The spider-shaped cells:

 In His Miraculous Book, the noble Quran, Allah, All Mighty, says,

“And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the difference of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed Signs for men of sound knowledge.”

[Ar-Rum; 22]

In this article, we will be talking about Allah’s Words,

“and the difference of your languages and colors”.

What is the cause of difference?

Medical scientists say that in the dermis of our skin, there are spider-shaped cells, on which both sides stretch thin excrescences. There are 60,000 cells per one square inch; and this number does not differ according to differences of color. In other words, people of different colors have the same number of these cells. But the difference in people’s colors is due to the density of the coloring substance, which scientists call “melanin”.

In fact, only one gram of this substance causes differences of colors among people. But the remarkable thing about this substance is that it decreases by  20% every ten years. Therefore, the older the person gets, the lighter the color of his/her skin becomes.

Why do people differ in colours?

This is not our concern in this article. Our concern is how this substance precipitates in the spider-shaped cells located under the dermis, which are more than 60.000 per one square inch.

In fact, special genes in the nucleus of the cell determine the rate of the coloring substance. But how does this happen? Why are the people who live at the Equator dark colored while those living in the Poles are white colored? Here lurks Allah’s Infinite Divine Wisdom!

It is well known that dark colors absorb the harmful ultraviolet rays; and because sunlight at the Equator is very strong, people living there are dark colored so that their skin absorbs such excessive ultraviolet rays, while people living in the cold areas are less exposed to the sun so they have light colours.

The standard used for evaluating people in Islam:

 Now, let us consider Allah’s Words,

“And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the difference of your languages and colors. Verily, in that are indeed Signs for men of sound knowledge.”

[Ar-Rum; 22]

Undoubtedly, differences in the people’s colors are a great Sign that bespeaks Allah’s Infinite Greatness; and this Marvelous Sign deserves our contemplation and deliberation. Yes, indeed! We should search for the secrets lurking in the differences of the colors of different people.

People usually have different colors that are easily distinguished by the human eye although they might not be clearly distinguished with cameras. By the way, the human eye can distinguish 800,000 shades of one color! In other words the human eye has miraculous abilities as regards colors and their innumerable shades!

Now, let us consider the following Prophetic Hadith, in which the venerable Companion, Abu Nadrah, may Allah be pleased with him, quoted Allah’s Messenger, (PBUH), as saying,

“O people! Verily, your Lord is One, and your father is one. An Arab is by no means better than a Non-Arab, a non-Arab is by no means better than an Arab, a red person is by no means better than a black one, and a black person is by no means better than a red one, except by means of piety.”

Another venerable Companion, Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, also quoted Allah’s Messenger, (PBUH), as saying,

“Verily, Allah does not look at your apparels and wealth, but He looks at your hearts and deeds.”

By the way, the house is a kind of wealth, and so is the car or anything you own. One of the comapions addressed our master Bilal saying that he is a son of a black woman. The prophet (PBUH) got angry and said: "You are a man with Jahiliyya"

The companion insisted to put his cheek on the ground do that Bilal would put his foot on it. 

When our master Abu Bakr came to buy Bilal from his master Safwan bin Umayya, Safwan said: "I would sell him to you even with one dirham. Abu Bark answered: and I would pay a hundred thousands for him if you asked for". Then he took him from his hand and said: "This is my brother".

The noble compaions used to say: "Abu Bakr is our master and he set our master free" refering to Bilal.

So Islam looks at all people as being equal.