The Islamic belief in the unity of mankind is the corollary of the doctrine of the Unity of God. The self-same God is the Creator and Nourisher of the men and women of all nations, races, colors, creeds and cultures. And hence all mankind may be regarded as God's big family:
(Mankind are one community.)
According to Islam, all human beings have been created by one and the same God, and for this reason belong to one great brotherhood. So far as their earthly origin is concerned, they are all descendants of the first pair of human beings ever created by God — Adam and Eve. In their subsequent spread over different parts of the world, variations in geographical conditions produced a diversity of skin colorings, languages and other racial characteristics.
The teaching of Islam in this regard is that despite differences of color, language, etc., people should harbor no ill-will towards those who are apparently unlike themselves, for differentiating between one man and another is not approved by God. They should rather promote fellow feeling towards others, even if at first glance they appear like total strangers to them. Bearing in mind that they are all traceable back to Adam and Eve, they should be each other’s well wishers and willingly come to one another’s assistance, like members of the same large family.
Ideally, the relation between one man and another ought not to be one of strangeness but one of familiarity; not of distance but of nearness; not of hatred but of love.
When all human beings are descendants of the same progenitors that means that all are equal: no one is superior or inferior. The distinction between great and small is not between one human being and another, but between God and man. And before God, certainly, all human beings are equal; all are equally His creatures and His servants. For God does not discriminate between one or the other of His creations.
(Qur'an 2:213)
Islam rejects all false criteria of superiority based on race, nationality, color or language. It makes righteousness and good conduct the only mark of superiority in the Sight of God:
(O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female and made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! The noblest of you, in the Sight of God is the best in conduct. Lo! God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.)
(Qur'an 49:13)
The Prophet of Islam, commenting on the above verse on the occasion of the Last Pilgrimage, observed:
"No Arab has superiority over any non-Arab, and no non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; no black person has any superiority over a white person and no white person has any superiority over a black person. The criterion of honor in the Sight of God is righteousness and honest living. "
(Saying of Muhammad)
Islam unites all human beings in love and sympathy as brothers. The brotherhood of Islam transcends all geographical and political barriers. Even the strictly religious obligations of
Islam, like the congregational Prayers, Fasting, Zakah and Pilgrimage to Mecca have the additional function of creating brotherly feelings and equality among all sections of humanity.
The Glorious Qur'an says:
(Be not disunited. And remember God 's Favor unto you: how ye were enemies and He made friendship between your hearts so that ye became as brothers by His Grace; and how ye were upon the brink of an abyss of F ire, and He did save you front it. Thus God maketh clear His Revelations unto you, that haply ye may be guided.)
(3:103)
Thus it will be seen that Islam gives guidance on many matters and aspects of human relations on which Christianity is silent. The Prophet Muhammad completed what was left incomplete by Jesus. Islam is the true Religion of Jesus, revived by a fresh Revelation and perfected to cover all aspects of human actions and relations and to give guidance to the people of all times and nations. It is, in short, a Universal Religion. Lt does not only respond to man's devotional urges but to human life as a whole. It does not only give us an infallible metaphysics, but also a comprehensive and sublime code of individual and social ethics, a sound economic system, a just political ideology, and many other things besides. It is not a solitary star, but a whole solar system, encompassing the whole and illuminating the whole.
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