The United Colors of Islam
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Identifier: http://www.al-sunnah.com/colors.htm
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Subject: dawah
Title: The United Colors of Islam
Created on: Thu Jan 24 11:17:23 -0500 2008
Updated on: Thu Jan 24 11:17:23 -0500 2008
Version: 1
Abstract: ... e city of Medina. However, when the much-anticipated prophet came not as a Hebrew son of Israel, but as the Arab descendant of Ishmael, the Jews rejected him. Except that is for a few like aI-Husayn bin Salam. Al-Husayn was a learned rabbi and leader of the Medinan Jews but was denounced by them when he embraced Islam. The Prophet renamed al-Husayn, 'Abdullah', meaning 'Servant of Allah' and in his own lifetime the Prophet gave Abdullah the glad tidings that he was destined for Paradise. Abdullah addressed his tribesmen, saying: 'O assembly of Jews! Be conscious of Allah and accept what Muhammad-has brought. By Allah, you certainly know that he is Allah's Messenger and you can find prophecies about him and mention of his name and characteristics in your Torah. I for my part declare that he is the Messenger of Allah. I have faith in him and believe that he is true. I recognise him.' Allah revealed the following verse about Abdullah: ... and a witness from the Children of Israel testifies that this Qur'an is from Allah like (the Torah). So he believed while (most of) you (Jews) are too proud (to believe). (Qur'an, 46:10) Thus, in the ranks of the Prophet Muhammad's Companions could be found Africans, Persians, Romans and Israelites; representatives of every then-known continent. The Prophet said: 'Indeed my friends and allies are not the tribe of so and so. Rather, my friends and allies are the pious wherever they may be.' (al-Bukhari & Muslim) This point was further emphasised by the Prophet when he said: 'There is truly no excellence for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab; nor for a white man over a black man, nor for a black man over a white man; except through piety.'(Ahmad) O humanity! We have created you from a single male and female and have made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another (not that you may have pride over one another). Verily the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah is the one most pious. (Qur'an, 49:13) The Prophet Muhammad said: 'The parable of the Believers in their mutual love and mercy is like that of a (living) body; if one part feels pain, the whole body suffers in sleeplessness and fever.' (Muslim) Such a universal brotherhood was championed by the' Prophet's Companions after him, including his immediate temporal successors: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali (known collectively as the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs). When the Companion Ubada ibn as-Samit led a Muslim delegation to Muqawqis, the Christian patriarch of Alexandria, Muqawqis exclaimed: 'Get this black man away from me and bring another to talk to me. ... How can you be content that a black man should be the foremost among you? Is it not more fitting that he be below you?' 'Indeed no,' Ubada's comrades replied, ‘for although he is black as you see, he is still the foremost among us in position, in precedence, in intelligence and in wisdom; for darkness is not despised among us.' Verily, the Believers are but brothers (to one another). (Qur'an, 49:10) The spread of nationalism with its separating of Muslims along ethnic, linguistic and tribal lines is an evil and divisive innovation in Islam. Allah says in His Book: Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your tribe, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving hard in His Cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision. And Allah guides not a rebellious people. (Qur'an, 9:24) In fact, the Muslims in and of themselves constitute one nation: Thus We have made you (Believers into) a (single) justly balanced nation. (Qur'an, 2:143) The Prophet said: 'Whoever leaves off obedience and separates from the Jam'ah[3] and dies, (then) he dies a death of jahiliyyah (i.e. pre-Islamic ignorance and disbelief). And whoever fights under the banner of the blind, becoming angry for nationalism or calling to nationalism or assisting nationalism and dies, (then) he dies a death of jahiliyyah.' (Muslim) While those who disbelieved placed in their hearts pride and haughtiness - the pride and haughtiness of jahiliyyah, Allah sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the believers. (Qur'an, 48:26) A FINAL POINT Still repeated in some circles and perhaps one of the greatest barriers to its acceptance by Westerners is the fallacy that Islam is primarily a religion for blacks or dark skinned people. No doubt, the racial injustices against many blacks, be they Abyssinian slaves of pre-Islamic Arabia or twentieth century African-Americans, has prompted many to embrace Islam, but this is beside the point. The Prophet Muhammad was himself of pale complexion, described by his Companions as being 'white and ruddy'. And unbeknown to most people is the fact that Europe has more indigenous white Muslims than it has coloured immigrants. Albanians, for example, descended from the ancient Illyrian-Celts, are one of Europe's oldest tribes and amongst the earliest inhabitants of the Balkans. Today, 80%. of all Albanians Are MUSLIMS.[4] In fact, the world's leading Muslim scholar, the Reviver of Islam, Champion of the Sunna (practice of the Prophet) and mountain of knowledge, Shaykh Muhammad Nasir-ud-Deen al-Albani, is, as his title suggests, Albanian. Some anthropologists believed that the Caucasus Mountain region of SE Europe w... [Full Article...]
