The aim of this article is to thoroughly examine the subject of racism in the Shi’a hadith corpus and to respond to the allegation that the Shi’a believe in racist hadith.
When discussing racism in Shi’a hadith, the best way to begin is by looking at the chapter dedicated to the subject in al-Kafi, the most famous Shi’a collection of hadith. In Chapter 123 in al-Kafi, Volume 2, the Book of Belief & Disbelief, we find, among other narrations, the following:
مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ عَنْ دَاوُدَ بْنِ النُّعْمَانِ عَنْ مَنْصُورِ بْنِ حَازِمٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيهِ السَّلام) قَالَ مَنْ تَعَصَّبَ أَوْ تُعُصِّبَ لَهُ فَقَدْ خَلَعَ رِبْقَةَ الإيمَانِ مِنْ عُنُقِهِ.
Muhammad b. Yahya has narrated from Ahmad b. Muhammad b. ‘Isa from ‘Ali b. al-Hakam from Dawud b. al-Nu’man from Mansur b. Hazim that Abu ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, said, “Whoever exercises tribal/racial discrimination or it is exercised for him, he has taken off the collar of belief from his neck.”
Al-Kafi, Volume 2, Book of Belief & Disbelief, Chapter 123, Hadith #1
Grading: Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: صحيح (Authentic) - Mir‘at al ‘Uqul Fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul (10/173)
عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ النَّوْفَلِيِّ عَنِ السَّكُونِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيهِ السَّلام) قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ الله (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وآلِه) مَنْ كَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ حَبَّةٌ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ مِنْ عَصَبِيَّةٍ بَعَثَهُ الله يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مَعَ أَعْرَابِ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ.
‘Ali b. Ibrahim has narrated from his father from al-Nawfali from al-Sakuni from Abu ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, who has said: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has said, ‘Whoever has 'asabiyyah (chauvinism or prejudice in any of its forms such as tribalism, racism, nationalism) in his heart of the size of a mustard seed, on the Day of Judgment Allah will raise him with the Arabs of the time of Jahiliyyah (age of ignorance).’”
Al-Kafi, Volume 2, Book of Belief & Disbelief, Chapter 123, Hadith #3
Grading: Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: ضعيف على المشهور (Weak according to the majority) - Mir‘at al ‘Uqul Fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul (0/175)
In addition, in Volume 5 of al-Kafi, the Book of Marriage, Chapter 21, we find the following narration:
...فَقَالَ لَهُ جُوَيْبِرٌ يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ بِأَبِي أَنْتَ وَأُمِّي مَنْ يَرْغَبُ فِيَّ فَوَ اللهِ مَا مِنْ حَسَبٍ وَلا نَسَبٍ وَلا مَالٍ وَلا جَمَالٍ فَأَيَّةُ امْرَأَةٍ تَرْغَبُ فِيَّ فَقَالَ لَهُ رَسُولُ اللهِ (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) يَا جُوَيْبِرُ إِنَّ اللهَ قَدْ وَضَعَ بِالإسْلامِ مَنْ كَانَ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ شَرِيفاً وَشَرَّفَ بِالإسْلامِ مَنْ كَانَ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ وَضِيعاً وَأَعَزَّ بِالإسْلامِ مَنْ كَانَ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ ذَلِيلا وَأَذْهَبَ بِالإسْلامِ مَا كَانَ مِنْ نَخْوَةِ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ وَتَفَاخُرِهَا بِعَشَائِرِهَا وَبَاسِقِ أَنْسَابِهَا فَالنَّاسُ الْيَوْمَ كُلُّهُمْ أَبْيَضُهُمْ وَأَسْوَدُهُمْ وَقُرَشِيُّهُمْ وَعَرَبِيُّهُمْ وَعَجَمِيُّهُمْ مِنْ آدَمَ وَإِنَّ آدَمَ خَلَقَهُ اللهُ مِنْ طِينٍ وَإِنَّ أَحَبَّ النَّاسِ إِلَى اللهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَطْوَعُهُمْ لَهُ وَأَتْقَاهُمْ وَمَا أَعْلَمُ يَا جُوَيْبِرُ لأحَدٍ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ عَلَيْكَ الْيَوْمَ فَضْلا إِلا لِمَنْ كَانَ أَتْقَى للهِ مِنْكَ وَأَطْوَعَ
...Juwayabir then said, “O Messenger of Allah, I pray to Allah to keep my soul and the souls of my parents in service for your cause, who will want me? By Allah, I do not have any good position and social standing, or wealth, or physical beauty. No woman will ever pay attention to me.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then said, “O Juwayabir, Allah by means of Islam has removed those who were called noble in pre-Islamic time of darkness and ignorance and has honored them with Islam. To those who did not have any social position before Islam, Allah has granted honor as well as to those who were considered low in the time of ignorance. With Islam He has removed the pride of the time of ignorance and people’s expressing pride because of tribes and strong genealogy. Today (we say) all people, white and black, those from Quraysh, Arab, non-Arab are all from Adam, and Adam was created by Allah from clay. The most beloved in the sight of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, on the Day of Judgment will be those who are most obedient to Him and most pious before Him. O Juwayabir, I do not see any of the Muslims as better than you except because of his being more pious and more obedient to Allah than you.”
al-Kafi, Volume 5, Book of Marriage, Chapter 21, Hadith #1
Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: صحيح (Authentic) - Mir‘at al ‘Uqul Fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul (0/33)
These hadith make it apparent that not only are racism and racial prejudice not tolerated in Shi’a Islam, but all forms of prejudice are forbidden and condemned severely. Islam has done away with the racism and tribalism of the age of jahiliyya, and replaced it with a system of merit that prefers the pious. The Quran itself confirms this, saying:
يا أَيُّهَا النّاسُ إِنّا خَلَقناكُم مِن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثىٰ وَجَعَلناكُم شُعوبًا وَقَبائِلَ لِتَعارَفوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكرَمَكُم عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتقاكُم ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَليمٌ خَبيرٌ
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.
If these evidences were not enough, the Imams themselves put into practice the words of the Quran by ignoring racism and tribalism when it came to selecting their wives. For example, the mother of Imam al-Kadhim (؏) and wife of Imam as-Sadiq (؏), Hamida, was a Berber (Kitab al Irshad p. 407) and the mother of Imam al-Jawwad (؏) and wife of Imam al-Ridha (؏), Ummul Banin Najma Khatun, was a Nubian (Kitab al Irshad p. 450). Imam Zayn-ul-Abideen (؏) is famously known to have had his son, Zayd b. Ali, with a woman from Sindh. Does it logically follow that the same Imams who were supposedly racist towards Africans and Sindhis themselves married Africans and Sindhis, or that the Shi’a held racist beliefs about the Imams and their mothers?
If this is the case, how then, do we make sense of the allegation that al-Kafi contains racist hadith? When such a claim is made, there are three hadith that are usually brought forth as evidence, from al-Kafi, Volume 5, the Book of Marriage. They are, as follows:
عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ هَارُونَ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ عَنْ مَسْعَدَةَ بْنِ زِيَادٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللهِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ قَالَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) إِيَّاكُمْ وَنِكَاحَ الزِّنْجِ فَإِنَّهُ خَلْقٌ مُشَوَّهٌ.
‘Ali b. Ibrahim has narrated from Harun b. Muslim from Mas’adah b. Ziyad who has said that Abu ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, has said that Amir al-Mu’minin (‘Ali b. Abi Talib), peace be upon him said, “Beware of marrying the Zanj, for verily, it is a deformed creation.”
Grading: Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: صحيح على الظاهر (Apparently Authentic) - Mir‘at al ‘Uqul Fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul (0/55)
عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ الْمَكِّيِّ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ عُثْمَانَ عَنِ الْحُسَيْنِ بْنِ خَالِدٍ عَمَّنْ ذَكَرَهُ عَنْ أَبِي الرَّبِيعِ الشَّامِيِّ قَالَ قَالَ لِي أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) لا تَشْتَرِ مِنَ السُّودَانِ أَحَداً فَإِنْ كَانَ لا بُدَّ فَمِنَ النُّوبَةِ فَإِنَّهُمْ مِنَ الَّذِينَ قَالَ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ قالُوا إِنَّا نَصارى أَخَذْنا مِيثاقَهُمْ فَنَسُوا حَظًّا مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ أَمَا إِنَّهُمْ سَيَذْكُرُونَ ذَلِكَ الْحَظَّ وَسَيَخْرُجُ مَعَ الْقَائِمِ (عجل الله تعالى فرجه) مِنَّا عِصَابَةٌ مِنْهُمْ وَلا تَنْكِحُوا مِنَ الأكْرَادِ أَحَداً فَإِنَّهُمْ جِنْسٌ مِنَ الْجِنِّ كُشِفَ عَنْهُمُ الْغِطَاءُ.
‘Ali b. Ibrahim has narrated from ‘Isma’il b. Muhammad al-Makki from ‘Ali b. al-Husayn from ‘Amr b. ‘Uthman from al-Husayn b. Khalid from those whom he has mentioned from Abu Rabi’ al-Shami who has said, “Abu ’Abd Allah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, said to me, ‘You must not buy anyone from al-Sudan, but if you must buy, then buy from al-Nawbah; they are of those about whom Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, has said, “Of those who have said, ‘We are helpers’, We took a covenant from them; then they forgot the share of what they were reminded.” (5:14) However, they will remember that share and they, a group of them, will come out with the rise of al-Qa’im with divine authority from us. You must not marry anyone of the Kurds; they are a species of Jinn from which the cover is removed.’”
Grading: Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: مرسل (Disconnected) - Mir‘at al ‘Uqul Fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul (20/56)
عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ عَنْ مُوسَى بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ سَعِيدٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ الْهَاشِمِيِّ عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ يُوسُفَ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ دَاوُدَ الْحَدَّادِ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللهِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ لا تُنَاكِحُوا الزِّنْجَ وَالْخَزَرَ فَإِنَّ لَهُمْ أَرْحَاماً تَدُلُّ عَلَى غَيْرِ الْوَفَاءِ قَالَ وَالْهِنْدُ وَالسِّنْدُ وَالْقَنْدُ لَيْسَ فِيهِمْ نَجِيبٌ يَعْنِي الْقُنْدُهَارَ.
A number of our people have narrated from Sahl b. Ziyad from Musa b. Ja’far from ‘Amr b. Sa‘id from Muhammad al-Hashimi from Ahmad b. Yusuf from ‘Ali b. Dawud al-Haddad who has said that Abu ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, said, “You must not marry al-Zanj and al-Khazar; they have such wombs that indicate disloyalty.” He (the Imam) said, “Of Indians, al-Sind and al-Qand (meaning al-Qandahar) a hybrid does not exist among them.”
Grading: Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: ضعيف على المشهور (Weak according to the majority) - Mir‘at al ‘Uqul Fi Sharh Akhbar Al al Rasul (0/56)
There are a multitude of ways we can approach these hadith. For the purposes of this article, I will begin by discussing the chains of these narrations. The second hadith has been graded as mursal by al-Majlisi, meaning that there is an interruption in the chain of transmission between two narrators and the hadith is therefore weak. As for the third hadith, al-Majlisi has said it is da’if, meaning weak. Therefore, neither of these hadith can be relied upon, particularly when there are far more authentic hadith that contradict them (if indeed we take them to be racist, something that will be examined later in the article), let alone the Quran itself.
As for the first hadith, it has been graded صحيح على الظاهر by al-Majlisi, meaning that it is apparently authentic. Why did al-Majlisi call it apparently authentic, rather than just describing it as authentic? At first glance, all of the narrators of this hadith appear to be thiqah, or reliable. However, upon further examination, we find that actually, there are some problems with this chain. The first and most immediately apparent is that Harun b. Muslim was a companion of the 10th and 11th Imams whereas Mas’adah b. Ziyad was a companion of the 5th and 6th Imams. This would be an example of a disconnection in the chain, but Majlisi does not grade the hadith as mursal because al-Najashi mentions that Mas’adah b. Ziyad had a book on halal and haram from which Harun b. Muslim narrated. The soundness of the report’s chain, then, would rely on whether one viewed this as an acceptable and reliable bridge to connect the narrators or not. By Majlisi’s standards, the hadith is “apparently authentic”, whereas by those of Shaykh Asif Mohseni, for example, the hadith would be disconnected and therefore weak. It is important to note that we don’t know how Mas’adah’s book reached Harun b. Muslim, and whether or not there were any additions or deletions in the copy he narrated from. It is interesting that Shaykh al-Albani reports, on page 159 of Volume 2 of Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth al-Da'eefah wa'l-Mawdoo'ah, the following narration, #730:
تخيروا لنطفكم، و انكحوا في الاكفاء ، و إياكم و الزنج فإنه خلق مشوه
“Choose for your sperm, and marry from qualified (people), and beware of marrying the zanj, for verily, it is a deformed creation.”
Albani classified this hadith as a fabrication, but its presence in the Sunni hadith corpus indicates that it was in circulation among Sunnis at a certain point in time and therefore it is quite possible that it could have entered into circulation among Shi’a as well and been added to the book of Mas’adah.
Another critical point is that this exact hadith can also be found in Shaykh at-Tusi’s Tahdib al-Ahkam, another of the four renowned books of hadith of the Shi’a:
محمد بن يعقوب عن علي بن إبراهيم عن هارون بن مسلم عن مسعدة بن صدقة عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: قال أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام: إياكم ونكاح الزنج فإنه خلق مشوه.
Muhammad b. Ya’qub has narrated from ‘Ali b. Ibrahim from Harun b. Muslim from Mas’adah b. Sadaqah who has said that Abu ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, has said that Amir al-Mu’minin (‘Ali b. Abi Talib), peace be upon him, said, ‘Beware of marrying the Zanj, for verily, it is a deformed creation.’”
Tahdib al-Ahkam, Volume 5, Page 405
at-Tusi is quoting this hadith from Muhammad b. Ya’qub al-Kulayni, the compiler of al-Kafi, with the same chain, with one exception: in the place of Mas’adah b. Ziyad is listed Mas’adah b. Sadaqah. This means that there must be a scribal error in either the manuscript of al-Kafi that is available to us, or in the manuscript of al-Kafi that was available to al-Tusi, or in the manuscript of Tahdib al-Ahkam that is available to us. Mas’adah b. Sadaqah also replaces Ibn Ziyad in the chain of the hadith as it appears in al-Hurr al-Amali’s Wasa’il al-Shi’a. Interestingly, there is also a manuscript of al-Kafi extant today with this same detail, namely manuscript number 13 from Mar`ashi's library in Qum, numbered 372 therein. These variants indicate that it is possible that the original chain in al-Kafi included Mas’adah b. Sadaqah rather than Mas’adah b. Ziyad. This possibility is strengthened by Mas’adah b. Sadaqah’s entry in Rijal al-Najashi:
له كتب، منها: كتاب خطب أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام. أخبرنا ابن شاذان قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن يحيى، عن عبد الله بن جعفر قال: حدثنا هارون بن مسلم عنه.
He has books, among them: Book of Sermons of Amir al-Mu’mineen (‘Ali b. Abi Talib), peace be upon him. It was narrated to me by Ibn Shadhan, who said he heard it narrated from Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Yahya, from Abdullah b. Ja’far, who said he heard it narrated from Harun b. Muslim.
We know that Mas’adah b. Sadaqah had a book of sermons of Amir al-Mu’mineen (؏), and this hadith about marrying the Zanj is attributed to Amir al-Mu’mineen (؏). We only know of a book of halal and haram from Mas’adah b. Ziyad, and this hadith does not speak of a prohibition but rather a warning of caution. All of this makes it likely that the original Mas’adah in the chain is Ibn Sadaqah, not Ibn Ziyad, in which case the hadith would be weak due to the presence of a narrator whose reliability is unknown, namely Mas’adah b. Sadaqah. For this very reason, Majlisi graded the hadith in Tahdib al-Ahkam as majhul in his Milaadh al-Akhyaar (12/336), referring to its weakness due to an unknown narrator.
Let’s suppose, however, that the correct individual in the chain is Mas’adah b. Ziyad and that we accept that his book reached Harun b. Muslim through sound and reliable means, and that the hadith is therefore authentic. In such a case, does this prove that racism is justified from a Shi’a worldview and supported by our hadith? To determine this, we need to establish the context for these narrations. Firstly, who were the “Zanj” referred to in these hadith? According to numerous Arabic dictionaries, such as William Lane’s Lexicon Dictionary, vol. 3, pg. 1256, “Zanj” was used to refer to a particular region in southeast Africa and its inhabitants, and not all African peoples, as some misleading polemical translators claim. Why, then, was this particular group singled out for Muslims to avoid marrying? A look at Imam Zayn-ul-Abideen’s (؏) words in Sahifa as-Sajjadiyya, one of the most authentic books of dua for the Shi’a, can help clarify this and also explain what is meant by “al-Khazar.”
We read in Sahifa as-Sajjadiyya, dua #27, “His Supplication for the People of the Frontiers”:
أَللَّهُمَّ اغْزُ بِكُلِّ نَاحِيَة مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ عَلَى مَنْ بِإِزَائِهِمْ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ وَ أَمْدِدْهُمْ بِمَلأَئِكَة مِنْ عِنْدِكَ مُرْدِفِينَ حَتَّى يَكْشِفُوهُمْ إِلَى مُنْقَطَعِ التُّرَابِ قَتْلاً فِي أَرْضِكَ وَ أَسْراً أَوْ يُقِرُّوا بِأَنَّكَ أَنْتَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لأَ إِلَهَ إِلأَ أَنْتَ وَحْدَكَ لأَ شَرِيكَ لَكَ
اللَّهُمَّ وَ اعْمُمْ بِذَلِكَ أَعْدَاءَكَ فِي أَقْطَارِ الْبِلَادِ مِنَ الْهِنْدِ وَ الرُّومِ وَ التُّرْكِ وَ الْخَزَرِ وَ الْحَبَشِ وَ النُّوبَةِ وَ الزَّنْجِ وَ السَّقَالِبَةِ وَ الدَّيَالِمَةِ وَ سَائِرِ أُمَمِ الشِّرْكِ، الَّذِينَ تَخْفَى أَسْمَاؤُهُمْ وَ صِفَاتُهُمْ، وَ قَدْ أَحْصَيْتَهُمْ بِمَعْرِفَتِكَ، وَ أَشْرَفْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِقُدْرَتِكَ.
O Allāh, send out the Muslims of every region on raids against the idolaters who face them! Reinforce them with angels in ranks from You, till the idolaters are routed by them to the end of the land, slain in Your earth or taken captive, or till they admit that You are Allāh, other than whom there is no Allāh, You alone, who hast no associate!
O Allāh, include in this Your enemies in the regions of the lands, the Indians, the Byzantines, the Turks, the Khazars, the Abyssinians, the Nubians, the Zanjis, the Slavs, the Daylamites, and the rest of the idol-worshipping nations, those whose names and attributes are concealed, but whom You countest in Your cognizance and overseest through Your power!
From what we read in this excerpt from the dua, can we say that the hadith in al-Kafi warning of marriage with the Zanj and the Khazar is universal and based on race? Rather, what we find is that they are mentioned specifically as idol-worshipping nations and enemies of the Muslims. So how can we accuse this hadith of promoting racism, when it merely warns against marrying from nations who were idol-worshippers and enemies of the Muslims? This is particularly shown to be the case by the fact that the Imams married believing Africans and Sindhis, as I have already mentioned.
Let’s suppose for the sake of argument that all of this is not convincing, and that the hadith warning against marriage with the Zanj are both authentic and referring to them as a racial category. Even then, to try to use this as a basis to deem certain races inferior would be an example of qiyas, or deductive analogy. This would be nothing more than assumption, and such a methodology is strongly condemned in numerous hadith, such as the following:
علي بن إبراهيم، عن محمد بن عيسى بن عبيد، عن يونس بن عبدالرحمن، عن سماعة بن مهران، عن أبي الحسن موسى عليه السلام قال: … ومالكم وللقياس؟ إنما هلك من هلك من قبلكم بالقياس، ثم قال: إذا جاء كم ما تعلمون، فقولوا به وإن جائكم ما لا تعلمون فها – وأهوى بيده إلى فيه
‘Ali b. Ibrahim from Muhammad b. Isa b. Ubayd from Yunus b. Abd al-Rahman from Sama’a b. Mihran from Abi al-Hasan Musa (al-Kadhim), peace be upon him … he said: and what do you have to do with analogical reasoning (qiyas)? Verily they were destroyed who were destroyed before you because of analogical reasoning, then he said: if it comes to you that which you have knowledge of then say it, and if it comes to you that which you do not know then – he pointed with his hand to his mouth…
Grading: Shaykh Asif al-Mohseni: معتبر (Reliable) - Muʿjam al-Aḥādīth al-Muʿtabara
And to top it off, if the hadith were really racist, it would be necessary to reject it on the grounds of contradicting both the Qur’an and the authentic established Sunnah, as it would be a solitary hadith standing against a mound of authentic hadith strongly condemning all forms of racism as well as the Qur’an itself, which states that the best among us in the eyes of Allah are the most righteous. The Imams themselves have stated in numerous authentically transmitted narrations that whatever hadith contradicts the Quran & established Sunnah, it is a fabrication:
عدة من أصحابنا، عن أحمد بن محمد بن خالد، عن أبيه، عن النضر بن سويد، عن يحيى الحلبي، عن أيوب بن الحر قال: سمعت أبا عبدالله عليه السلام يقول: كل شئ مردود إلى الكتاب والسنة، وكل حديث لا يوافق كتاب الله فهو زخرف
A number of our companions from Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Khalid from his father from al-Nadhr b. Suwayd from Yahya al-Halabi from Ayyub b. al-Hur who said: I heard Aba ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, saying: everything is referred back to the Book and the Sunnah, and every Hadith that does not agree with the Book of Allah is a worthless embellishment.
al-Kafi, Volume 1, Page 69, Hadith #3
Grading: Shaykh Asif al-Mohseni: معتبر (Reliable) - Muʿjam al-Aḥādīth al-Muʿtabara
محمد بن إسماعيل، عن الفضل بن شاذان، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن هشام بن الحكم وغيره، عن أبي عبدالله عليه السلام قال: خطب النبي صلى الله عليه وآله بمنى فقال: أيها الناس ما جاء كم عني يوافق كتاب الله فأنا قلته وما جاء كم يخالف كتاب الله فلم أقله
Muhammad b. Ismail from al-Fadhl b. Shadhan from Ibn Abi Umayr from Hisham b. al-Hakam and other than him from Aba ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, who said: the Prophet (ﷺ) addressed the people in Mina and said: O people, whatever comes to you attributed to me which agrees with the Book of Allah then I have indeed said it, and whatever comes to you opposing the book of Allah then I never said it.
al-Kafi, Volume 1, Page 69, Hadith #5
Grading: Shaykh Asif al-Mohseni: معتبر (Reliable) - Muʿjam al-Aḥādīth al-Muʿtabara
رجال الكشي: محمد بن قولويه والحسين بن الحسن بن بندار معا، عن سعد، عن اليقطيني، عن يونس بن عبد الرحمن … قال: حدثني هشام بن الحكم أنه سمع أبا عبد الله عليه السلام يقول: لا تقبلوا علينا حديثا إلا ما وافق القرآن والسنة أو تجدون معه شاهدا من أحاديثنا المتقدمة … فاتقوا الله و لا تقبلوا علينا ما خالف قول ربنا تعالى و سنة نبينا صلى الله عليه وآله … فلا تقبلوا علينا خلاف القرآن فإنا إن تحدثنا حدثنا بموافقة القرآن و موافقة السنة …
Rijal al-Kashshi: Muhammad b. Qulawayh and al-Husayn b. al-Hasan b. Bundar together from Sa’d from al-Yaqtini from Yunus b. Abd al-Rahman … he said: Hisham b. al-Hakam narrated to me that he heard Aba ‘Abdallah (as-Sadiq), peace be upon him, saying: do not accept a narration on our authority except that which is in agreement with the Qur’an and the Sunna or you find for it a corroboration from our past narrations … so fear Allah and do not accept on our authority that which opposes the Word of our Lord the Exalted and the Sunnah of our Prophet (ﷺ) … so do not accept on our authority what opposes the Qur’an, for when we narrate we only do narrate what is in agreement with the Qur’an and in agreement with the Sunnah …
Grading: Shaykh Asif al-Mohseni: معتبر (Reliable) - Muʿjam al-Aḥādīth al-Muʿtabara
In conclusion and in summary: the Quran as well as numerous authentic narrations in al-Kafi strongly condemn racism and tribal prejudice. The Imams themselves were born of and married women of various origins, including Arabs, Persians, and Africans. The hadith that are alleged to be racist in al-Kafi are not only weak but cannot be used as a proof for racism, as they are in actuality referring to nations of idol-worshippers and enemies of Islam, rather than discriminating against them for some inherent characteristic. All of this is evident from a holistic approach to understanding hadith, as opposed to cherrypicking and mistranslating individual narrations to push a misleading narrative.
The following websites and articles were indispensable sources in the writing of this article:
http://www.revivingalislam.com/2010/11/refutation-against-alleged-racist.html
https://thaqalayn.blog/is-there-racial-superiority-in-islam/
To see truly racist hadith in the Sunni hadith corpus and in the statements of their scholars, see the following article: https://thesalafiguru.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/racism-in-sunni-literature/
For another interesting analysis of the “zanj” hadith view the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnpW6IiUHQ0&ab_channel=TITANSTV
-Dhun Nun