A hurtful symptom of the disease of racism among us is seen in the derogatory terms that are used by many Muslims to describe people of various racial groups. From my observations it appears that Black Americans are the subjects of the majority of this name calling. It is not uncommon for Arabs from the Levant to refer to Blacks as abeed (slaves). In the South Asian community, Blacks or people with darker skin are sometimes referred to negatively as kallu (Black person). In the Somali community, it is also not uncommon to hear other Blacks being called jareer (nappy head) and adoon (slave). And even among some Nigerians and Ghanaians, there is widespread usage of the word akata (wild animal) to describe descendants of their former enslaved tribesmen who are Americans. There should be zero tolerance for these offensive terms or other names that attempt to relegate any ethnic group to a perceived status of inferiority. To demean, ridicule and/or call people names which the subjected group finds offensive are clearly forbidden in Qur’an, “And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames.” [49:11] The point is not simply to refrain from using slurs but to not speak about fellow humans in a way that insults.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 16:50:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015