particularly ironic in light of Islam’s rapid growth among
African Americans: ‘‘Muhammad said, ‘When Allah created
Adam, He hit Adam on the right shoulder and the white race
sprang out, while the black race came from the left shoulder.
Allah said to those of the right hand to Paradise you are and
to the left to hell you go.’ ’’[35] This may be based on Sura
3:106: ‘‘On the Day when some faces will be [lit up with]
white, and some faces will be [in the gloom of] black: To
those whose faces will be black, [will be said]: ‘Did ye reject
Faith after accepting it? Taste then the penalty for rejecting
Faith.’ ’’ Muslim apologists have attempted to soften these
harsh words by pointing to other Koranic teachings that all
humans come from Adam and Eve (Sura 49:13) and that
skin colors and races are seen by Allah as good (see Sura
30:22). In addition, Muhammad proclaimed racial equality
in his Last Sermon. Nevertheless, the offending traditions
mentioned above remain problematic.
46. How do Muslims know that the
traditions about Muhammad are
true?
In the first two centuries after Muhammad’s death, false
traditions about him proliferated. Many early Muslims seem
to have invented Ahadith to justify their positions on Islamic
doctrine, law, or practice. Ultimately the situation became so
confusing that Muslim scholars began to take pains to
determine which stories were authentic and which were not.