose control over time, this lead to backlash from certain scholars who believed Arabs were granted a special position to rule.
{{Quote|1=[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ancient_Religions_Modern_Politics/F3CYDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover Cook, Michael A.. Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (pp. 9-10). Princeton University Press.]|2=One key change was that from the ninth century onwards Arab power was in steep decline. Being an Arab no longer constituted an effective title to participate in ruling the world. This change provoked its share of laments. Thus the great Arab poet Mutanabbī (d. 965) observes that Arabs ruled by non-Arabs do not prosper; a scholiast writing in the next century explains that this is because of mutual distance and ill will, and the difference of natures and language that separates the two groups. Likewise the Egyptian scholar Maqrīzī (d. 1442) complains of the malign role of the Caliph al-Muʿtaṣim (ruled 833–842) <b>in the dispossession of the Arabs: “He removed from the pay-registers the Arabs, the Messenger of God’s people, the race through whose agency God had established the religion of Islam.</b>}}


====Modern views====
====Modern views====
Line 193: Line 202:
==Islamic scholars and writers on black people==
==Islamic scholars and writers on black people==


Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was, among other things, an Islamic jurist, Islamic lawyer, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, and hafiz
Al Jahiz (781–869), was a famous Muslim scholar


{{Quote|Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, 14th century|"Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
{{Quote|Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, vol. 2|"Like the crow among mankind are the Zanj [African Blacks] for they are the worst of men and the most vicious of creatures in character and temperament."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}


{{Quote|Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah|"beyond [known peoples of black West Africa] to the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
{{Quote|Jahiz, Kitab al-Bukhala (The Book of Misers)|"We know that the Zanj (blacks) are the least intelligent and the least discerning of mankind, and the least capable of understanding the consequences of actions."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}


Ibn Sina or ''Avicenna'' (980-1037), was, among other things, a Hafiz, Islamic psychologist, Islamic scholar, and Islamic theologian - many said.
{{Quote|Jahiz, Al-Bayan wa`l-tabyin, vol. 3|"They [the Shu`ubiyya] maintain that eloquence is prized by all people at all times - even the Zanj, despite their dimness, their boundless stupidity, their obtuseness, their crude perceptions and their evil dispositions, make long speeches."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
{{Quote|Quoted in “Blasphemy Before God: The Darkness of Racism In Muslim Culture” by Adam Misbah aI-Haqq|[Blacks are] people who are by their very nature slaves.<ref name="Islamic Racism2"></ref>}}


Ibn Qutaybah (828-889), was a renowned Islamic scholar from Kufa, Iraq
Ibn Qutaybah (828-889), was a renowned Islamic scholar from Kufa, Iraq  


{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=43-50|chapter=Ventures in Ethnology}}|They [the Zanj, that is, blacks] are ugly and misshapen, because they live in a hot country. The heat ‎overcrooks them in the womb, and curls their hair.‎}}
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=43-50|chapter=Ventures in Ethnology}}|They [the Zanj, that is, blacks] are ugly and misshapen, because they live in a hot country. The heat ‎overcrooks them in the womb, and curls their hair.‎}}


Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274), was a Shia Muslim Scholar and Grand Ayatollah
Ibn al-Faqih (9th century) was a Muslim historian and geographer{{Quote|Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani, Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan, 903 AD|"A man of discernment said: The people of Iraq ... do not come out with something between blonde, buff and blanched coloring, such as the infants dropped from the wombs of the women of the Slavs and others of similar light complexion; nor are they overdone in the womb until they are burned, so that the child comes out something between black, murky, malodorous, stinking, and crinkly-haired, with uneven limbs, deficient minds, and depraved passions, such as the Zanj, the Somali, and other blacks who resemble them. The Iraqis are neither half-baked dough nor burned crust but between the two."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
{{Quote|Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Tasawwurat (Rawdat al-taslim):|"If (all types of men) are taken, from the first, and one placed after another, like the Negro from Zanzibar, in the Southern-most countries, the Negro does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth -in no other peculiarity or property - except for what God wished. Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and more intelligent."<ref name="Islamic Racism">[http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=2002&x=arabviews West Asian views on black Africans during the medieval era]</ref>}}
 
{{Quote||[The Zanj (African) differ from animals only in that] their two hands are lifted above the ground,... Many have observed that the ape is more teachable and more intelligent than the Zanj.<ref name="Islamic Racism2">[http://www.nathanielturner.com/racismarabandeuropeancompare.htm Comparative Digests Racism Arab and European Compared] - Nathaniel Turner</ref>}}
 
Al-Muqaddasi (945/946-1000) was a medieval Muslim geographer
 
{{Quote|Al-Muqaddasi (fl. 966), Kitab al-Bad' wah-tarikh, vol.4|"Of the neighbors of the Bujja, Maqdisi had heard that "there is no marriage among them; the child does not know his father, and they eat people -- but God knows best. As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}


Al-Masudi (896-956), was a Muslim historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs."<ref>{{cite book
Al-Masudi (896-956), was a Muslim historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs."<ref>{{cite book
Line 230: Line 229:
{{Quote|Al-Masudi, Muruj al-dhahab|"Galen says that merriment dominates the black man because of his defective brain, whence also the weakness of his intelligence."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=85-92|chapter=Equality and Marriage}}|‎“[quoting another source in agreement:] Do not intermarry with the sons of Ham [blacks] ‎for they are the distorted among God’s creatures . . .”‎}}{{Quote|{{citation|author=Alexandre Popovic|title=The Revolt of African Slaves in Iraq in the 3rd/9th Century|location=Princeton, NJ|publisher=Markus Wiener|year=1999|page=16}}|[The Zanj have:] black complexion, kinky hair, flat nose[s], thick lips, slender hands and ‎feet, fetid odor, limited intelligence, extreme exuberance, [and] cannibalistic customs.}}
{{Quote|Al-Masudi, Muruj al-dhahab|"Galen says that merriment dominates the black man because of his defective brain, whence also the weakness of his intelligence."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=85-92|chapter=Equality and Marriage}}|‎“[quoting another source in agreement:] Do not intermarry with the sons of Ham [blacks] ‎for they are the distorted among God’s creatures . . .”‎}}{{Quote|{{citation|author=Alexandre Popovic|title=The Revolt of African Slaves in Iraq in the 3rd/9th Century|location=Princeton, NJ|publisher=Markus Wiener|year=1999|page=16}}|[The Zanj have:] black complexion, kinky hair, flat nose[s], thick lips, slender hands and ‎feet, fetid odor, limited intelligence, extreme exuberance, [and] cannibalistic customs.}}


Ibn al-Faqih (9th century) was a Muslim historian and geographer
al-Mutannabi (915-965) was a famous Abbasid court poet from Iraq and one of the most influential poets in the history of Arabic.
 
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=54-62|chapter=In Black and White}}|‎The slave is no brother to the godly freeman. / even though he be born in the clothes of ‎the free. // Do not buy a slave without buying a stick with him, / for slaves are filthy and ‎scant of good. // I never thought I should live to see the day when a / dog would do me ‎evil and be praised in the bargain, // nor did I imagin that true men would have ceased to ‎exist, / and that the like of the father of bounty, / would still be here, // and that that ‎negro with his pierced camel’s lip / would be obeyed by those cowardly hirelings . . . // . . . ‎Who ever taught the eunuch negro nobility? His / “white” people, or his royal ancestors? ‎‎// or his ear bleeding in the hand of the slave-broker? / or his worth, seeing that for two ‎farthings / he would be rejected? // wretched Kafur is the most deserving of the base / to ‎be excused in regard to every baseness – / and sometimes excusing is a reproach – / and ‎that is because white stallions are incapable / of gentility, so how about black eunuchs?}}{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=54-62|chapter=In Black and White}}|‎More stupid than a slave or his mate is he who makes / the slave his master . . . // . . . One ‎who holds you by his word is unlike one who holds / you in his jail – // The morality of the ‎‎[black] slave is bounded by his / stinking pudenda and his teeth. // He does not keep his ‎engagements of today, nor remember / what he said yesterday . . . // . . . Hope for no good ‎from a man over whose head the / slaver’s hand has passed, // And, if you are in doubt ‎about his person or / condition, look to his race. // One who is vile in his coat, was usually ‎vile / in his caul. // He who makes his way beyond his merits, still cannot / get away from ‎his root.}}Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (897-967) was an Arab litterateur, genealogist, poet, and musicologist.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=92-99|chapter=Image and Stereotype}}|[Retelling an anecdote about "an Arab poet known as al-Sayyid al-Himyari (723-89)":] The Sayyid was my neighbor, and he was very dark. He used to carouse with the young men of the camp, one of whom was as dark as he was, with a thick nose and lips, and a Negroid [''muzannajj''] appearance. The Sayyid had the foulest smelling armpits of anybody. They were jesting together one day, and the Sayyid said to him: "You are a Zanji in your nose and your lips!" whereat the youth replied to the Sayyid: "And you are a Zanji in your color and armpits!"}}Ibn Abi Zayd (922–996), was a Maliki scholar from Al-Qayrawan in Tunisia.{{Quote||It is disliked to trade in the land of the enemy or the land of the blacks. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Travel is a portion of punishment."<ref>[http://bewley.virtualave.net/RisSpeech.html The Risala of 'Abdullah ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani/ 43.16 Trading abroad] - A Treatise on Maliki Fiqh (Including commentary from ath-Thamr ad-Dani by al-Azhari)(310/922 - 386/996)</ref>}}Hudud al-`Alam, authored by an unknown 10th century Persian scholar, is a book dedicated to Abu l-Ḥārith Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, a ruler of the local Farighunid dynasty.{{Quote|Hudud al-`Alam, 982 AD|"Their [Zanj] nature is that of wild animals. They are extremely black." "Among themselves [the Sudan] there are people who steal each other's children and sell them to the merchants when the latter arrive."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
{{Quote|Hudud al-`alam, 982 AD|"[inhabitants of sub-Saharan African countries] are people distant from the standards of humanity" "Their nature is that of wild animals..."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
{{Quote|Hudud al-`Alam, 982 AD|"As regards southern countries, all their inhabitants are black on account of the heat of their climate... Most of them go naked... In all their lands and provinces, gold is found.... They are people distant from the standards of humanity."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
Al-Muqaddasi (945/946-1000) was a medieval Muslim geographer
 
{{Quote|Al-Muqaddasi (fl. 966), Kitab al-Bad' wah-tarikh, vol.4|"Of the neighbors of the Bujja, Maqdisi had heard that "there is no marriage among them; the child does not know his father, and they eat people -- but God knows best. As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
al-Kirmani (996-1021) was a famous Persian Ismaili theologian and philosopher.


{{Quote|Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani, Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan, 903 AD|"A man of discernment said: The people of Iraq ... do not come out with something between blonde, buff and blanched coloring, such as the infants dropped from the wombs of the women of the Slavs and others of similar light complexion; nor are they overdone in the womb until they are burned, so that the child comes out something between black, murky, malodorous, stinking, and crinkly-haired, with uneven limbs, deficient minds, and depraved passions, such as the Zanj, the Somali, and other blacks who resemble them. The Iraqis are neither half-baked dough nor burned crust but between the two."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=54-62|chapter=In Black and White}}|In a philosophical work, he dismisses "the Turks, Zanj, Berbers, and their like" as "by their nature" without interest in the pursuit of intellectual knowledge and without desire to understand religious truth.}}
 
Ibn Sina or ''Avicenna'' (980-1037), was, among other things, a Hafiz, Islamic psychologist, Islamic scholar, and Islamic theologian - many said.
 
{{Quote|Quoted in “Blasphemy Before God: The Darkness of Racism In Muslim Culture” by Adam Misbah aI-Haqq|[Blacks are] people who are by their very nature slaves.<ref name="Islamic Racism2"></ref>}}


Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1048), was an Islamic scholar and polymath
Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1048), was an Islamic scholar and polymath
Line 238: Line 254:
{{Quote|Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, India, 1030 AD|"The Zanj are so uncivilized that they have no notion of a natural death. If a man dies a natural death, they think he was poisoned. Every death is suspicious with them, if a man has not been killed by a weapon."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
{{Quote|Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, India, 1030 AD|"The Zanj are so uncivilized that they have no notion of a natural death. If a man dies a natural death, they think he was poisoned. Every death is suspicious with them, if a man has not been killed by a weapon."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}


Hudud al-`Alam is a book dedicated to Abu l-Ḥārith Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, a ruler of the local Farighunid dynasty.
Qadi Iyad (1083-1149) was one of the most famous Maliki jurists, also an Imam and qadi in Granada under the Almoravid dynasty.{{Quote|{{citation|title=al-Shifa bi-ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa|author=Qadi Iyad|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila|url=https://app.turath.io/book/1753|volume=2|page=217, 234}}; translated in {{citation|editor=Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley|Publisher=Madinah Press Inverness|location=Scotland|year=2004|title=Ash-Shifa of Qadi 'Iyad|pages=375, 387|url=https://archive.org/details/MuhammadMessengerOfAllahAshShifaOfQadiIyad}}|[Qadi Iyad repeats this twice:] Ahmad b. Abi Sulayman, the companion of Sahnun, said, 'Anyone who says that the Prophet was black (''aswad'') should be killed.'}}Ibn Hazm (994-1064) was an Andalusian polymath who wrote on history, Islamic law, Islamic theology, philosophy, and is especially well regarded for his study of the hadiths.{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=28-37|chapter=Prejudice and Piety, Literature and Law}}|God has decreed that ‎the most devout is the noblest even if he be a Negress’s bastard, and that the sinner and ‎unbeliever is at the lowest level even if he be the son of prophets.}}


{{Quote|Hudud al-`Alam, 982 AD|"Their [Zanj] nature is that of wild animals. They are extremely black." "Among themselves [the Sudan] there are people who steal each other's children and sell them to the merchants when the latter arrive."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
Al-Idrisi (1100-1165), Muslim geographer, writer, scientist, cartographer from Almoravid Spain.


{{Quote|Hudud al-`alam, 982 AD|"[inhabitants of sub-Saharan African countries] are people distant from the standards of humanity" "Their nature is that of wild animals..."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=50-54|chapter=The Discovery of Africa}}|[The Zanj, that is, blacks] are in great fear and awe of the Arabs, so much so that when they see an Arab ‎trader or traveler they bow ‎down and treat him with great respect [such that the Arab ‎can] lure them with dates, and lead them from place to place, until they seize them, take ‎them out of the country, and transport them ‎to their own countries . . . [They] lack of ‎knowledge and [have] defective minds . . .}}


{{Quote|Hudud al-`Alam, 982 AD|"As regards southern countries, all their inhabitants are black on account of the heat of their climate... Most of them go naked... In all their lands and provinces, gold is found.... They are people distant from the standards of humanity."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
Said al-Andalusi (1029-1070) was an Arab qadhi (Islamic judge) living in al-Andalus, Spain who wrote on the history of science and philosophy.


Al Jahiz (781–869), was a famous Muslim scholar
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=43-50|chapter=Ventures in Ethnology}}|‎[The southern ‘barbarians’] are more like beasts than like men . . . For those who live furthest to the north between the last of the seven climates and the limits of the inhabited world, the excessive distance of the sun in relation to the zenith line makes the air cold and the atmosphere thick. Their temperaments are therefore frigid, their humors raw, their bellies gross, their color pale, their hair long and lank. Thus they lack keenness of understanding and clarity of intelligence, and are overcome by ignorance and dullness, lack of discernment, and stupidity. Such are the Slavs, the Bulgars, and their neighbors. For those peoples on the other hand who live near and beyond the equinoctial line to the limit of the inhabited world in the south, the long presence of the sun at the zenith makes the air hot and the atmosphere thin. Because of this their temperaments become hot and their humors fiery, their color black and their hair woolly. Thus they lack self-control and steadiness of mind and are overcome by fickleness, foolishness, and ignorance. Such are the blacks, who live at the extremity of the land of Ethiopia, the Nubians, the Zanj and the like. . . . [they are the only people] who diverge from this human ‎order and depart from this rational association are some dwellers in the steppes and ‎inhabitants of the deserts and wilderness, such as the rabble of Bujja, the savages of ‎Ghana, the scum of the Zanj, and their like.}}Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274), was a Shia Muslim Scholar and Grand Ayatollah


{{Quote|Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, vol. 2|"Like the crow among mankind are the Zanj [African Blacks] for they are the worst of men and the most vicious of creatures in character and temperament."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
{{Quote|Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Tasawwurat (Rawdat al-taslim):|"If (all types of men) are taken, from the first, and one placed after another, like the Negro from Zanzibar, in the Southern-most countries, the Negro does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth -in no other peculiarity or property - except for what God wished. Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and more intelligent."<ref name="Islamic Racism">[http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=2002&x=arabviews West Asian views on black Africans during the medieval era]</ref>}}


{{Quote|Jahiz, Kitab al-Bukhala (The Book of Misers)|"We know that the Zanj (blacks) are the least intelligent and the least discerning of mankind, and the least capable of understanding the consequences of actions."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
{{Quote||[The Zanj (African) differ from animals only in that] their two hands are lifted above the ground,... Many have observed that the ape is more teachable and more intelligent than the Zanj.<ref name="Islamic Racism2">[http://www.nathanielturner.com/racismarabandeuropeancompare.htm Comparative Digests Racism Arab and European Compared] - Nathaniel Turner</ref>}}


{{Quote|Jahiz, Al-Bayan wa`l-tabyin, vol. 3|"They [the Shu`ubiyya] maintain that eloquence is prized by all people at all times - even the Zanj, despite their dimness, their boundless stupidity, their obtuseness, their crude perceptions and their evil dispositions, make long speeches."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
Shams al-Dīn Muhammad b. Abī Talib al-Dimashqī (1256-1327), Damascene Imam who wrote on many topics.


Ibn Abi Zayd (922–996), was a Maliki scholar from Al-Qayrawan in Tunisia.  
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Nukhbat al-Dahr fi Ajaib al-Barr wal-Bahr|location=Leipzig|publisher=Harassowitz|editor=A. Mehren|pages=15-17|year=1923}}; translated in {{citation|author=John Hunwick|title=West Africa, Islam, and the Arab World|publisher=Markus Wiener|location=Princeton, NJ|year=2006|page=81}}|The equatorial region is inhabited by communities of blacks who are to be numbered ‎among the savages ‎and beasts. Their complexions and hair are burnt and they are ‎physically and morally deviant. Their ‎brains almost boil from the sun's excessive heat.. . . ‎The human being who dwells there is a crude fellow, with a very black complexion, and ‎burnt hair, unruly, with stinking sweat, ‎and an abnormal constitution, most closely ‎resembling in his moral qualities a savage, or animals.‎}}


{{Quote||It is disliked to trade in the land of the enemy or the land of the blacks. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Travel is a portion of punishment."<ref>[http://bewley.virtualave.net/RisSpeech.html The Risala of 'Abdullah ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani/ 43.16 Trading abroad] - A Treatise on Maliki Fiqh (Including commentary from ath-Thamr ad-Dani by al-Azhari)(310/922 - 386/996)</ref>}}al-Ibshihi (1388–1446), Egyptian scholar who wrote an encyclopedia covering Islamic law, theology, mysticism, and some other topics.
{{Quote|{{citation|url=https://app.turath.io/book/23802|page=328|author=Shihab al-Din al-Ibshihi|title=al-Mustatraf fi Kul Fan Mustatraf|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila}}; translated in {{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=92-99|chapter=Image and Stereotype}}|Is there anything more vile than black slaves, of less good and more evil than they'? As for ‎the mulatto, if ‎you show kindness to one of them all your life and in every way, he will not ‎be grateful; and it will be as if ‎you had done nothing for him. The better you treat him, the ‎more insolent he will he; the worse you treat ‎him, the more humble and submissive. I have ‎tried this many times, and how well the poet says: ‘If you honor the honorable you possess ‎him / If you honor the ignoble, he will be insolent.’ It is said that when the [black] slave is ‎sated, he fornicates, when he is hungry, he steals. My grandfather ‎on my mother's side ‎used to say: The worst use of money is bringing up slaves, and mulattoes are even ‎worse ‎and wickeder than Zanj, for the mulatto does not know his father, while the Zanji often ‎knows both ‎parents. It is said of the mulatto that he is like a mule, because he is a mongrel. ‎‎. . . Do not trust a mulatto, ‎for there is rarely any good in him‎}}
Shams al-Dīn Muhammad b. Abī Talib al-Dimashqī (1256-1327), Damascene Imam who wrote on many topics.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Nukhbat al-Dahr fi Ajaib al-Barr wal-Bahr|location=Leipzig|publisher=Harassowitz|editor=A. Mehren|pages=15-17|year=1923}}; translated in {{citation|author=John Hunwick|title=West Africa, Islam, and the Arab World|publisher=Markus Wiener|location=Princeton, NJ|year=2006|page=81}}|The equatorial region is inhabited by communities of blacks who are to be numbered ‎among the savages ‎and beasts. Their complexions and hair are burnt and they are ‎physically and morally deviant. Their ‎brains almost boil from the sun's excessive heat.. . . ‎The human being who dwells there is a crude fellow, with a very black complexion, and ‎burnt hair, unruly, with stinking sweat, ‎and an abnormal constitution, most closely ‎resembling in his moral qualities a savage, or animals.‎}}
Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) Muslim scholar and traveler who wrote about his journeys across the world.
Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) Muslim scholar and traveler who wrote about his journeys across the world.
{{Quote|Ibn Battuta in {{citation|title=Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1981|editor1=J.F.P. Hopkins|editor2=Nehemia Levtzion|page=298}}|‎[Writing about West Africans‎:] When I saw it [their reception gift] I laughed, and was long astonished at their feeble ‎‎intellect and their respect for mean things.‎}}Al-Idrisi (1100-1165), Muslim geographer, writer, scientist, cartographer from Almoravid Spain.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=50-54|chapter=The Discovery of Africa}}|‎[The Zanj, that is, blacks] are in great fear and awe of the Arabs, so much so that when they see an Arab ‎trader or traveler they bow ‎down and treat him with great respect [such that the Arab ‎can] lure them with dates, and lead them from place to place, until they seize them, take ‎them out of the country, and transport them ‎to their own countries . . . [They] lack of ‎knowledge and [have] defective minds . . .‎}}
Said al-Andalusi (1029-1070) was an Arab qadhi (Islamic judge) living in al-Andalus, Spain who wrote on the history of science and philosophy.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=43-50|chapter=Ventures in Ethnology}}|‎[The southern ‘barbarians’] are more like beasts than like men . . . For those who live furthest to the north between the last of the seven climates and the limits of the inhabited world, the excessive distance of the sun in relation to the zenith line makes the air cold and the atmosphere thick. Their temperaments are therefore frigid, their humors raw, their bellies gross, their color pale, their hair long and lank. Thus they lack keenness of understanding and clarity of intelligence, and are overcome by ignorance and dullness, lack of discernment, and stupidity. Such are the Slavs, the Bulgars, and their neighbors. For those peoples on the other hand who live near and beyond the equinoctial line to the limit of the inhabited world in the south, the long presence of the sun at the zenith makes the air hot and the atmosphere thin. Because of this their temperaments become hot and their humors fiery, their color black and their hair woolly. Thus they lack self-control and steadiness of mind and are overcome by fickleness, foolishness, and ignorance. Such are the blacks, who live at the extremity of the land of Ethiopia, the Nubians, the Zanj and the like. . . . [they are the only people] who diverge from this human ‎order and depart from this rational association are some dwellers in the steppes and ‎inhabitants of the deserts and wilderness, such as the rabble of Bujja, the savages of ‎Ghana, the scum of the Zanj, and their like.}}Ibn Hazm (994-1064) was an Andalusian polymath who wrote on history, Islamic law, Islamic theology, philosophy, and is especially well regarded for his study of the hadiths.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=28-37|chapter=Prejudice and Piety, Literature and Law}}|God has decreed that ‎the most devout is the noblest even if he be a Negress’s bastard, and that the sinner and ‎unbeliever is at the lowest level even if he be the son of prophets.}}
al-Kirmani (996-1021) was a famous Persian Ismaili theologian and philosopher.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=54-62|chapter=In Black and White}}|In a philosophical work, he dismisses "the Turks, Zanj, Berbers, and their like" as "by their nature" without interest in the pursuit of intellectual knowledge and without desire to understand religious truth.}}
al-Mutannabi (915-965) was a famous Abbasid court poet from Iraq and one of the most influential poets in the history of Arabic.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=54-62|chapter=In Black and White}}|‎The slave is no brother to the godly freeman. / even though he be born in the clothes of ‎the free. // Do not buy a slave without buying a stick with him, / for slaves are filthy and ‎scant of good. // I never thought I should live to see the day when a / dog would do me ‎evil and be praised in the bargain, // nor did I imagin that true men would have ceased to ‎exist, / and that the like of the father of bounty, / would still be here, // and that that ‎negro with his pierced camel’s lip / would be obeyed by those cowardly hirelings . . . // . . . ‎Who ever taught the eunuch negro nobility? His / “white” people, or his royal ancestors? ‎‎// or his ear bleeding in the hand of the slave-broker? / or his worth, seeing that for two ‎farthings / he would be rejected? // wretched Kafur is the most deserving of the base / to ‎be excused in regard to every baseness – / and sometimes excusing is a reproach – / and ‎that is because white stallions are incapable / of gentility, so how about black eunuchs?}}{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=54-62|chapter=In Black and White}}|‎More stupid than a slave or his mate is he who makes / the slave his master . . . // . . . One ‎who holds you by his word is unlike one who holds / you in his jail – // The morality of the ‎‎[black] slave is bounded by his / stinking pudenda and his teeth. // He does not keep his ‎engagements of today, nor remember / what he said yesterday . . . // . . . Hope for no good ‎from a man over whose head the / slaver’s hand has passed, // And, if you are in doubt ‎about his person or / condition, look to his race. // One who is vile in his coat, was usually ‎vile / in his caul. // He who makes his way beyond his merits, still cannot / get away from ‎his root.}}Qadi Iyad (108301149) was one of the most famous Maliki jurists, also an Imam and qadi in Granada under the Almoravid dynasty.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=al-Shifa bi-ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa|author=Qadi Iyad|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila|url=https://app.turath.io/book/1753|volume=2|page=217, 234}}; translated in {{citation|editor=Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley|Publisher=Madinah Press Inverness|location=Scotland|year=2004|title=Ash-Shifa of Qadi 'Iyad|pages=375, 387|url=https://archive.org/details/MuhammadMessengerOfAllahAshShifaOfQadiIyad}}|[Qadi Iyad repeats this twice:] Ahmad b. Abi Sulayman, the companion of Sahnun, said, 'Anyone who says that the Prophet was black (''aswad'') should be killed.'}}Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (897-967) was an Arab litterateur, genealogist, poet, and musicologist.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=92-99|chapter=Image and Stereotype}}|[Retelling an anecdote about "an Arab poet known as al-Sayyid al-Himyari (723-89)":] The Sayyid was my neighbor, and he was very dark. He used to carouse with the young men of the camp, one of whom was as dark as he was, with a thick nose and lips, and a Negroid [''muzannajj''] appearance. The Sayyid had the foulest smelling armpits of anybody. They were jesting together one day, and the Sayyid said to him: "You are a Zanji in your nose and your lips!" whereat the youth replied to the Sayyid: "And you are a Zanji in your color and armpits!"}}


==See Also==
{{Quote|Ibn Battuta in {{citation|title=Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1981|editor1=J.F.P. Hopkins|editor2=Nehemia Levtzion|page=298}}|‎[Writing about West Africans‎:] When I saw it [their reception gift] I laughed, and was long astonished at their feeble ‎‎intellect and their respect for mean things.‎}}Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was, among other things, an Islamic jurist, Islamic lawyer, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, and hafiz
 
{{Quote|Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, 14th century|"Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
{{Quote|Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah|"beyond [known peoples of black West Africa] to the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings."<ref name="Islamic Racism"></ref>}}
 
al-Ibshihi (1388–1446), Egyptian scholar who wrote an encyclopedia covering Islamic law, theology, mysticism, and some other topics.{{Quote|{{citation|url=https://app.turath.io/book/23802|page=328|author=Shihab al-Din al-Ibshihi|title=al-Mustatraf fi Kul Fan Mustatraf|publisher=al-Maktaba al-Shamila}}; translated in {{citation|title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry|author=Bernard Lewis|ISBN=978-0-19-506283-0|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|pages=92-99|chapter=Image and Stereotype}}|Is there anything more vile than black slaves, of less good and more evil than they'? As for ‎the mulatto, if ‎you show kindness to one of them all your life and in every way, he will not ‎be grateful; and it will be as if ‎you had done nothing for him. The better you treat him, the ‎more insolent he will he; the worse you treat ‎him, the more humble and submissive. I have ‎tried this many times, and how well the poet says: ‘If you honor the honorable you possess ‎him / If you honor the ignoble, he will be insolent.’ It is said that when the [black] slave is ‎sated, he fornicates, when he is hungry, he steals. My grandfather ‎on my mother's side ‎used to say: The worst use of money is bringing up slaves, and mulattoes are even ‎worse ‎and wickeder than Zanj, for the mulatto does not know his father, while the Zanji often ‎knows both ‎parents. It is said of the mulatto that he is like a mule, because he is a mongrel. ‎‎. . . Do not trust a mulatto, ‎for there is rarely any good in him‎}}
 
==Race and tribe in early Islam==
 
===Race===
The following quotes a Abd al-Hamid (d. 750, known as Abd al-Hamid "al-Katib" or Abd al-Hamid "The Scribe"), who was the scribe and was writing on behalf of the final Umayyad caliph, Marwan II (r. 744-750)
{{Quote|Recorded by al-Jahshiyari (d. 942), a prominent Abbasid bureaucrat and scholar, in his ''Kitab al-wuzara wa'l-kuttab'' (or ''Book of Viziers and Scribes''). Translated and quoted in: {{citation|editor=Bernard Lewis|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1987|title=Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople|page=197|ISBN=9780195050875|url=https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/islam-9780195050875?cc=us&lang=en&}}|A governor presented Marwan with a black slave. He said to 'Abd al-Hamid, "Write to him and disparage what he has done" 'Abd al-Hamid wrote to the governor, "Had you found a worse color than black and a smaller number than one, you would have sent that." This is adapted from the saying of a Bedouin who was asked what children he had, and replied, "Little and bad." When asked what he meant, he replied, "Not less than one, not worse than a daughter."}}
 
==Historians on race and tribe in Islam==
Dr. Michael Penn is Teresa Hihn Moore Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University and is a specialist in early Islamic history.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=Envisioning Islam - Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World|year=2015|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|page=59|ISBN=978-0-8122-4722-0|author=Michael Penn}}|Contrary to many present-day stereotypes of early Islam, throughout much of the seventh and early eighth centuries, admission into the ''umma'' was reserved exclusively for Arabs. Religious conversion was predicated on ethnic conversion. For a non-Arab to become Muslim, that individual first had to gain membership in an Arab tribe by becoming the ''mawlā'' (client) of an Arab sponsor. From a seventh-century Islamic perspective, ethnicity and religion were not independent variables. All Muslims were Arabs, and ideally all Arabs were Muslims.}}
 
==See also==


*[[Race and Tribe in Islam]]
*[[Race and Tribe in Islam]]
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[[Category:QHS]]
[[Category:QHS]]
[[Category:Muhammad]]
[[Category:Farewell Sermon]]
[[Category:Race]]
[[Category:Race]]
[[Category:Islam and Slavery]]
[[Category:Slavery]]
[[ar:القرآن_والحديث_والعلماء:_العنصرية]]
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