Universal Brotherhood

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD The Quran teaches that God created all human beings from one and the same pair. All humans are actually descendants of the same set of primal parents and have spread out all over the earth (4:1). This means that all human beings, despite their external differences, are, in terms of birth, one. In other words, all of them are blood brothers and blood sisters. This brotherhood is a universal brotherhood. And so, in one place, the Quran says, “The believers are but brothers” (49:10). On the other hand, non-Muslims are also termed as Muslims’ brothers. If believers are our brothers in religious terms, then non-Muslims, in biological terms, hold the status of brothers and sisters to all Muslims. In the context of the prophets whose names are mentioned in the Quran, their people who had gone astray are referred to as their brothers. For example: “And to the Thamud We sent their brother Salih” (7:73); “To Midian We sent their brother Shu’ayb.’” (7:85); “When their brother Noah said to them’” (26:106); “Their brother Hud said to them’” (26:124); “When their brother Lot said to them’” (26:161). In such verses, the people addressed by the prophets are referred to as the brothers of those prophets. In many Hadith teachings, people are encouraged to treat each other as brothers and sisters. This principle is stated both in general terms and with specific references to momin and muslim. However, the message is universal. The