Is racism a form of arrogance?

14-9-2023 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is racism a form of arrogance?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Racism, which means that a person or group prefers their own race over the race of others, is not devoid of arrogance because it contains contempt towards others. Arrogance was defined by the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) by saying: “Allah is Beautiful, He loves beauty. Arrogance means ridiculing and rejecting the Truth and despising people.” [Muslim]

The meaning of looking down on people is to despise them, and Satan is the leader of those arrogant racists because when he refused to prostrate, he claimed that his race and the material from which he was created were better than what Adam may Allaah exalt his mention was created from. Allah the Almighty says (what means): {[Allah] said, “What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?” [Satan] said, “I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay [i.e., earth].” [Allah] said, “Descend from it [i.e., Paradise], for it is not for you to be arrogant therein. So get out; indeed, you are of the debased.} [Quran 7:12-13] Al-Qurtubi may Allaah have mercy upon him said in his Tafseer, “He preferred fire to clay, and this is ignorance on his part.”

If racism is joined by rejecting the truth and not submitting to it, then the image of arrogance is complete and the loss is completed, Allah forbid.

Allah knows best.

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