The Islamic Foundation for citizenship and pluralism

Abstract

Human diversity is an assumption of most people in most places. The reality of such diversity is handsomely and clearly stated in a famous and often quoted verse of the Qur’an. Verse 13 of Sūrah 49 reads: Oh men, We have created you from a male and a female, and We have made you into groups (shu`ūb) and tribes (qabā’il) that you may come to know one another; truly, the noblest (akram) among you before God is the most righteous (atqā) among you; truly God is the All-knowing, the All-seeing.