• Bigotry is a state of mind in which one is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

• Bigotry is sometimes developed into an ideology or world view.

• BIGOT: A person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.

• TOLERATE means: To endure without repugnance; put up with.

• By definition, a bigot is someone who refuses to put up with any belief that is different than their own.

Disability Dissention Ethnicity

Economicstatus

Gender Language Nationality

Political alignment

Race Religion Sex

• Prejudice is when a person negatively pre-judges another person or group without getting to know the beliefs, thoughts, and feelings behind their words and actions. A person of any racial group can be prejudiced towards a person of any other racial group. There is no power dynamic involved.

• Bigotry is stronger than prejudice, a more severe mindset and often accompanied by discriminatory behavior. It’s arrogant and mean-spirited, but requires neither systems nor power to engage in.

Occurs when a person or group falsely believes:• “I am or my people are superior to you and your people, • So I am / we are entitled to more (dignity, power, freedom,

assets, status, opportunity…). • This is an absolute truth, and is not subject to discussion

or compromise”• Prejudice ranges from mild to extreme, and narrow to

wide• Values conflicts become prejudice if one person says the

other person is bad and/or inferior because of their values. • Religious prejudice is specially provocative because the

accuser avoids personal responsibility by allying with God in claiming righteous superiority

Low self esteem

Defeat/disable exploit perceived

adversary

False sense of superiority

• It means to give preferential treatment to someone whether merited or not.

• This can occur because of prejudice.

• All prejudice is discriminatory - but not all discrimination is prejudice.

• Those who are "discriminated against" may feel disrespected, misunderstood, resentful, frustrated, hurt, angry, resigned, combative, defensive, outraged or all of these.

• Racism is the system that allows the dominant racial group that’s already in power to retain power.

• It uses its power to create preferential access to survival resources (housing, education, jobs, food, health, legal protection, etc.) while simultaneously impeding people of other racial groups to these same resources.

• Though "reverse racism" is a term we hear, it has never existed in America.

• "The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract."

• This kind of prejudice can lead to physical and verbal attacks

• Damage to the victims can be psychological as well as physical.

• At its most basic level, bigotry is a form of bullying and it can happen in all areas of life.

• Bigotry can occur in school playgrounds to the highest levels of various employment sectors.

• Bigotry can reach very dangerous levels when it is officially organized; as seen in the actions and results of certain racist political parties

• The origin of the word bigot and bigoterie (bigotry) in English dates back to at least 1598, via Middle French, and started with the sense of "religious hypocrite".

• This meaning still survives in Italian, in the cognate word bigotto.

• The exact origin of the word is unknown, but it may have come from the German bei and Gott, or the English by God.

• It is true, however, that the French used the term bigot to abuse the Normans

• The twelfth-century Anglo-Norman author Wace claimed that bigot was an insult which the French used against the Normans

• We Americans flatter ourselves as citizens of a “land of liberty” where religious freedom is sacrosanct.

• And we have much to brag about in this regard, not least a First Amendment that guarantees religious liberty and the separation of church and state.

• Yet the United States also has a long history of religious bigotry.

• Mitt Romney courageously outlined not only “our grand tradition of religious tolerance and liberty” but also key moments when we traded in that tradition for hate.

• He spoke of Ann Hutchinson, the Puritan renegade banished from colonial Massachusetts

• Brigham Young, who led Mormons persecuted in the East to freedom in the West.

• All too often, Romney observed, “Americans were unable to accommodate their commitment to their own faith with an appreciation for the convictions of others to different faiths.”

• Wen need to reacquaint ourselves with our “grand tradition” of religious liberty, and with an equally grand tradition of political conciliation -of putting the common good of our nation above the special interests of whatever groups we favor.

• When murderers target and kill religious minorities simply because they are non-white or non-Christian, something of each of these traditions dies.

• So we need to redouble our efforts to keep both vibrant.

• Only the blind fail to see the easy availability of guns as a major problem in American society today.

• But hateful invective is a weapon too, and it can be heard not only among white supremacist extremists but also on our mainstream radio and television talk shows.

• As we try to make sense once again of yet another attack on our citizens by extremism, I hope we will choose religious liberty over religious hatred.

• I also hope we will remember from whence hate comes, and do whatever we can to bar the door.

• Through wars, forced displacement (such as in the Trail of Tears), and the imposition of treaties, land was taken.

• Ideological expansionist justification (Manifest Destiny) included stereotyped perceptions of all Native Americans as "merciless Indian savages" (as described in the United States Declaration of Independence)

• An egregious attempt occurred with the California gold rush, the first two years of which saw the deaths of thousands of Native Americans

• Many Native Americans were moved to reservations—constituting 4% of U.S. territory.

• While formal equality has been legally recognized, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders remain among the most economically disadvantaged groups in the country

• Americans of Latin American ancestry (often categorized as "Hispanic") come from a wide variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds

• After the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), the U.S. annexed much of the current Southwestern region from Mexico.

• Mexicans residing in that territory found themselves subject to discrimination.

• It is estimated that at least 597 Mexicans were lynched between 1848 and 1928 (this is a conservative estimate due to lack of records in many reported lynchings).

• During The Great Depression, the U.S. government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which encouraged Mexican immigrants to voluntarily return to Mexico.

• Many were forcibly removed against their will.

• In total, up to one million persons of Mexican ancestry were deported, approximately 60 percent of those individuals were actually U.S. citizens.

• Many public institutions, businesses, and homeowners associations had official policies to exclude Mexican Americans.

• School children of Mexican American descent were subject to racial segregation in the public school system.

• In many counties, Mexican Americans were excluded from serving as jurors in court cases, especially in those that involved a Mexican American defendant.

• In many areas across the Southwest, they lived in separate residential areas, due to laws and real estate company policies.

• Many of the Africans brought to America starting in the 17th century arrived as slaves,

• They were kidnapped from their homelands in various parts of Africa.

• They were stripped of their names and identities, forced to “Christianize”, whipped, beaten, tortured, and in many cases, lynched or hanged at the whims of their white masters.

• Families were separated through the process of buying and selling slaves.

• African-Americans who were free, discriminatory laws barred them from owning property and voting.

• Belief in the intrinsic inferiority of dark-skinned peoples by the dominant white majority, held them back from full equality.

• Slavery was ultimately outlawed and laws prohibiting discrimination against African-Americans were passed,

• Racism against this community remains and is manifested in more subtle ways today.

• Fair Employment Practices Commission has found that blacks face discrimination in one out of every five job interviews.

• The American Sociological Association notes that, “today employers use different phases of the hiring process to discriminate against minorities.

• "During World War I, rumors spread that German-Americans were poisoning food, and Theodore Roosevelt warned that ‘Germanized socialists' were ‘more mischievous than bubonic plague.'"

• The public was "warned that Jews were plotting to destroy the United States. . . .

• A 1940 survey found that 17 percent of Americans considered Jews to be a ‘menace to America.'"

• "Chinese in America were denounced, persecuted and lynched.

• Head of a United States government commission publicly urged in 1945 ‘the extermination of the Japanese in toto.'"

• 888 hate groups are currently operating in the United States, an increase of 48% since 2000. Among them:

• 20 Ku Klux Klan chapters in Texas,

• 9 black separatist organizations in Georgia,

• 10 neo-Nazi groups in New Jersey, and

• 21 skinhead groups in California.

Source: Southern Poverty Law Center

• John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court and co-author of the Federalist Papers, who famously wrote, "It is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers

• In 1777, Jay proposed that Catholics be denied the right to own land or to vote, unless, "they renounce and believe to be false and wicked, the dangerous and damnable doctrine, that the pope, or any other earthly authority, have power to absolve men from sins."

• This anti-Catholic bigotry was widely shared.

• The First Continental Congress declared that only Protestant denomination embody the "true religion," and warned that Catholics, "dispersed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder and rebellion through every part of the world.“

• America was fortunate, however, because these voices of intolerance were answered by far-sighted leaders who vigorously opposed such religious animus.

• Ben Franklin, for example, was so accepting of different religions that he was able to develop a relationship with Pope Pius VI, who, on Franklin's recommendation, named John Carroll America's first Catholic Bishop.

• George Washington understood the importance of respecting all religious faiths.

• As commander-in-chief of the Continental army, Washington admonished his troops that, "While we are Contending for our own Liberty, we should be very cautious of violating the Rights of Conscience in others;ever considering that God alone is the Judge of the Hearts of Men and to him only in this Case they are answerable."

• As president, Washington assured Catholics that the protection of government would be provided to "all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the Community," regardless of religion.

• Linking a minority religion to the faith of the majority, Washington wrote that

• “The same wonder-working Deity," who led the Israelites out of Egypt had, "been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation."

• The presidential election of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson raised that issue directly.

• John Mitchell Mason, a Presbyterian minister, repeatedly urged voters to select the ‘Christian’ Adams over the "infidel," Jefferson.

• Jefferson's victory over Adams was seen as a repudiation of those who argued that religious voters should shun candidates who did not share their religious views.

• Religion was, and is, a central part of the American landscape. The question now, as it was then, is whether religion will be a divisive or a unifying force.

• The first decade of the 20th century saw a series of riots against Sikh laborers.

• On September 4, 1907, in Bellingham, Washington, hundreds of men attacked “Ragheads,” as they called them, burning their homes, beating them up, looting their property, and driving them across the border into Canada.

• Similar riots occurred in that decade elsewhere in Oregon, Washington, and California.

• Immediately after 9/11, a Sikh named Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed at a gas station in Mesa, Arizona, by a bigot who mistook him for a Muslim.

• 1995-JUL: Barna Research Ltd.

Negative Positive

• Islam 71% 24%

• Buddhism 76% 22%

• Scientology 81% 30%

• Atheism 92%

• 77% had an unfavorable view of Islam; 13% had a favorable view.

• 72% believe that Islam opposes pluralism (in the sense of religious diversity) and democracy,

• 72% believe that the Sharia legal systems violate human freedom.

• 10% agreed with President George W. Bush that Islam is "a religion of peace."

• 70% believe that Islam is a religion of violence.• 17% believe that Muslims and Christian pray to the

same God.• 2% believe that all the world's great religions are

equally true and good

• After the attacks on September 11, 2001, the number of reported hate crimes committed against Muslims rose drastically from 28 reported crimes in 2000 to 481 in 2001- FBI .

• Anti Muslim assaults now are at the highest level since 2011

• Recent examples include the stabbing of a new York City taxi driver and exploding of a pipe bomb at an Islamic community center in Florida.

• There is general lack of understanding about Islam

• Violent attacks against people just because they are Muslims or “look” like Muslims;

• Inflammatory rhetoric in our national dialogue

• State legislatures’ unnecessary and discriminatory proposals to ban the consideration of Shari'ah, Islamic religious law, in courts

• Local debates over whether the construction of mosques should be permitted.

• Increased opposition to the building of Islamic community centers and mosques around the country is reported

• Increased vandalism and violence

In one of the most high profile examples, community members in Murfreesboro, Tenn. have tried to derail a proposed Islamic center,

• Argument was given that a building permit should not be granted because mosques should not be treated the same as churches.

• “Not welcome” has been spray-painted onto signs announcing the center,

• Arsonist set fire to construction equipment at the building site

• In 2010 alone, nearly 800 anti-Muslim discrimination charges were filed with the equal employment opportunity Commission.

• Many cases resulted from employers and schools failing to reasonably accommodate the needs of employees and students,

• This included the freedom to wear head coverings and to take time off for religious observances

• In 2010, Florida pastor Terry Jones made worldwide news when he announced his plan to publicly burn the Qu’ran.

• While voices of reason succeeded in convincing Jones to forgo that hateful initiative,

• He went ahead in March 2011, overseeing a “trial” of the Quran at which the Muslim holy book was found “guilty” of crimes and then burned.

• Although a legal exercise of free expression, such a heinous act is offensive to people of all faiths around the world and undermines the American values of religious freedom and pluralism.

• In March of 2010, Rep. Peter King (R-NY.) Committee on homeland Security held hearing focusing on the so-called “radicalization of the American Muslim community,” misguidedly tarring an entire community with the charges of radicalization.

• Continued stereotyping of Muslims and questioning of the Muslim faith will not promote the unity we need to address security threats.

• It also has the dangerous potential to prejudice toward Muslims

• The second hearing, held by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) focused on protecting the civil rights of American Muslims.

• Though the tone of this hearing was more positive, it is unfortunate that such a hearing was necessary in the first place.

• Some politicians have claimed that Islam is a political system, not a religion, and thus not protected by the First Amendment.

• They have threatened to "arrest every Muslim that comes across the state line" and pledged to bar Muslim refugees from the country.

• They have sanctioned spying on mosques without warrants and the racial profiling of Muslim communities.

• They have accused Muslims of launching a "civilizational jihad" and called Islam a "cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out."

• They have shut down schools over lessons on Islam and called innocuous school materials dangerous propaganda.

• More than 30 states have considered bills to "protect" their civil courts from Islamic law, and nine states (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee) enacted the bans.

• They have said Muslims cannot be president of the United States.

• They have said Muslims should not be here at all.

• Ignorance

• Unfounded fears

• Unfounded threat

• Hatred

• Anger

• Animosity

• Those who have exposure to information and knowledge are silenced by bullies

• Self interest and timidity leads to silence of the knowledgeable

• Islam is against all forms of racism and bigotry.

• Such beliefs are the characteristic of pre-Islamic ignorance (jahiliyyah).

• Islam teaches all races are equal before Allah (SWT) and the only characteristic that makes someone superior to another is righteousness (Taqwah).

• منا بني آدم وحملناهم ف ن ي البر والبحر ورزقن ولقد كر اهم ملناهم على كثير ن خلقنا الطيبات وفض م تفضيل م

We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with definite preference.Surat Al-Isra 17:70

• ن ذكر با وأنثى وجعلناكم شعويا أيها الناس إنا خلقناكم م

ع وقبائل لتعارفوا إن أكرمكم عن أتقاكم إن الل ليم خبير د الل

O people, We have created you male and female and made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most noble of you to Allah is the most righteous of you. Verily, Allah is knowing and aware.Surat Al-Hujurat 49:13

• اختلف ألسنتكم ومن آياته خلق السماوات والرض و

لك ليات لل عالمين وألوانكم إن في ذ

Among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Verily, in that are signs for people of knowledge.Surat Ar-Rum 30:22

• تعالى خلق آدم من قبضة قبضها من جميع الرض إن الل

ض منهم الحمر والبي فجاء بنو آدم على قدر الرض فجاء والسود وبين ذلك والسهل والح ي والط زن والخبي

Verily, Allah the Exalted created Adam from a

handful which He took from the earth, so the

children of Adam come in accordance with the

earth. Some come with red skin, white skin, or

black skin and whatever is in between: thin,

thick, dirty, and clean.

Source: Sunan At-Tirmidhi 2955, Sahih

• ضل إن أباكم واحد أل ل ف يا أيها الناس أل إن ربكم واحد و

على على عربي ول لحمر لعربي على أعجمي ول لعجمي قوأ أبلتت أسود ول أسود على أحمر إل بالت

Abu Nadrah reported: I heard the farewell sermon of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said:O people, your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no virtue of an Arab over a foreigner nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither white skin over black skin nor black skin over white skin, except by righteousness. Have I not delivered the message?Source: Musnad Ahmad 22978

• ي ليس لحد على أحد فضل إل بالد ن أو عمل صالح حسجل أن يكون فاحشا بذيا بخيل جباناالر

Uqbah ibn Amir reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:No one is better than anyone else except by religion or good deeds. It is sufficient evil for a man to be profane, vulgar, greedy, or cowardly.

• ه ول أسود إل أن تفضل انظر فإنك ليس بخير من أحمر

بتقوأ

Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:Behold! Verily, there is no good in red skin or black skin, but rather only by virtue of righteousness.Source: Musnad Ahmad 20885

• Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him,

said:

• جل أنا أكرم من جل للر أحد ك ، فليس أحد أكرم من فيقول الر

إل بتقوأ الل

• A man might say to another man that I am

more noble than you, yet no one is made

noble except by the fear of Allah.• Source: al-Adab al-Mufrad 898, Grade

• Abu Umamah reported: Abu Dharr reproached Bilal about his mother, saying, “O son of a black woman!” Bilal went to the Messenger of Allah (SAW), and he told him what he said. The Prophet became angry and then Abu Dharr came, although he was unaware of what Bilal told him. The Prophet turned away from him and Abu Dharr asked, “O Messenger of Allah, have you turned away because of something you have been told?” The Prophet said:

• ه والذي أنزل ال د ما لحد علي ف أنت الذي تعير بلل بأم على محم ضل كتااع إل بعمل إن أنتم إل كطف الص

• Have you reproached Bilal about his mother? By the one who revealed the Book to Muhammad, none is more virtuous over another except by righteous deeds. You have none but an insignificant amount.Source: Shu’b al-Iman 4760

• Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

• عنكم عبية الج قد أذه ما هو اهلية وفخرها بالباء إن إن الل هم بنو آدم وآدم خلق من تر مؤمن تقي وفاجر شقي الناس كل ا

• Verily, Allah has removed from you the pride of the time of ignorance with its boasting of ancestors. Verily, one is only a righteous believer or a miserable sinner. All of the people are the children of Adam, and Adam was created from dust.

• Source: Sunan At-Tirmidhi 3955

• ع يا قد أذه ة نكم عبية الجاهلي أيها الناس إن اللبر تقي كريم على الل رجلن فالناس وتعاظمها بآبائها

والن وفاجر شقي هين على الل آدم اس بنو آدم وخلق الل يا أيها الناس إ قال الل أنثى نا خلقناكم من ذكر و من ترا

أتقاكم رفوا إن أكرمكم عند الل وجعلناكم شعوبا وقبائل لتعاO people, Allah has removed the slogans of ignorance from you and the exaltation of its forefathers. The people are only two kinds: either a righteous, God-fearing believer dignified to Allah, or a wicked, miserable sinner insignificant to Allah. The people are all the children of Adam and Adam was created from dust. Allah said: O people, We have created you male and female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most noble to Allah is the most righteous of you. (49:13)Source: Sunan At-Tirmidhi 3270

• Jubair ibn Mut’im reported: The Messenger of

Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,

said:

• ة منا من قاتل على عصبي ليس منا من دعا إلى عصبية وليس

وليس منا من مات على عصبية

• He is not one of us who calls to tribalism.

He is not one of us who fights for the sake

of tribalism. He is not one of us who dies

following the way of tribalism.

• Source: Sunan Abu Dawud 5102

• America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem.

• Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white, but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam.

• I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.

• You honor your integrity - i.e. you respond in a way that earns your self respect; and...

• You view the prejudiced person as "wounded and ignorant,": rather than "bad;" "stupid," "egotistical," "arrogant," "evil," and/or "inferior"; and...

• Your response does not knowingly provoke aggressionand reciprocal blaming and slandering; and...

• You avoid trying (useless) logical explanations and defenses to "correct" the prejudiced person or to prove they're "wrong"; and...

• You don't seek to embarrass, punish, or demean the prejudiced person or group; and you respect their human rights as equally-worthy people despite their disrespectful attitude and actions.

• Think clearly, listen empathically, assert respectfully, and problem-solve where possible.

• Identify, validate, and assert your personal boundaries. They specify what behaviors you will tolerate without taking some specific action

• Seek to adopt an attitude of compassionate detachment from those who disparage you or your group.

• Understand with compassion and empathy why some shame-based, unaware people need to judge others as inferior.

• "You will certainly hear much abuse from the followers of previous books and from the idol-worshipping people. And if you are patient and keep your duty -- this is surely a matter of great resolution." (3:186)

• "Many of the followers of previous books wish that they could turn you back into disbelievers after you have believed, but you should pardon and forgive." (2:109)

"Bear patiently what they say." (20:130 and 50:39)

“

Obey not the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and disregard their hurtful talk." (33:48)

• And if you invite them to guidance, they hear not; and you see them looking towards you, yet they see not. Hold fast to forgiveness and enjoin goodness and turn away from the ignorant." (7:198-199)

• When you hear Allah's messages disbelieved in and mocked at, sit not with them until they enter into some other discourse." (4:140; see also 6:68).

• Those who spend freely whether in prosperity or adversity and who restrain anger and pardon (all) men for Allah loves those who do good." (Aal-e-Imran,3:134)

• "Let them forgive and overlook, do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? For Allah is oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful". (Noor, 24:22)

• ‘And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend.’ [41-34]

• ‘And verily, whosoever shows patience and forgives that would truly be from the things recommended by Allah [42:43]

• (1) HAVE PATIENCE & SUPPRESS YOUR ANGER

• And bear patiently all that they say; and withdraw from them in a decent manner.

[AL-MUZZAMMIL 73:11]

• So turn aside from them, and say, ‘Peace;’ and soon shall they know. [AL-ZUKHRUF 43:90]

• Peaceful discourses with those who engage in intellectual dialogue, both written and oral.

• And argue not with the people of the Book except with what is best as an argument’

[AL-ANKABOOT 29:47]

• So obey not the disbelievers and strive against them by means of the Qur’an with a mighty striving. [AL-FURQAN 25:53]

• In arguing with those who use excessive and abusive language against Islam and the Holy Prophet (SAW), the Muslim scholars are permitted to reciprocate their harshness using the same tone and words.

• Allah likes not the uttering of unseemly speech in public, except on the part of one who is being wronged. Verily, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. [AL-NISA 4:149]

Remember that the recompense of an injury is an injury the like thereof; [AL-SHURA 42:41]

• And abuse not those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they, out of spite, abuse Allah in their ignorance.

• [AL-AN’AM 6:109]

• "The Muslim who mixes with the people and bears patiently their hurtful words, is better than one who does not mix with people and does not show patience under their abuse."

• (Mishkat, Book: Ethics, ch. 'Gentleness, modesty and good behavior')

• The Prophet said that: “Whoever suffers an injury and forgives (the person responsible), God will raise his status to a higher degree and remove one of his sins”. (At-Tirmidhi)

• “God had ordered me to maintain ties with those who sever ties with me, and to give to those who deprive me, and to forgive those who oppress me.” (Al-Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah [SAW] said to Ashja Abdul-Qais ‘You possess two qualities that Allah loves. These are leniency and tolerance.’ [Muslim]

• The Messenger of Allah [SAW] said, ‘He who is deprived of forbearance and leniency is, in fact, deprived of all good.’ [Muslim]

• The Prophet [SAW] said, ‘Allah is Forbearer and He loves forbearance, and rewards for forbearance while He does not reward severity, and does not give for any thing besides it [forbearance].’ [Muslim]

• ‘Aisha(RA) narrated that the Prophet [SAW] said, ‘Whenever forbearance is added to something, it adorns it; and whenever it is withdrawn from something, it leaves it defective.’ [Muslim]

• `Aisha(RA) narrated, ‘Whenever the Prophet [SAW] was given a choice between two matters, he would [always] choose the easier as long as it was not sinful to do so; but if it was sinful he was most strict in avoiding it. He never took revenge upon anybody for his own sake; but when Allah's Legal Bindings were outraged, he would take revenge for Allah's sake.[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

•

• Abu Hurairah A man asked the Prophet [SAW] to give him advice, and he [SAW] said, ‘Do not get angry.’ The man repeated that several times and he [SAW] replied [every time], ‘Do not get angry.’ [Al-Bukhari]

• In his advice to Abu Musa and Mu’adh before dispatching them to Yemen, the Prophet(SAW) said: ‘Show leniency (to the people]; don't be hard upon them; give them glad tidings ; and do not create aversion. Work in collaboration and don’t be divided.’ (Bukhari)

• `Anas (RA) narrates that the Prophet(SAW) said: ‘Give glad tidings [to the people]; do not create [in their minds] aversion [towards religion]; show them leniency and do not be hard upon them

• Muslims must share the message of Islam to the people of the earth who still suffer from racism and tribal bigotry.

• Even among some Muslims, the scourge of racism exists and causes harm among communities.

• The only way to completely eradicate racism is to embrace the oneness of Allah (tawhid) and to accept its logical conclusion, the oneness of humanity.