Apparently, not only are all Muslims terrorists, but they are
also the most closed-minded, regressive, chauvinistic and
intolerant people on the face of the earth.
For years, I have marveled at this religion’s achievements
in breaking down barriers of race, class and gender, only to find
out the so-called “truth” from others in television and
radio.
Perhaps, I thought, these people had not read Prophet
Muhammad’s last sermon. From his words, Muslims learn that
only piety and good actions establish superiority, not race. Or,
maybe these people were not aware that one of the most revered
early Muslims was black.
I wondered, did they know that this regard for Bilal, a former
slave, signals Islam’s stance against class
discrimination? In a religion that advises its followers to
give all they can to charity, it is no wonder that Islam does not
value the wealthy over the poor.
The case is the same for gender discrimination. In fact, the
Qur’an explicitly states that belief and good deeds ““
not gender ““ take one to Heaven (4:124). Do television
reporters know that Islam prohibits forced marriage, does not blame
a female (like Eve) for the “fall of man,” and regards
Mary as the woman who is most respected? Or do they know that
Muslim women actually thank God for teaching us to never dress like
Britney Spears? Amid a modern epidemic of women who are slaves
to their images, Muslims find liberation in modest Islamic
clothing.
The Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj just finished, but unfortunately,
the word did not spread. Performed at least once in every able
Muslim’s lifetime, Hajj consists of several rites symbolizing
essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and commemorating the
trials of Prophet Abraham and his family. All the while, it
represents Islam’s egalitarian outlook on different races,
classes, and genders ““ quite remarkable for a practice dating
back fourteen centuries to pre-Islamic times, when female babies
were being buried alive in Arabia.Â
Some people, of course, would have the public envision Hajj as a
flood of Arab males performing religious rites. Though Arab males
are a significant portion of those participating in Hajj, they
comprise only 18 percent of the world Muslim population. Rather,
hundreds of thousands of Muslims of both genders perform Hajj each
year are from over 70 countries. Such a diverse group of
worshippers led Malcolm X to write in his autobiography, “I
have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by
all colors together, irrespective of their colors.”
Adornments of wealth are frowned upon at Hajj. Each Muslim wears
a white sheet, so a country’s ruler may look the same as a
lower class laborer.
Even the prayers themselves break down barriers ““ blacks
pray next to whites and the rich pray next to beggars.
Since Islam teaches that men and women are equal under God, Hajj
manifests respect for women. Men and women circle the Ka’aba
together and go through the same entrances. Even more of a
breakthrough is the sa’I, a rite of Hajj, wherein Muslims
honor the struggle of a black Ethiopian woman, Abraham’s wife
Hajar, in finding water for her baby Ishmael.
The more I realize the ways in which Islam helped so many types
of people respect each other, the more I realize the necessity of
relying on Muslim sources for my information about Islam.
Khan is a first-year history and political science
student.