Quranic Wisdom

to your material needs, use a different yardstick. Here, you have to realize that only less than ideal can be achieved. If you want to have a tension-free life in this world, adopt the realistic approach. Don’t run after your desires, for, in reality, they are impossible to fulfil. No Discrimination A s in other societies of the world, the Arab people were also obsessed with colour and other differences among people. They discriminated against those who were apparently inferior to others. This was not only an Arab phenomenon: it was universal in that age. With this background, God Almighty revealed this verse in the chapter Al-Hujurat (The Apartments) of the Quran: Mankind! We have created you from a male and female, and made you into peoples and tribes, so that you might come to know each other. The noblest of you in God’s sight is the one who fears God most. God is all-knowing and all-aware. (49:13) According to this verse, the Quran believes in global brotherhood and not just Muslim brotherhood. In fact, in all matters, the Quran adopts a universal rather than any kind of sectarian approach. There are many verses in the Quran that denote that the readers of the Quran are al-nas (mankind) and not merely a community. It is a fact that there are differences between people in terms of colour, etc. But these differences have nothing to do with the superiority or inferiority of different individuals or groups. They are natural differences and they exist for the sole purpose of people being able to recognize each other without any difficulty.