Contents

Chapter VIII

Equality

The first remark to be made about the equality prevailing among Muslim individuals is perhaps to note the way in which equality is perceived as covering both rights and duties, as well as equality in front of God. No Muslim can claim that he is closer to God than any one else, since all are equal in the eyes of God on account of their belief in His unity and his Shari’a. In Islam, God has abolished the clergy and did not permit the rise of any priestly or “holy” class which extrapolates itself between God and men. Islam does not tolerate the existence of a clergy, whether priests, bishops or monks. God repeats many times in the Quran that He accepts the repentance of His servants and grants them forgiveness without need for intermediaries or intercessors. He extends His Hand day and night to accept the sinner’s penitence and forgive him his past and future sins, no matter how grave they may be. Ahmad ibn Hanbal reports in his Musnad, on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, that the Prophet -peace be upon him- had said, addressing the Muslims: “I swear by Him Who has power over my soul that, were you to sin until your sins fill the space between earth and heaven, and then ask God for forgiveness, He will forgive you.”

Thus Islam had established the principle of complete religious equality among all Muslim individuals in front of God. One sign of this is the performance of the prayer, which they perform together, standing in line, the poor beside the rich and the strong beside the weak, glorifying God without any distinction between them, pronouncing takbir in unison and bowing and prostrating together. The Muslims also gather from all corners of the earth in one spot, the Holy Mosque in Makkah, to perform the duty of hajj. They all take off their individual clothes and dress in identical ihram habits, symbolising complete equality in a most magnificent way.

God calls in the Quran on Muslims -and the whole of mankind- to recognise the complete equality between them and all other humans. An instance where this command is made is the following verse from Sura 4 (Al-Nisa: 1): “O Mankind, reverence your Guardian-Lord, Who had created you from a single Person, created, of like nature, his mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women.” God thus tells us that all men have one origin, having been created from one father, Adam. They should thus be conscious of this always, since they share one origin, one genealogy and one ancestor, with no distinction between one Muslim and another. The Prophet -peace be upon him- was reported to have said: “People are as equal as the teeth of a comb.” God Almighty says in Sura 49 (Al-Hujurat: 13): “O mankind! We have created you from a single (pair) of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily, the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.” This tells that God has created mankind from one father, Adam, and one mother, Eve, and made them into peoples and tribes so that they may know each other, not so that they may bear enmity to each other and fight. And also not so that may boast of their origin or dominate each other, since this is contrary to their nature and to purpose of their creation. For God wanted a feeling of brotherhood to prevail between them, being all of one common father and one mother. Peoples and tribes need not compete and vie with each other for advantage. The idea of peoples, even individuals, treating other peoples and individuals as inferiors is the reverse of true brotherhood which binds them, and is certain to move them away from peaceful and secure life. The differences that matter between people are not those of one’s birth and genealogy, but their excellence in what Islam had advocated: belief in God and His Prophet, fearing God and worshipping Him as He deserves. These are the criteria of real advantage and superiority, and it is superiority in the eyes of God alone, and not in the eyes of men.

As God had decreed that the criterion of distinction between people is true piety, the Prophet announced this as the criterion of preferment and distinction between Arabs and non-Arabs. In his Farewell Sermon, the Prophet told the assembled audience: “O people! Your God is one, and your father is one. You are all Adam’s children, and Adam has been created from dust. The most honourable among you in the eyes of God is the most pious. No Arab has an advantage over a non-Arab except on account of their piety.” Thus the Prophet affirmed the equality of Arab and non-Arab Muslims, accepting distinctions among them, as did the preceding verse, only on account of their devotion to God. Another version of the same sermon reports him as saying: “There is no advantage for a black man over a red (i.e. white) man, and no advantage for a red over a black, except in devotion to God.” The Prophet has thus decreed as an eternal law among Muslims that all of them were equal: Arabs and non-Arabs, black and white. They are only distinguished by their devotion to God. Islam has, therefore, abolished forever distinctions on the basis of tribe, nationality or race. In other words, all distinctions were abolished except through the new paramount Islamic virtue: that of devotion to God.

The Prophet -peace be upon him- gave the highest example in affirming equality between himself and his Companions, and would categorically decline any attempt by them to elevate him above themselves. Once, on emerging from his home and chancing upon a group of his Companions who then rose to greet him, he warned them severely against doing this, saying to them: “Do not rise for me as non-Arabs do to show veneration by some to others.” He then added: “I am only a servant of God’s. I eat as a servant eats, and sit as a servant sits.” A man once stood before him and started trembling violently, awed by the Prophet’s presence. The Prophet tried to calm him, addressing him in gentle tones, saying: “Take it easy, brother. I am neither a king nor a tyrant. I am only the son of a lady from Quraysh who used to eat dried meat in Makkah.” He wanted to assure the man that he has no distinction over him. The man calmed down and stopped trembling, feeling reassured enough to say what he came to say to the Prophet.

The Prophet -peace be upon him- used to sit with the poor from among his Companions, and also used to eat with them and visit the sick among them. He would accompany a slave girl, a widow or a poor person to any place they request him to go in Madinah to help them and see to their needs. He would sit in the midst of his Companions, and when arriving at a place where people were assembled, would sit in the nearest available space, never demanding to be seated in a distinctive place. His homes were built from mud-brick, like the homes of all his companions. His furniture was also as simple as theirs. He would never regard any of the chores within the home as beneath him, and he used to sew his clothes, mend his own shoes, sweep the floor, milk the goat or tie his camel himself.

He also used to eat with his servant, Anas ibn Malik, to set an example for his Companions, and to impress on them the fact that there is no distinction between servant and master. When being addressed, the Prophet would never interrupt the person talking to him, but would listen carefully until that person is finished. His wife, Ayisha, said of him: “He had never been invited to the home of one of his Companions or by a family member, except he would say: ‘presently!’” He always regarded himself as an equal to all his Companions, never seeing any distinction for him above them. If they went to war, he would be in the front line. When they embarked on building a mosque, he would participate fully, as when he helped carry the mud bricks for the first mosque of Madina. When the companions gathered to dig a ditch in the famous Ditch Battle at Madina, he was among the first to start digging. When they hit a hard rock, he took the axe and struck one blow at it, and it immediately split. Then he kept hitting it until it broke to pieces, and only then handed the job over to the Companions to continue digging the rest of the trench. It was also reported that, when a rumour spread in Madina one night that the pagans had raided one quarter of the city, and people rushed out to check the truth of this story, they encountered the Prophet -peace be upon him- riding a horse without a saddle, as a sign that he had come out in a hurry. He had rushed to the outskirts of Madina, investigated the rumour, ascertaining that no raid has taken place, and was coming back to reassure the people, shouting: “Fear not! Feat not!”

It was also reported that he had been travelling with a party once and he said to them. “Prepare a sheep for us for food.” One of the party said: “O Messenger of God, I undertake to kill it.” Another said: “O Messenger of God, I undertake to skin it.” A third said: “O Messenger of God, I undertake to cook it.” The Prophet then said: “And I undertake to gather the wood for cooking.” They all said to him: “O Messenger of God, we can save you the trouble.” He said to them: “I know you can, but I hate to set myself apart from you.” The Prophet’s sense of equality with his Companions is epitomised by his insistence that anyone who feels wronged by him should exact remedy from him, no matter how slight or unintended the offence may have been. Once, while he was distributing some money among a group of people, he poked a man who was jostling him with a twig. When he noticed that the man had been upset, he said to him: “Come and exact your retribution.” The man felt ashamed and smiled as he said to the Prophet: “I have forgiven, O Messenger of God.” It was reported that the Caliph Omar said in one of his speeches: “Whoever has been wronged by his governor should complain to me, and I will make sure that he would exact his retribution.” Amr ibn al-As, the then governor of Egypt, rose to object, saying: “O Commander of the Faithful. If a man among us were to discipline his subjects, would you demand restitution from him [for this]?” Omar said: “Why shouldn’t I when I had seen the Prophet -peace be upon him- allowing restitution against his own person?”

This equality is solidified and strengthened by the affirmation of God and His Prophet of the brotherhood of all Muslims, as when God says in Sura 49 (Al-Hujurat: 10): “The Believers are but a single Brotherhood”, meaning that all Muslims are brothers in religion. This brotherhood imposes some obligations on the Muslim towards his Muslim brother similar to those imposed by the brotherhood of blood. In fact, this spiritual brotherhood is a much stronger bond, since the second is merely physical in origin, while the spiritual bond demands that the believer is to love for his brother what he loves for himself, as the Prophet had enjoined. He is not to do injustice to his brother or deprive him from his rights, but must treat him as he treats himself. If his brother demanded a service from him, he is to perform that service as best he could; and if his brother were to fall into trouble or suffer a misfortune, then he should rush to his rescue. The Prophet -peace be upon him- urges Muslims to do this, saying: “Whoever rescues a Muslim from an ordeal, God will rescue him from an ordeal from those [that are faced] on the Day of Judgement.” One of the duties of a Muslim towards his brother emphasised by the Prophet, is that of not publicising his defects and slips. The Prophet says: “Whoever protects a Muslim from scandal will be similarly protected by God on the Day of Judgement.” The Prophet also urges Muslims continuously to ensure that love and amity is to prevail among them, so that they may become like one big family, as in the saying reported in Muslim’s Sahih: “The example of Muslims, in their love for each other, and their compassion and kindness towards each other, is that of one body, if any limb of it were to suffer, the whole body would respond with fever and sleeplessness.” This is a remarkable metaphor, since it shows Muslims, in all areas and places, as one body because of the love and compassion that binds them together. So much so that if any member of this body were to suffer, the whole body would respond and jump to the rescue, a reaction symbolised in the above saying by the sleepless eye which feels the same pain as the affected limb, and the body which is touched with fever because of the injury to one limb.

The greatest manifestation of true Islamic brotherhood was the one which the Prophet -peace be upon him- had contracted between the early Makkan emigrants to Madinah (al-Muhajirun) and their hosts (known as Ansar or “supporters”) in Madinah. Soon after his arrival in Madinah, and after building in the Mosque was completed, he declared as “brothers” 45 pairs, each consisting of one from among the Muhajirun and one from Ansar. This brotherhood was contracted on the basis that the two brothers must support each other, share with each other and even inherit from each other like true brothers. Members of a pair of brothers actually used to take precedence in inheritance over other relatives, until the following verse of Sura 8 (Al-Anfal: 75) was revealed: “But kindred by blood have prior rights against each other in the Book of Allah.” After which the provision of inheritance in this bond of brotherhood was abolished. The Ansar have been praised for their sincerity in this remarkable brotherhood, saying in Sura 59 (Al-Hashr: 9): “But those who before them, had homes (in Madinah) and had adopted the Faith- show their affection to such as came to them for refuge, and entertain no desire in their hearts for things given to the (latter), but give them preference over themselves, even though poverty was their own lot.” God here describes the Ansar as those who had resided in Madinah and adopted sincere faith in it before their brethren, and he conjoins residence in Madinah with adherence to faith as an honour to the town and its people. They are praised for loving their brothers dearly and sharing with them their worldly goods, like date palms; they do not, even though they may be in real need them-selves, covet what their brothers had gained (like the booty awarded exclusively to them after the expulsion of the Jewish tribe of Bani al-Nadir from Madinah).

Exhortation to adhere to these lofty principles of complete equality and full brotherhood, which God had enjoined on the Ansar and the Muhajirun, and which involved altruism and sharing, was not addressed exclusively to this group. On the contrary, these ideals were repeatedly emphasised by the Prophet and recommended to all his Companions, and were reflected in the conduct of many Muslims among those who conquered the Old World from Central Asia to the Atlantic Ocean and set up the great Islamic state. The best indication of this is the episode involving ‘Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl and two of his comrades at the battle of Yarmuk in Syria. Hudhayfah Al-’Adawi relates that he was carrying water and looking for a cousin of his, whom he had believed to have been among the martyrs in that battle. He found the man among the wounded, however, and asked him if he wanted some water. The man nodded in ascent. But as his cousin was about to give him water, the wounded man heard ‘Ikrimah groaning from his own wounds nearby, so he gestured with head to his cousin to take the water to ‘Ikrimah first. When the man reached ‘Ikrimah, he in turn heard another wounded man groaning, so ‘Ikrimah gestured with his head for water to be taken to the third man first. When the narrator reached the third man, he discovered that he had died, so he returned to ‘Ikrimah, to find him dead also. He went back to his cousin, and found that he in turn had died. This ais remarkable tale of altruism and generosity.

One of the principles which the Prophet had emphasised strongly was equality before the law in matters of implementation hudud, the prescribed punishments for offences such as murder, theft, adultery, etc. He emphatically prohibited any intercession in this area for any one, no matter how elevated his status or how wealthy and prominent he may be. Al-Bukhari and Muslim both related the story of a Qurayshite woman from the clan of Banu Makhzum, who had been convicted of theft. The people of Quraysh were worried that a lady from such a prominent clan would be punished by the amputation of her hand according to the Shari’a. They tried to find someone who would be bold enough to intercede with the Prophet on the lady’s behalf, and agreed that only Usama ibn Zayd, whom the Prophet loved dearly, could dare to address him on such an issue. When Usama raised the matter, the Prophet reprimanded him severely, saying: “Do you intercede in a matter of God’s law?” Then he delivered a sermon to his Companions, saying: “O People! Communities before you had been doomed because they used to let a distinguished person go free if he stole, but punish the weak person. I swear by God that if Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad, committed theft, then Muhammad would cut off her hand.”

We hope that the preceding account is sufficient to demonstrate that absolute equality had always been the basis of Islamic societies, decreed as a binding principle in Islamic law, indispensable for the constitution of human society. It is a principle which abolishes all distinctions of race, colour, language, status, wealth, descent or origin. It is a distinctive characteristic of Muslim societies that they are classless societies, for Islamic communities never developed into class-based societies or witnessed any sort of stratification. Caliphs and rulers also observed this principle, never regarding themselves as a class above the rest. This aspect of Islam had a powerful impact on societies which accepted it, leading to the abolition of all caste and class systems it encountered. This happened in Persia, where four castes used to exist: clergy, warriors, scribes and intellectuals and the class of workers and peasants. In addition, there was another high caste, which included the vizier, the chief priest and the chief scribe. All these classes were abolished by Islam, just as the high caste of Brahmin and the low caste of the untouchables were abolished in the areas Islam controlled in India. In an Islamic society, all people are equal, with no distinction of wealth or poverty affecting the human worth of an individual. The caliphs and rulers were expected to appear before the judge, just as commoners are if they were involved in disputes. This contrasts with the situation in feudal Europe, where the feudal lords and princes only appeared in special courts for them alone, to avoid mixing with the commoners or being seen as equal with them. The noblemen and aristocrats formed a high class of their own in these societies, giving themselves special titles such as Duke, Baron or Count, something unknown in Islam. Islam respected the humanity of all Muslims and all human beings, establishing equality between them in religious, social and moral rights and duties. No one was seen as superior to any one else, except in devotion to God.

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