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On this day in 1968 two black American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, staged a silent protest at the Olympic games against racial discrimination in America. ÌýAs someone who has experienced racism it is always deeply shocking. ÌýHow could someone make a Judgment about me, the kind of person I am, just from the colour of my skin? ÌýIt is also emotionally much harder when one’s children are confronted with the same racist behavior as one had to endure oneself. ÌýAs a society we have come a long way but there is much more to do.

ÌýMuslim scholars have stated that every human being, irrespective of his or her religion, ethnicity, nationality, or even to the extent of those who might have committed a crime, all possess inherent dignity by the mere fact that they are human beings. ÌýThe Sufis express their attitude towards others through a beautiful maxim: Ìý‘The other is my brother’. ÌýHow can that be? ÌýThey quote Ali, fourth of the rightly-guided Caliphs, he said, ‘the other is my brother, either in faith or in humanity.’ ÌýThe Prophet said, ‘love for your brother what you love for yourself.’ ÌýIs it possible to envisage a world, in which there were no borders, or in which human beings could move freely on the face of the earth? Is it possible to envisage a world in which human beings took collective stewardship of the earth rather than nation states squabbling over national interests? Only then can we protect the interests of our planet and future generations. Ìý

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May God grant us love for each other and the resolute determination to uphold human dignity of all.