Malaysians, of various races, are on the right track as long as they approach issues and problems in a manner that is non-extreme and non-violent.
Rejecting racial fanaticism, attempting to bridge misunderstanding of racial issues, and articulating a voice of moderation, this is the way forward for Malaysia as well as global community in formulating social policy as far as inter-racial relation is concerned.
Indeed, religion itself is best understood as an antithesis of extremism and terrorism that promotes criminal violence and war.
There are many fundamental elements in the worldview of Islam which may benefit us towards such a harmonious relationship.
The natural diversity of human languages and skin colours are understood as signs of God’s unity, goodness, power, and mercy, just as the creation of the heavens and the earth are among wonderful signs of God (refer to the Qur’an, al-Rum, 30:22).
Notwithstanding different human tongues and shades of complexion, human basic unity remains constant, and God says further in the same Qur’anic verse that, these Divine Signs should be appreciated through knowledge and various sciences.
In this light, our system of education, higher learning institutions and relevant academic research institutes must explore, promote and give support by developing systematic knowledge and structured sciences, which corroborate the fact that the natural diversity of skin colours, words, expressions, syntactical structures, and pronunciations, are all signs of God’s unity and mercy.
Islam recognizes profound wisdom in the fact that God has created various genders, nations and races, so that they may know one another and participate to attain noble thoughts and good conduct.
In a Qur’anic verse addressed to all mankind, God says, “O mankind! We have created you all from a single pair of a male and female, and made you into nations and races, that you may know each other. Verily, the noblest of you, in the sight of God, is the best in conduct.” (al-Hujurat, 49:13)
Islam teaches that, as human beings, all of us belong to one human family, without any inherent biological superiority of one over another.
In the words of the Prophet Muhammad, “Man is but a God-conscious believer or an unfortunate sinner. All people are children of Adam, and Adam was created out of dust.” (Narrated by Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud, as translated by Muhammad Asad).
In no less than four verses of the Qur’an, God explicitly emphasises the common origin of the humanity and, thus, the brotherhood of the human race.
According to this teaching, we are, biologically, from one living entity. It is one of the wonders of God’s creation, that from one person we have grown to be so many; each individual has so many faculties and capacities, and yet we are all one.
In other words, this common origin should appeals to the solidarity of mankind, as all of them are brothers and sisters whose mutual rights and dignity must therefore be respected.
In yet another Qur’anic verse also addressed to all mankind, God says, “O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain has spread abroad a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward God in whom you claim your rights of one another…” (al-Nisa’, 4:1).
This is the overarching fact which is always valid even if each of us has our own religious communities. (See also the Qur’an, chapter al-An‘am, 6:98; al-A‘raf, 7:189; and, al-Zumar, 39:6.)
In the interaction of humankind, Ibn al-‘Arabi, a 12th-Century Sufi, emphasises shafaqah that means “solicitous or favourable affection, kindness, benignity, compassion, tenderness, or pity”. Shafaqah also means “fear of the betiding of some evil event together with sincere advice”.
According to Ibn al-‘Arabi, the shafaqah to the creation of God and mercy to His servant is indeed obligated in Islam by God and His Messenger. Even if the person is a disbeliever, he or she is still the Muslim’s brother or sister respectively as they are from one living entity (nafs wahidah) (see further his Futuhat al-Makkiyyah, 3:381).
We must appreciate our diversity as a sort of divine enrichment, in order for us to fostering mutual aspiration to understand the essential human oneness.
In this context, the Prophet Muhammad states that, “All creatures are God’s family (‘iyalullah), and those dearest to God are the ones who treat His family most kindly” (narrated by al-Bayhaqi etc). Since Islam strictly ascribes no likeness to Him, “all creatures are God’s family” is properly understood in the sense that all creatures are equal dependants upon God, Who feeds, nourishes and sustains them; all humanity is equally under God’s care. And those dearest to God are the ones who are of benefit to others.
In one of the verses that have been referred to, God gives the metaphor of human diversity in terms of diversity of fruits.
‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a commentator of the Qur’an, points out that whether it is grapes, or olives, or pomegranates, each fruit looks alike in its species. And yet, each variety may be different in flavor, in consistency, in shape, in size, in colour, in juice, in oil contents, in proportion of seed to fruit, etc. In each variety, individuals may be different. For example, all grapes may be similar to look at, yet each variety has a distinctive flavor (for example), and each individual grape may have its own special qualities.
Applying the metaphor to man, their varied spiritual and religious fruits may be different yet valuable! Although each individual has different capacities, we are all one human race.
All racial prejudices are thus strongly condemned by Islam. Our natural outward differentiations-whether in terms of gender, races, languages and skin colours-are deemed by Islam merely as superficial labels.
It is a person’s good; it is his “nurtural” ethical quality-measured according to universal religious values-that should be the basis for our esteem for others, and not other merely “natural” considerations.
At the socio-political level, towards every legitimate interest of any person or group, the majority and the minority, there must be perfect fairness, justice, and respect for noble principles outlined in universal religious values, of which there are many.
As such, the importance of religious injunction to respect and safeguard each other’s dignity has been emphasised as amongst the ultimate objective of sacred law or maqasid al-Shari‘ah.
We should never ridicule nor insult nor unnecessarily being suspicious of one another, just because the other is of different gender, races, languages or skin colours. Individual and racial quarrels must be thoroughly combated, through proper understanding of one’s own religion.