In its appeal to the American people to vote Democrat, the Islamic Republic of Iran as a poor, misjudged, lovable lug. Its open letter to the American people, published Tuesday, asserted that “Iran is the birthplace of the most controversial and, at the same time, the most misunderstood political revolution in the modern era—a revolution founded on the Quran and the teachings of the most noble of divine guides. In a word, the underlying foundation of the Islamic Revolution of Iran is the Quran’s divinely revealed doctrine and worldview.” But it isn’t exactly honest about what that doctrine and worldview are.
The leaders of the Islamic Republic want us to believe that the Qur’an is all about everything wonderful: “Honesty, liberty, equality, social equity, respect for the rights of others, political discernment, compassion, and the priority of human values over personal desires are among the basic social principles that stem from this Quranic doctrine.”
As if that weren’t enough, the Qur’an also, says the letter, “proclaims all human beings brothers and sisters and servants of God. No race, color, ethnicity, or nation is given pride of place in Islam. Humanity is of one cloth, and an assault on a single human being is an assault on all of humanity.” That last bit is an echo of the Qur’an: “We decreed for the children of Israel that whoever kills a human being for anything other than manslaughter or corruption on the earth, it will be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves the life of one person, it will be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.” (5:32)
Note that this passage, which was purloined from the Talmud, is not actually presented as a general directive for human behavior, as the open letter would have us believe. It is actually a decree only for the “children of Israel,” and the very next verse warns of the punishment that awaits those who “make war upon Allah and his messenger and struggle to sow corruption on earth,” that is, also the children of Israel: “They will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides.” (5:33) That makes this passage not exactly the beautiful expression of charity that the open letter wants us to think it is.
The open letter also claims that “no race, color, ethnicity, or nation is given pride of place in Islam.” And it’s true: there is a hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “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.”
However, all of the hadith, that is, the traditions of Muhammad’s words and deeds, were composed two centuries after the time he was supposed to have lived, and are loaded with contradictory material, as competing factions invented stories of Muhammad to support their positions.
And the racist Muslim has plenty of ammunition. Another hadith has Muhammad saying: “Listen and obey your chief, even if an Ethiopian slave whose head is like a raisin is appointed over you.” This one is about blind obedience to the ruler, not race, but Muhammad illustrates his point by saying that Muslims should obey the ruler even if he is the most implausible and outlandish character he can think of, a black man from Ethiopia. What is that but racism?
Other hadiths have Muhammad teaching the superiority of his own tribe of Arabs over the entire human race: “God divided the earth in two halves and placed (me) in the better of the two, then He divided the half in three parts, and I was in the best of them, then he chose the Arabs from among the people, then He chose the Quraysh from among the Arabs, then he chose the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib from among the Banu Hashim, then he chose me from among the children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib, and from them he chose me.”
Numerous hadiths depict black people in a negative light. In one, Muhammad is depicted saying: “‘Whoever wants to see Satan let him take a look at Nabtal b. al-Harith!’ He was a sturdy black man with long flowing hair, inflamed eyes, and dark ruddy cheeks.”
Related: The Chutzpah of This Guy! Mamdani Rebrands Himself As a Warrior Against Antisemitism
Muhammad is even said to have owned black slaves: “Jabir reported: There came a slave and pledged allegiance to Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) on migration; he (the Holy Prophet) did not know that he was a slave. Then there came his master and demanded him back, whereupon Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: Sell him to me. And he bought him for two black slaves, and he did not afterwards take allegiance from anyone until he had asked him whether he was a slave (or a free man).”
In another tradition, Muhammad says that black people are going to hell: “Allah created Adam when he created him. Then he struck his right shoulder and took out a white race as if they were seeds, and he struck his left shoulder and took out a black race as if they were coals. Then he said to those who were in his right side: Towards paradise and I don’t care. He said to those who were on his left shoulder: Towards hell and I don’t care.”
He might not care, but we should. The Islamic Republic’s open letter is designed to appeal to leftists, and they’re likely to fall for the rosy picture of Islam that it presents. The truth, as is so often the case, is otherwise.