ISLAM DISRESPECTS AFRICANS

 ISLAM DISRESPECTS AFRICANS

By Dr. Maxwell Shimba | Shimba Theological Institute He is Neither BLACK nor AFRICAN

A person's skin color has often been used as a criteria for religion. Islamic activists have been trying to persuade African Americans that Islam is the religion of the black man, that Islam is an African religion, and that Muhammad was black. Needless to say, Muslims make these claims only to black people; they use a different approach with white people!

Knowing that these are carefully thought-out, deceptive ideas intended to draw black people into Islam, I felt compelled to make the truth clear. Nothing in this article aligns with this racist perspective. Whether we accept or reject Islam, it should be based on the true attributes of Islam itself, not on a person's skin color or origin.

My primary source of information for this article, besides the Quran, is the sacred Islamic texts known as the "Hadith," which record the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam as narrated by "Sahih al-Bukhari" and "Sahih Muslim."

AFRICA WAS NOT THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISLAM Islam was born in the 7th century in the Arabian Peninsula, which was part of the Asian continent. Yellow Asia and Black Africa are separated by the Red Sea. Here we are talking about two different continents and two different skin colors.

Islam came to Africa not too long ago, and it is not the dominant religion in Africa. It is highly likely that African Americans were either Christians or followers of traditional religions when they were brought to America.

Christianity has existed in Africa since the first half of the first century. Saint Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark, was a North African Jew who preached the Gospel in Egypt. From there, Christianity spread throughout North Africa and south of the Egyptian borders. The Eastern Church granted sainthood to many black people—for example, Saint Moses the Black, Saint Tekle Haymanot the Ethiopian, and others. One of the teachers and prophets in the early church was "Simeon called Niger," and Niger means a black person in Latin (Acts 13:1). The eastern part of Africa was converted to Christianity through the ministry of the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, who was baptized by Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8:26-40).

MUHAMMAD WAS NOT BLACK Muhammad was an Asian Arab. You cannot confuse an Asian Arab with a black person. There is ample evidence that Muhammad was white. Due to limited space, we will mention only a few proofs.

In Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Hadith No. 63, we read: "While we were sitting with the Prophet, a man came and said, 'Which of you is Muhammad?' We replied, 'This white man reclining on his arm...'"

In Volume 2, Hadith No. 122, Muhammad is referred to as a "white man," and in Volume 2, Hadith No. 141, we are told that when Muhammad raised his hands, "the whiteness of his armpits was visible."

MUHAMMAD OWNED BLACK SLAVES Muhammad viewed black people as slaves. He even owned several black slaves. Bilal, Abu Hurairah, Usama ibn Zayd, and a "Ghulam" (young boy) named Rabbah were among Muhammad's slaves.

Even today, in Saudi Arabia—the motherland of Islam—the common word for a "black person" is "Abd," which means slave.

What was Muhammad's view on freeing slaves? There is an instance where a man set free a slave who was his sexual partner. When Muhammad heard what had happened, he auctioned the boy off and sold him for 800 dirhams to Na'im ibn Abdillah Al-Nahham (Sahih Muslim, Volume 7, p. 83).

According to Muhammad, the punishment for adultery differed among a free man, a free woman, and a female slave. A man was to receive one hundred lashes and be exiled from the community for one year. A free woman was to be stoned to death. But a female slave (because she held financial value) was neither exiled nor killed; instead, she received one hundred lashes. If the offense was repeated, the female slave was sold (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8: 821, 822).

ISLAM DISRESPECTED BLACK PEOPLE Islam is a religion whose sacred scriptures contain words that explicitly humiliate black people.

Muhammad referred to black people as "raisin heads" (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, No. 662 and Volume 9, No. 256).

In an authenticated Hadith, Muhammad is quoted as saying: "Black people steal when they are hungry, and commit adultery when they are full" (Sahih Muslim).

In another Hadith, Muhammad is quoted as saying: "You must obey the Imam (leader) even if he is a slave with a flat nose" (referring to a black person). See Sahih Muslim, Volume 9, pp. 46 and 47.

ISLAM IS NOT A SAFE PLACE FOR FREEDOM AND EQUALITY Even if we mistakenly assume that Islam originated in Africa and that its Prophet was black, this alone would not be a good reason for black people to adopt Islam.

Nor would it be a good reason for white people to adopt Islam simply because Muhammad was white. We must look at Islam itself.

I would not want to be a Muslim because Islam opposes freedom—something that is very close to the hearts and minds of African Americans, considering the oppression they suffered in the past.

One thing Islam does not believe in is religious freedom. If Islam were to take over America, there would be no religious freedom. The Quran states: "And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers" (Surah 3:85).

Many teachings of Islam are incompatible with progress and modern times. They are also incompatible with human rights, civil rights, or constitutional rights.

Here are a few examples from Islam:

• Men are superior to women (Surah 2:228)

• Women have half the rights of men:

  • Rights of witness testimony in court (Surah 2:282)

  • Inheritance rights (Surah 4:11)

• A man may beat his wife (Surah 4:34)

• A man may marry up to four wives at a time (Surah 4:3)

• Muslims must fight until their opponents submit to Islam (Surah 9:5)

• A Muslim must not take a Jew or a Christian as a friend (Surah 5:51)

• Anyone who apostatizes from Islam must be killed (Surah 9:12)

• Theft is punished by cutting off hands (Surah 5:38)

• Adultery is punished by public flogging (Surah 24:2)

• There is no separation between church [religion] and state (Surah 2:193)

• No opposition is permitted whatsoever (Surah 4:59)

My Fellow African American: By claiming that Islam is the religion of the black man, Islamic activists are merely revealing their true hatred and racism. Do not let this deceive you.

Muslims do not care about the color of your skin; they only use this phrasing to capture you. For if Muslims truly cared about black people, why are black Muslims capturing their fellow black Christian brothers in Sudan today, slaughtering the weak, and selling the healthy into slavery? (See State Department report: Global Network News; May 26, 1993).

Consider, on the other hand, that Jesus Christ came to give us eternal life, where everyone is equal before God.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).

The difference between Islamic teachings and the teachings of Jesus Christ is vast. The choice is clear, and the choice is yours.

KNOW THE TRUTH FOLLOW THE TRUTH SPREAD THE TRUTH "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). "Stand fast therefore, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1, 2).

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