Illustration by Zhe Lin Sun
We are all participating in the same ritual
A notable aspect of identity at Dulwich is faith. Recently, two Upper School boys talked at assembly about what their religions meant to them. First, Adam Sheriff (Year 13) argues that far from causing conflict, Islam is a force of unity
I slam places a strong emphasis on unity. One must not only show kindness and acceptance to fellow Muslims, but also to non-Muslims as well. However, perhaps more importantly, Islam emphasises that any divisions made along racial or ethnic lines are to be strongly discouraged; indeed, throughout history, Islam has played a pivotal role in combatting racism in history. In his farewell sermon at Makkah, delivered to the early Muslims in the year 632 AD shortly before his passing, the Prophet Muhammad said: ‘O people, all mankind is from Adam and Eve; an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; also a white person has no superiority over a black, nor does a black person have any superiority over a white – except by piety and good action.’ This point of view, which seems so ‘politically correct’ today, would, to the majority of the Arabian population at the time, have been completely incorrect. The Arab slave trade infamously imported many thousands of African men and boys for slaves in
word of God revealed unto the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime, acts as our instruction manual. There are multiple instructions that deal with the theme of racism and unity, one of which occurs in Chapter 49, verse 13. In the Name of God. The Most Gracious. The Most Merciful. O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have 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 Knower, Aware. We take from this that in the sight of God, we are discriminated only by our conduct. Furthermore, an explanation is given as to why we are made up of different races and nations: so that we may know one another and learn from one other. God implies by this that difference should never be a source of superiority or inferiority, racism or nationalism. This core essence of Islam has endured to recent times. At the exact same place in Mecca where Muhammad fought racism for unity, a man stood 1,400 years later who had taken on a very similar struggle,
pre-Islamic Arabia, often treating them cruelly and brutally because of the colour of their skin. The power of the message of tolerance and acceptance spread by Muhammad had profound implications for the Arabian world and his own group of closest companions, who included one Abyssinian by the name of Bilal ibn Rabah. Bilal, a slave, was inspired by Islam and became one its earliest converts. When his master – who like much of the city was violently opposed to the new religion – discovered his conversion, he began to torture him. Muhammad sent a companion to negotiate his emancipation and free him from slavery. Once freed, Muhammad elevated him to one of the most prominent positions amongst his companions, much to the astonishment and ridicule of the non-Muslim Arabs. Indeed, Muhammad made Bilal the first person ever to call the Adhan, the Call to prayer, a role that was highly sought after by many of Muhammad’s other companions of noble and wealthy lineage. For us, Islam offers a way of life. The Quran, which we believe is the
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