Peace Be Unto Those Who Follow Right Guidance.
In what follows, I should like to offer a few observations on the question of colour-blindness from an Islamic – more specifically, Qur’anic – perspective. [I have someone who has become very close to me to thank for prompting me to write this piece and for stimulating me to think ever more deeply about the various takes on this and related issues. Jazak’Allah khairun (May God/Allah reward you with good); you know who you are!]
To begin with, I should state at the outset that, by “colour-blindness”, I am not, of course, referring to the genetically-based physiological inability to distinguish one or more of the three colours red, green, and blue. In the context of this discussion, “colour-blindness” should be understood as a socio-political term reflecting a specific stance on the “race” issue. Although there is no ‘universally agreed’ definition of this term, I think the essence of this position can be encapsulated in a statement like the following:
To be “colour-blind” is to disregard “race” – more specifically, colour and/or factors associated with colour – in one’s treatment of others.
It is important to appreciate that the above statement refers to how one treats others, not to how one thinks or feels about them. From the ‘external’ perspective of the sphere of behaviour and action, colour-blindness in respect of one’s thoughts and feelings are considered to be ‘internal factors’ that are simply irrelevant. However, the Islamic worldview is grounded in an underlying unitary conception of reality (tawheed) that manifests as complementary pairs (tazweej) in the realm of creative transformation (‘alam-al-khalq); hence, for every ‘outward’ (zaahir), there must be a corresponding ‘inward’ (baath’in) (and vice versa). This means that, from an Islamic perspective, the ‘inward’ (baath’in) cannot – must not - be ignored since to behave outwardly in a correct manner while maintaining an incorrect inner orientation indicates, at a minimum, a lack of concern for the state of the ‘self’ (nafs), and, at worst, traits of hypocrisy (nifaaq), a character defect that is referred to very early on in The Qur’an (2:10) as a disease (marad) of the heart (qalb). Muslims – that is, those struggling to self-surrender to God/Allah - should remember that God/Allah says in The Qur’an, “only he (will prosper) that brings to God a sound/whole/rectified heart (qalbun saleem).” (26:89)
The idea of “colour-blindness” is formulated above in terms of disregard for “race”. But how should such ‘disregard’ be understood, and is it something innate or something that must be acquired? Focusing on the latter for a moment, do we have to learn to become colour-blind, or is this an outlook that we possess as part of our ‘natural’ (that is, God/Allah-given) constitution, albeit an outlook that can become obscured over time as we enter into a state of forgetfulness (nisyaan) concerning our knowledge of who we really are? It is crucial to appreciate that such questions are intimately tied up with the issue of what constitutes ‘human nature’ (fitrah), an issue the exploration of which is beyond the scope and intent of this article. Rather, I will focus my attention on how ‘disregard’ should be understood and the Islamic/Qur’anic perspective on such a stance vis-à-vis the “race” issue.
According to the dictionary, to disregard means “to ignore, to take no notice of, to close the eyes to, to discount, to pay no attention to, to forget about” etc. On this basis, it might be argued that colour-blindness means to attach no worth or value to “race” – more specifically, colour and/or factors associate with colour – when dealing with people. This stance certainly derives support from (49:13) in The Qur’an, which states that the sole criterion for worth/value/nobility with God/Allah is taqwa (as opposed to geneology and/or tribal affiliation), and also from (16:90), which states that God/Allah has enjoined ‘adl or impartiality/indiscriminate treatment of people. Thus, in distributing justice/equity (qisth’), no human being is to suffer discrimination on account of their colour and/or factors associated with their colour. (“Race” is a socio-political construct, a power relation; unlike colour it is not something that is God/Allah-given but something that is “man-made”.) So, on first glance, it might appear that Muslims should be colour-blind, that is, impartial in their dealings with people of all colours (and, as I have stated elsewhere on this blog, according to The Qur’an, all people – including those who self-classify as ‘white’ – are “people of colour.”)
However, if one looks into the issue more closely, and from a vantage point informed by a deep understanding of the nature of the contemporary socio-political world order, one will readily come to see that, while The Qur’an indeed mandates colour-blindness in the sense of impartial treatment of people (16:90), it recognises the existential reality of a human colour spectrum (35:28), and when these two signs/messages (ayaat) are taken together, it follows that colour-based discrimination is something to be struggled against.
In The Qur’an, God/Allah commands human beings to uphold “The Balance” (al-meezan) in the realm of human affairs. When such balance is upset, and unjust and incorrect conditions come to dominate human affairs such that people are discriminated against on the basis of colour and/or factors associated with colour – as is the case under global contemporary conditions of White Supremacy (Racism) - The Qur’an mandates that, in addition to treating people with impartiality – that is, in addition to being colour-blind – a concerted effort, a struggle (jihad) should be made to “set things in order” and establish balance once again. This is only possible if one can see that a situation of imbalance and injustice exists, and if the basis of such imbalance and injustice is colour, then one needs to be able to see colour, that is, to be colour-seeing, not colour-blind. From this perspective, to be colour-seeing is to be fully aware of the nature and reality of colour-based discrimination, to understand that being ‘white’ means something and being ‘black’ means something else.
In addition to mandating ‘adl – impartiality in the treatment of people – God/Allah went further in (16:90) to mandate ihsaan, which means “restoration of disturbed proportions” or “compensating a person for his deficiencies and thus restoring his disturbed equilibrium.” It is not enough to treat people impartially; we must go further than this and compensate people for their shortcomings so as to promote beauty and harmony (husn) among human beings. This is in the nature of what The Qur’an refers to as the salih-amal, that is, the action (or deed) that is corrective or reparative of ‘self’ and ‘other’.
Thus, in obeying the command of God/Allah to be impartial and compensatory in their dealings with people, Muslims who are committed to RWSWJ – that is, Replacing White Supremacy (Racism) (and its derivative, non-White complexionism) With Justice – are required to embrace both colour-blindness and colour-sight.
(16:90) Verily Allah enjoins impartiality [‘adl] and compensatory restoration of proportions [ih’saan], and giving to kinsmen, and forbids the abominable deeds [al-fah’shaa] and the disapproved/unrecognised thing [al-munkar] and oppression [al-baghiyy]. He exhorts you that you may bear in mind.
Peace
