The first community of believers that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) built was one that transcended racial barriers despite the tribalism present around him in 7th century Arabia.
Among his companions was Salman the Persian (formerly Zoroastrian), Suhayb the Roman (from the Greek Byzantine region, blonde-haired and white skinned), Bilal the Abyssinian (the beautiful voiced, black-skinned companion who was freed from slavery by his fellow early Muslims and who would later become perhaps the first muezzin of Islam.)
The Prophet welded them all together in one community of brotherhood and sisterhood— the Arab with the non-Arab, one tribe with the other, the poor with the wealthy, the white with the black, the nomad with the settled, the slave with the freeman, the Jews and the Arabs under one Medinan citizenship.
This is something we must all aspire to emulate. We too must try be of those who forge ties, not of those who burn bridges. As racism burns our world today, we can look back at these lessons and derive hope and reminders of love from them.
