I didn’t know, but I am a racist.
When I was in college, three years back, I used to call people from North-Eastern parts of India names. The men being Chinki, the women Pinki. We took a lot of pleasure in calling those names whenever we could spot a Mongoloid face.
I was younger, but not a child. I should have realised that I was commiting a crime. I should have placed myself in their place, and thought about it. I did not.
Moreover, it struck me how wrong I was only three days back!
I pray…
UPDATE: Check this out. ( “not Muslim but Chinese!”)
Subhanallah, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
We all make mistakes, but the real tragedy is to give in to them, and not ask Allah for forgiveness.
The fact that you realized at all is a hopeful sign; perhaps it means that Allah wishes good for you. Now that you appreciate your own fallibility, you can take the necessary steps to change yourself for the better, inshallah.
May Allah make it easy for you, and for me too. Ameen.
Salaam Manas,
I’d not say it was racism, but ignorant. Being a racist means that you wish to eliminate the other group and believe they are subhumans or genetics inferior.
I found the best definition so far on racism:
“According to Fredrickson, racism “exists when one ethnic group or historical collectivity dominates, excludes, or seeks to eliminate another on the basis of differences that it believes to be hereditary and unalterable” (Fredrickson 2002, 170). “
JazakAllah khair iMuslim and gess.
I am grateful to Him that He made it easy for me to understand that I was wrong, even if late.
We make so many mistakes without realizing them. May Allah make our mistakes light.
Amen.
In the UK, there is sometimes a fairly low-key racism when Pakistani and Gujerati Muslims. Pakistanis accuse ‘Gujis’ of “having big noses and big heads” and the Gujeratis accuse ‘Pakis’ of being “social security scroungers – and all their young men carry knives in their socks.” It’s not so much racist as laughable. Plenty grow up and get over it and looks like you did the same. I was lucky. I was racist to a black guy in primary school, thinking it was a joke, and he punched me on the nose. God finds ways to wake us up!
That was very well said.
You write with great humility. I think you are a person God has blessed. Thank you for being so honest. This is great leadership.
Please pray to God that He forgives me. I pray for you.
Thank you very much for the kind words.
Better late than never, I say.