Uploaded on December 7, 2021

All Children of Adam are the One and the Same

Dr. Mohammad Manzoor Alam

All Humans are the Children of Adam, the Father of all humans across the world. Humans living in America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and humans living in any part of the world, or living on the moon or wherever he has settled, all of them share a common descent. All humans trace back their genealogy to Adam. What follows from this is that there exists no discrimination between humans. Humans can’t be differentiated on the grounds of caste, territory, region, religion and race, or any other basis. Not only Indians are entitled to equal rights, rather humans all over the world are the same and entitled to uniform rights since all of them are the descendants of Adam. No one can be granted supremacy over others. According to Allah, the only ground for achieving supremacy and pre=eminence is piety (taqwa). The rest of the humans are the one and the same, deserving treatment alike.

What is stated above is the basic philosophy of Islam, which is founded on justice, equality, and freedom. Based on this principle, all humans can obtain their fundamental rights and get respect and dignity rightfully; they can’t suffer unfair treatment, nor can they be denied their rights. This very principle of Islam considers all humans entitled to similar rights, permitting them the licence of freedom; it does not allow one group of humans to enslave other humans; it does not grant permission to enslave humans by any means, or treat them as animals; it does not draw lines of discrimination between humans, forcing them to follow their self-created laws and principles. The way humans are oppressed in India under the pressure of fictitious rules and denied fundamental rights, subjecting them to tyranny has no parallel in world history and needs an early end. This mentality has not yet died. Even today, we come across incidents, such as forbidding Dalits to pass through the Brahmin and Rajput settlements; Dalit grooms are not allowed to ride horses in the wedding procession; it is considered a crime if Dalits dare to take the wedding procession through the Brahmin settlements, let alone building a house in their quarter, or partaking meals together, or working together. Even a man of the stature of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar had to undergo such inhuman treatment, and even today, his community lives under similar inhibitions. A roadmap is getting ready in a subtle manner to once again impose the system envisaged in Manusmriti, so the rights of the Dalits enshrined in the Constitution erode, and once again, they pass into slavery of a select race. To make sure the success of this hidden agenda, recourse is made to coax the innocent by saying that all Indians are alike, deserving equal treatment, lifestyle should be changed instead of changing caste or religion, so the Dalits are kept in dark. During the elections, all such things are repeated quite often to attract the downtrodden to register victory. And once elections are won, increased oppression is leashed again and preparations are made to subject the weaker sections of the society to slavery.

All in all, all humans are one and the same. None has supremacy and distinction over others. One born in America enjoys the same position as the one born as a black in an African forest. One belonging to Arabia is equal to the one born in India. None has supremacy over others on the ground of race, caste, religion, region, and territory. All humans are equal. The message of Islam to the entire world consists in voicing this very message of equality, insisting that all humans are equal. Supremacy can’t come to someone on the basis of caste, religion, and race. All humans who are born in the world are the subjects of Allah, enjoying the one and the same position. Islam does not grant supremacy to any human, even of the size of an atom, criticising in strongest words any violation of this principle of human equality in words and deeds. Islam holds the opinion that all humans are free. Islam opposes slavery of humans by other humans. The basic teachings of Islam assert that all humans are free on the surface of the earth; no one has the right to enslave another human. However, the saddest part of the world history is that the strong enslaved the weak and poor humans, hurling insults on some races and castes by declaring that they were proud of their race and caste; they reduced them to slavery. They declared themselves as masters, and by reducing the meek people to slavery and thereby engaging them as forced labour to get their job done connected with their day-to-day life. They made themselves the owner of all the bounties and important affairs, making all God-given favours and important creations as only theirs, and denying the weak in the society and oppressed sections any access to them, reducing them as their subjects. Several communities across the world have committed this crime. India has suffered the most on this account where discrimination has ruled high for several centuries, exploiting humans by self-devised rules. America and Europe also suffer on this score where being of black skin is considered a crime and being of white skin is looked upon as a matter of pride. Islam strongly condemns such an attitude; it has only one criterion for the treatment of all humans which consists in the principle that all humans are equal. No one has supremacy over others on the ground of race, caste, territory, wealth, colour and language. Supremacy and pride come to a human through knowledge and piety. Only knowledge and piety can confer supremacy upon a human, and it is this knowledge that the progressive society and some select groups of people hid. They subdued the weaker sections of society by denying them access to education. They thought that if the backward communities acquired knowledge, their self-designed law will be exposed and their efforts to control them will fail; their dream of ruling over them will be shattered and this can happen only if they gain knowledge, so they must be prevented from receiving knowledge. Their scheme was that education must be made exclusive; they should only serve them; they should not be made aware of what education meant. Contrary to this, Islam has emphasised the value of education from its very inception. The first verse of the Holy Qur’an is about knowledge. The basic theory of Islam holds that knowledge places humans in a respectable position. With knowledge comes the ability to reflect and consequently humans endeavour to obtain what is due to them. It is not possible to subdue an educated person into slavery and thus equality among humans gets an impetus. The rise of brotherhood, fraternity, love, and humanity is essential to human development. To assure security, social development and harmony, it is essential to maintain fraternity and cordial relations. Love and affection for each other, no malice on the basis of religion, race and also, no feeling of hatred since mutual love and affection are the cornerstones, leading to improvement to an enhanced degree. Hatred, enmity, and jealousy lead to estrangement and unpleasantness. Therefore, together with all other basic matters, establishing fraternity and brotherhood become essential requirement.