The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that the Arab race is superior to the non-Arab race, and this superiority is inherent to the race itself. How do we reconcile this statement with the saying of Allah?

The questioner : In *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim* by the Shaykh al-Islam, it is mentioned that what the people of the Sunnah and the community believe is that the Arab race is superior to the non-Arab race. He said that the superiority of the Arabs, then Quraysh, then Hashim is not merely because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was from them, even though that is a form of superiority; rather, they are superior in their very essence. How do we reconcile this statement of his with the saying of Allah: , and the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): ?

The Shaykh : This is a strange question. Do you think that Ibn Taymiyyah, when he said this, contradicted the verse and the hadith?

The questioner : No, he did not say something that contradicts the verse and the hadith. He is citing the evidence that the Arab race is superior to the non-Arab race.

The Shaykh : Do not repeat to me what I said. Do not repeat it to me. I want to correct your question. Your question is incorrect because it implies that Ibn Taymiyyah, with this statement, contradicted the verse and the hadith. As for him, this is one of the impossible things, as they say. The truth is that this issue requires knowledge of the history of humanity on one hand, and knowledge of the Shari'ah in the correct manner on the other hand. Now, let us look at the first aspect. Do you think that the African Black people, in their awareness and understanding, are like the European people? No, you are not afraid.

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : It is explicitly stated. You are afraid because it is in your mind that Ibn Taymiyyah’s words prefer the Arabs in the sight of Allah, and here lies the error. That is not what is intended. So, using our Syrian expression, I hit an Alawite and brought him between Blacks and between disbelieving Europeans, so that you are not afraid to say that this group is better than that group. Everyone, as the Turk said: “Every Abyssinian is a polytheist,” meaning they are all polytheists, associating partners with Allah, and so on. But in terms of social, scientific, and civil awareness, which they call physical culture today, do you not prefer the European people over the African Black people, especially if you delve with me into the unknowns of Africa? Do you not prefer these over those in this respect? Are they equal, for example? They are not equal. Now, the peoples of the earth are in the tens, if not the hundreds. Do you imagine that there is no difference in intellectual and moral qualities that they do not possess? If there is no one to praise them, they are not praised; and if there is no one to criticize them, they are not criticized. Do you not feel with me that these peoples vary completely in these matters? Yes, good. If you know this, then now, a Black Muslim and a European disbeliever: who draws closer to Allah? Not the European, of course, even though he is the people who might be called, in this respect, not using the expression, the Jewish people, the chosen people of Allah. No, but in terms of their fitrah (innate natural disposition), their nature, their practice in life, and their innovation and invention, and so on, there is no doubt that this European polytheist disbeliever, from the aspect we mentioned earlier, which does not bring one closer to Allah, is better than this Black person. But this Black person is worth all of Europe, with its shirk (associating partners with Allah) and its misguidance. This is clear. When Ibn Taymiyyah addresses the Arabs as a people or as an ummah (the Muslim community) and prefers them over other peoples, he is not preferring them in the sight of Allah the Glorious and Exalted. Rather, just as I preferred, without likening, the Europeans over the Blacks in this respect, so it is. But if you ask Ibn Taymiyyah about Abu Lahab, for example, is he superior as an Arab Qurayshi, or is it Salman al-Farisi? He would say to him, “Get lost! What brought this up? Mentioning this with that?” Salman al-Farisi is mentioned in some weak hadiths as being from the Ahl al-Bayt (the Prophet's family). We say it is weak so that you know it is weak, but this is a virtue in any case, especially since they say that they are lenient in narrating hadiths regarding virtues and excellences, and so on. So, my brother, there is absolutely no contradiction in Ibn Taymiyyah’s words. He is speaking about the Arab people. And this issue needs to be addressed from the Shari'ah perspective. When Allah the Glorious and Exalted chose to send Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) from the Arab ummah (the Muslim community) and in a clear Arabic language, this choice was not in vain. He did not choose the Jewish people, nor did He choose the Blacks, as we said, nor did His choice, if the expression is correct, fall upon the Arabs except because Allah the Glorious and Exalted, as it came in the Qur'an , knows what He created. So He knows, Glorified and Exalted is He, that the Arabs, despite their misguidance in their jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic age of ignorance), were the most suitable to bear the da'wah (calling others to Islam), to understand it, and to convey it to other peoples who were like the aforementioned Europe and the Blacks. So the Arabs, in relation to Kisra and Caesar, were like Blacks. But these Blacks became the masters because of this Islam that Allah the Glorious and Exalted revealed upon the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), in a clear Arabic language. So, in brief, we now say, and the matter has become clear, if Allah wills, that he is speaking about the Arabs from the natural, innate, and moral aspect. You are speaking from the Shari'ah aspect, so there is no conflict between the two matters, as we said earlier. Abu Lahab was Arab, but it did not benefit him. Remember the two lines of poetry:
“Islam raised Salman the Persian, and lowered... I don't know what...”
What? Two lines of poetry I memorized thirty or forty years ago. He gave an example in it: Look, this is Abu Lahab, being Arab, but Salman al-Farisi, Allah raised him because he believed in Allah and His Messenger. So, in brief, may Allah protect Ibn Taymiyyah from it being hidden from him the verse and the hadith, because the hadith and the verse address a Shari'ah ruling. It is not that an Arab who prays, for example, two rak'ahs (a unit of prayer) is like the non-Arab who prays two rak'ahs; there is absolutely no difference between them. This one will be closer to Allah than that one, why? Because he is Arab? No. Ibn Taymiyyah does not mean this meaning at all. Rather, he is addressing the Arabs as a reality, since Allah the Glorious and Exalted chose them for this da'wah (calling others to Islam) to be revealed in their language and in this very people. So, without doubt, they had morals and natures, truly. If a person studies Europe now and studies the conditions of those who used to live on dates and traveled, here we are today traveling by car and plane, and we say how did these people travel from Madinah to Tabuk on their feet, and there was no water prepared for them? There is no doubt that these people, truly, we would say are the chosen people of Allah, but from the natural aspect, not from the moral and religious aspect. So whoever is better than them in their religion and their character, he is the one who is close to Allah the Glorious and Exalted, and his lineage does not benefit him at all. This is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated in the hadith narrated in Sahih Muslim, where he said at the end of it: . Please.