What is discrimination?
There are obvious differences among members of the human family, not only between races, which have their own unique characteristics but individuals within the same family can exhibit a multitude a multitude of features,even if they are identical twins. The Holy Qur’an has also affirmed the differences among people:
(وَ مِنْ آياتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ اخْتِلافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَ أَلْوانِكُمْ إِنَّ في ذلِكَ لَآياتٍ لِلْعالِمين)
“Among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. There are indeed signs in that for those who know.”
(30: 22)
Discrimination is a phenomenon that all countries of the world are confronted with and have suffered from. Discrimination has not been limited to one person. society or country. Even those nations which espouse democracy, practice some form of discrimination.
Discrimination means giving preference lo one individual over another because of individual characteristics such as colour, gender, religion and race, rather than due to the merit of the individual. In other words, discrimination occurs when there are two people with the same abilities but one is given preference because of illogical and irrelevant reasons. For example, between a black-skinned person and a white-skinned person seeking a job, with the same education and experience, the white-skinned person is given preference, or vice versa.
Types of Discrimination
In our everyday language, the term discrimination is used in different situations: discrimination of parents towards their children, discrimination of society against particular groups, racial and ethnic discrimination, etc. Our intention in most of these cases is when a society, or a part of a society which has more power, deprives a person or group from opportunity or privilege without any plausible explanation and gives special distinction to another person or group. When there is discrimination there is no equal opportunity for social mobility: people experience inequality in education and work. Here, we will discuss the most common types of discrimination:
1) Racial Discrimination
Prophet Muhammad (s):
“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a while has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.”
Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn al- Sajjād (as) in answer to a person who asked him about the meaning of racism, beautifully and elegantly explained the meaning of racism and the criterion for its exigence as:
“If a person considers the evil of his own people and nation as better than the good of others, he is being prejudiced. Loving one’s family and people is not being prejudiced; however if one helps them in committing unjust acts, he is being prejudiced.” (al-Kafi. vol. 3, p. 752)
One of the bitter and unpleasant realities of human life is racial discrimination. This occurs when members of a race consider their race to be superior to others and accordingly give themselves a special distinction.
With the advancement of civilization and the improvement of the social, political and cultural aspects of societies, it was expected that discrimination would disappear forever and justice and equality would rule.
Unfortunately, we have witnessed racial discrimination in contemporary societies. Essentially, one of the slogans of Islam is to fight against racism and it has defined the criterion of superiority among humans to be only piety and closeness to God. All traditions quoted from the Prophet (s) and Imams (as) condemn racism and racial pride; we will quote some of them here:
The Prophet (s): “Oh people, your God is one and your father is one; you are all from Adam and Adam is from dust. That person from among you who is more pious, will be more honourable before God. An Arab is not superior to a non-Arab except through piety.” (Musnad Ahmad, vol. 5, p. 411)
The Prophet (s): “Behold that you are not superior to red and black-skinned people, except if you were to be more pious.” (al-Zuhd, Ibn Hanbal, p. 322)
Imam Sadiq (as): narrated that the Messenger of God (s) slated: “Whoever holds a mustard seed sized amount of prejudice in his heart, on the Day of Resurrection, God will raise him up with the ignorant Arabs.” (Al-Kafi, vol. 3, p.750)
The Prophet of Islam (s) was himself one of the biggest defenders of human rights and combatants against racism and exerted many efforts in this field. In his time, the heads of the Quraish tribe did not accept the principle of equality which the Prophet (s) had established. They said to the Prophet: “The reason we do not attend your meetings is that people such as the Bilal al-Habashi, Salman al-Farsi, Suhayb al-Rumi and slaves, are present. Send them away from you so that we together with you.” However, the Prophet (s) did not accept their request. They proposed to the Prophet (s) another idea: “Allocate one day for them and one day for us.” Afterwards, this verse was revealed: “Do not drive away those who supplicate their Lord morning and evening desiring His face. Neither are you accountable for them in any way. nor are they accountable for you in any way, so that you may drive them away and thus become one of the wrongdoers.” (6:52)
After the revelation of this verse the Prophet (s) also declined this request.
There are many examples of this in the behaviour of the Prophet of Islam (s), for example when the Prophet (s) commanded the Ethiopian Bilal to go on the roof of the Ka’ba and call out the adhan, Attab bin Usayd said: “I thank God that my father has passed away and did not see this day!” Also, Harith bin Hisham complained: “Could the Prophet (s) not find anyone other than this black crow?” (Tafsir Ruh al-Baym. vol. 9, p. 90) In answer to these people, this verse was revealed:
“O mankind! Indeed We created you from a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes that you may identify yourselves with one another. Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most God wary among you.” (49: 13)
God clearly declares that race and gender differences are primarily for recognition of one another and not for nations and tribes to take pride in and boast about and as a means to claim superiority over one another.
These are only some examples of the centrality of rights and the combatting against oppression in the viewpoint of Islam. Certainly; history has recorded racism as a cause of much oppression.
2) Gender Discrimination
The woman, throughout history and in most places of the world has possessed few. if any rights whether in civilized or uncivilized societies.
There are undeniable differences between men and women. Men and women are in many cases similar but in some cases they have differences.
In Islam, two different sets of rights have been determined for women and for men. One set is legal rights and the other is moral rights; each of the two enjoys much importance at the individual and social level, especially the issue of women and family. A noteworthy point is that from the viewpoint of Islam, the rights of women and men are equal, but different. The total value of the rights of women is equal to the total value of the rights of men. but the types and particularities of their rights, due to natural differences in their body and spirit, vary in some cases. It would be funny if we were to believe in the same rights for women and men, because women can become pregnant and after coping with the difficulties of pregnancy, bring a new human into the world, give it milk and shower it with motherly love: however, these things do not happen to men. Since rights and responsibilities are in proportion to one another, they must be defined in such a way that does not deprive a person of their rights and result in that individual being oppressed.
The Value of Women in Islam
In order to understand the status and value of women in Islam, first we must see, just as in some other schools of thought, whether the Quran regards the essence of women as different from that of men, or that they are the same; so the question is, are men and women of one essence or do they originate from two different essences? In answer to those people who regard women to have originated from a different essence than men and which is of lesser value, the Qur’an explicitly states that women have been created from an essence just like that of men; both are of the same kind. About the first human, God slates: “... Your Lord who created you from a single soul, and created its mate from it...” (4:1) From this verse it can be easily understood that men and women were created from the same essence and which is of one kind. Islam places a lot of emphasis on human dignity and since men and women originate from one essence, it equally emphasizes the protection of the dignity of both sexes.
According to this Qur'anic principle, women, like men are endowed with rights which are in conformity with their creation, such as the right to life, ownership, association, freedom and choice. Of course, as we discussed previously, what is in Islamic law in regards to women’s rights in some eases differs, due to consideration of natural physical and spiritual differences (and consequently there are different responsibilities assigned to women and men). For example, as was also discussed previously, in regards to freedom, all individual and social freedom can only be achieved in the shadow of spiritual freedom. And so, as an example, with the issue of hijab (modest covering) and safely for women, what God has commanded is the spiritual freedom of women and protection of society from corruption and promiscuity, and the preservation of the sanctity and dignity of women. On this basis, countries that have banned Islamic hijab are actually making one of the biggest mistakes within the field of human rights.
Unfortunately, the arrival of modernity in some Western countries has meant the promotion of promiscuity and negation of spiritual freedom. Islam places much emphasis on the issues of hijab and restriction of the mixing of unrelated men and women, and regards these as the foundation of family and society. The duty of covering which Islam has decreed for women does not mean that they should only stay at home. Islam does not believe in the imprisonment and confinement of women; although this has occurred in some countries but does not exist within Islam. The covering of women in Islam means that in their interaction with men, women should cover their bodies and not display themselves. On the discussion of hijab, the apparent issue is whether a woman can be bare or should be covered and occasionally it is discussed with a compassionate tone, asking whether it is better for a woman to be free or imprisoned under hijab. However, the spirit and essence of the issue is something else and it is this: should men, except for fornication, have absolute freedom in the sexual exploitation of women? In this matter, the man is the beneficiary, not the woman, or at least, he has more benefit. In fact, the sexual drive is the strongest human instinct and sexual freedom ignites these passions. Man, by his nature, has been created in a way that his spirit seeks infinity. When man's spiritual desires are directed toward the material, they will not stop at any limit; when he reaches to a certain stage, he will seek to reach to the next stage. In order to guard the honour of women and men, and to control the sexual drive while bringing forth calm, Islam has introduced two things as the solution: 1) The satisfaction of the instinct according to its natural need - this has been recommended and facilitated by the commands of Islam in relation to marriage; 2) Prevention of its excitement and stimulation - the Islamic command in relation to hijab, dressing modestly, is to enable this.
The Difference in Inheritance between Men and Women in Islam
Among the critics of Islam, the one issue which they select for denunciation is the inheritance of women. They say. “Why has Islam made the inheritance of women, who are weaker than men, half the men's share? Is this not an injustice against women?
Before the coming of the religion of Islam, the property and assets of anyone who died were seized by others. Among civilized and non-civilized nations of the world, this confiscation was by force; so that, whoever had more power, seized the property and assets of the deceased and those who were weaker, such as women and children. The situation of Arab women was more desperate than anywhere else. Among the Arabs, women were bought and sold as if they were merchandise and were deprived of all rights, individual and social, even the right to inheritance. The property and assets of the deceased went only to boys who had the ability to fight and defend the family: even boys who were young were denied the right to inherit. Not only did the pre-Islamic Arabs deprive women of the right to inheritance, at times they were considered to be among the assets of the deceased and formed part of the inheritance. With the advent of Islam and its particular instructions, the position of women entered a new stage. It was in this age that women, based on the Islamic commandments enjoyed full individual, social and human rights. Islam brought about a great revolution in the matter of women's inheritance rights. It gave women the right to inherit and also abrogated all the repressive pre-Islamic laws, which were based on the beliefs and customs of the tribes. Islam did not only decree the right of inheritance for women but also forbid the practice of inheriting women.
The reason for the difference in the shares of men's and women's inheritance is due to the fact that the duties and responsibilities of men and women in society are not the same.
God has given more financial responsibilities to men and has made some tasks mandatory for them, which are not compulsory for women. In order for men to better perform these tasks, a larger share of inheritance has been provided to him. That Islam has allocated a lesser share for women does not mean that He has neglected them; rather it is solely based on social and economic reasons. The financial obligations of men are more than those of women and so they are in need of more resources.
Some of the obligations that only men are required to fulfill are:
provision of the livelihood and welfare of women and children, payment of dowry to the spouse, participation in jihad and the provision of living and travel expenses of the wife and children in that time, payment of compensation (al-diyah) on behalf of relatives and payment of the living costs of impoverished close relatives (such as mother, father and sister).
As can be seen, all the variations in the rights that Islam has given to men and women are based on wisdom and individual cases.