Byline: Imam Qari Asim
“Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, we are witnessing the devastating impact of anti-Black racism across the world.
We stand in solidarity with black people in the UK, US and beyond. We feel deep sadness at the senseless death of yet another unarmed black person, George Floyd, in the custody of the US police.
“A white person has no superiority over a black person nor a black person has any superiority over a white person, except by piety and good conduct.”
Prophet Muhammed (PBUH)
We must recognise the racial inequality and prejudice that continue to affect black people. The Public Health report, published this week, shows that Black Asian and Ethnic Minority have been disproportionally affected by Covid-19. The socio-economic structural inequality faced by BAME communities needs to tackled robustly.
A desire for justice for all compels us to work together to eliminate the racism that can cause immeasurable harm. It begins by our work in the communities to challenge our own prejudices, lack of representation and equality in our organisations and institutions.
As Muslims, we must stand against all forms of racism and injustice.
Our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stood up against any form of racism and famously said: “A white person has no superiority over a black person nor a black person has any superiority over a white person, except by piety and good conduct.”
Today, in our communities and institutions including our mosques, we are compelled by recent events to work towards positive change. We encourage Muslims to call out anti-black racism, in whatever shape and form they see it and wherever they see it.
We pray for and envision a world where racial inequality is replaced with equality; despair with joy; and privilege with fairly distributed power.”
