A cikin Alƙur'ani, Allah ya umurci muminai su yi magana da juna da kalmomi masu kyau, kada su yi wa juna izgili da zagi, kuma kada su ɗauki kansu da girma a kan wasu. Ayar da ke cikin Suratul Hujurat ta yi gargaɗi ga masu imani:

In the Qur’ān, Allāh instructs the believers to address one another in fair terms, not to ridicule and insult one another and consider one’s self better than others. The verse in Sūrah al-Ḥujarāt cautions the faithful:

Ya ku waɗanda suka yi imani! Kada wani rukuni na maza ya yi wa wani rukunin maza izgili, tun da wataƙila waɗanda ake yi wa izgilin sun fi su. Kada wani rukuni na mata ya yi wa wani rukunin mata izgili, tun da wataƙila waɗanda ake yi wa izgilin sun fi su. Kada ku zargi juna, kuma kada ku kira juna da laƙabi marasa kyau. Abin ƙyama ne a kira mutum mai haddasa fitina bayan ya karɓi imani! Waɗanda ba su tuba daga wannan halin ba, su ne azzalumai.

49:11 - Believers, no one group of men should jeer at another, who may after all be better than them; no one group of women should jeer at another, who may after all be better than them; do not speak ill of one another; do not use offensive nicknames for one another. How bad it is to be called a mischief-maker a after accepting faith! Those who do not repent of this behaviour are evildoers.

ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ ya ce gargaɗin yana game da faɗar wa ɗan’uwanka, “Ya kare, ya jaki, ya alade.”85 Dehumanisation kullum tana farawa ne daga harshe, sau da yawa kuma hotuna su biyo baya. Mun ga haka a tarihi duka. A lokacin Holocaust, ’yan Nazi sun siffanta Yahudawa da Untermenschen—wato ƙasa da mutum. Sun kira Yahudawa beraye, suna nuna su a matsayin rodents masu ɗauke da cututtuka, a cikin komai, tun daga takardun sojoji har zuwa littattafan yara. Hutu da suka shiga kisan kiyashin Rwanda sun kira Tutsi “kyankyasai”. Ana yawan kiran ’yan asalin ƙasa da “savages” (mutane marasa wayewa). Sabiyawa sun kira Bosniyawa “baƙi” (aliens). Masu mallakar bayi a kowane zamani sun ɗauki bayi a matsayin dabbobi marasa mutumci.

‘Aṭā ibn Abī Rabāh said the warning is with respect to saying to your brother, “O dog, O donkey, O pig.”85 Dehumanisation always starts with language, often followed by images. We see this throughout history. During the Holocaust, Nazis described Jews as Untermenschen—subhuman. They called Jews rats and depicted them as disease-carrying rodents in everything from military pamphlets to children’s books. Hutus involved in the Rwanda genocide called Tutsis “cockroaches”. Indigenous people are often referred to as “savages”. Serbs called Bosnians “aliens”. Slave owners throughout history considered slaves subhuman animals.

Sterotypes su ne ke karkatar da fahimtar mutum game da wata ƙungiya. Yadda mutane suke fahimtar wasu wani lokaci kan tabbatar da al'adun gargajiya da aka yada ta kafofin watsa labarai, littattafan makarantu, fina-finai, cibiyoyin addini da kuma tsakanin mutane. Abdo ya nuna irin jahilcin da ke tattare da Amurkawa game da kasancewar Musulmi a Amurka. Bambancin nisa da za su iya kallon Musulmi da shi ba zai yi nisa ba idan sun san cewa Musulmi sun kasance a Amurka tun zamanin mulkin mallaka, domin yawancin bayin da aka kawo Amurka daga Yammacin Afirka Musulmi ne. Marubucin ya nuna sunaye irin su Bullaly (Bilali), Mahomet (Muhammad ﷺ), Walley (Wali)… don bayyana irin yanayin haɗakar addinai da al'adu da waɗannan Musulmi suka tsinci kansu a ciki.86

Stereotypes are what skew a person’s perception of a group. People’s perceptions of others can sometimes confirm existing cultural stereotypes disseminated in the media, in school textbooks, films, religious centres and among people. Abdo highlights the deep-seated ignorance Americans have of the Muslim presence in the Americas. The distant Otherness they might look on Muslims with is not all too distant if they had known that Muslims have been in the United States from colonial times, since many slaves that were brought to America from West Africa were Muslim. The author points to names like Bullaly (Bilali), Mahomet (Muḥammad), Walley (Wali)…to unpeel the syncretised landscapes to which those Muslims were bound.86

A cikin Suratu Yusuf, akwai wani abu mai taɓa zuciya wanda ke buƙatar tunani. Sa'ad da 'yan'uwan Annabi Yusuf suka taru, suna ƙuduri ga cutar da Yusuf saboda kishi mai ciwo, sai suka ce:

In Sūrah Yūsuf, there is a very touching point that requires our reflection. When the brothers of Prophet Yūsuf gather together, motivated by a pathological envy, to do harm to Yūsuf, they say:

12:9 - [Wani daga cikinsu ya ce], ‘Ku kashe Yusuf ko ku kore shi zuwa wata ƙasa, sannan hankalin mahaifinku zai koma gare ku. Bayan haka kuma za ku zama masu adalci.’ 12:10 - [Wani daga cikinsu] ya ce, ‘Kada ku kashe Yusuf, amma idan dole ne, ku jefa shi cikin zurfin rijiya ɓoyayyiya, inda wata ayarin kasuwanci za ta iya ɗaukar shi.’ Muna lura da cewa a farkon wannan aya, an ambaci Annabi Yusuf da girmamawa ta sunansa. A ayar da ta biyo baya, lokacin da ɗan’uwan da ya fi girma ya ɗauki jagoranci, yana mai ƙin shawarar farko da lamiri, shi ma ya ambaci Yusuf da sunansa. Abin da ya gabatar kuma ya fi sauƙi fiye da shawarar farko. Inda karin maganar “shi” kamar a cikin “Kada ku kashe shi” zai iya isar da ma’ana iri ɗaya, sai Allah ya kwatanta ɗan’uwan yana cewa “Kada ku kashe Yusuf”.

12:9 - [One of them said], ‘Kill Joseph or banish him to another land, and your father’s attention will be free to turn to you. After that you can be righteous.’ 12:10 - [Another of them] said, ‘Do not kill Joseph, but, if you must, throw him into the hidden depths of a well where some caravan may pick him up.’ We notice in the first instance that Prophet Yūsuf is introduced with respect to his name. In the subsequent verse when the older brother takes the lead, conscientiously objecting to the initial proposal, he too mentions Yūsuf by his name. What he also proposes is less severe than the first proposition. Where the pronoun “him” as in “Do not kill him” could have conveyed the same point, Allāh instead describes the brother saying “Do not kill Yūsuf”.

Wasu malamai sun yi nuni da cewa wannan na iya kasancewa don ƙarfafa dangantakar iyali, kuma cewa tsarkin rayuwar ɗan adam yana nan a cikin wannan haɗuwa.

Some scholars suggest that this may be to reinforce the familial bond, and that the sanctity of human life is still present in the encounter.

Sunan suna shi ne sanya wa wani abu ya zama nasa, wato danganta wa wani jin mallaka. Suna wani abu ne da ake zaɓa da kuma tsara shi, sannan a bai wa wani. Yana tayar da jin tausayi, yana kawo tunanin haihuwa da biki, na iyali da farin ciki.

Naming is personalising, the attributing to another a sense of belonging. The name is something chosen and selected and thereafter conferred onto someone. It evokes a sense of the sentimental, conjuring up thoughts of birth and ceremony, of family and happiness.

Suna tana kama da bai wa mutum wani asali ko ainihi ta hanyar ma'anonin da sunan kansa ke ɗauke da su, na wani manufa, wani hali, ko wani matsayi. Musulmi na iya fara tattaunawarsa ta hanyar gabatar da kansa da tambayar wani menene sunansa. Wani lokaci ana iya ganin cewa sunan kansa ne kaɗai ke buɗe dukan tattaunawa.

Naming is akin to bestowing of an identity through the connotations of the name itself, of an ideal, a characteristic, a persona. The Muslim might begin his conversations by introducing himself and asking another what his or her name is. One can sometimes find that the name itself can open up an entire conversation.

A cikin Holocaust, sa'ad da suke magana game da fursunoni, masu gadi na Nazi sun guji amfani da sunaye ko ma kalmomi kamar 'mutane' ko 'daidaikun mutane' ko ma 'maza', suna kiran su maimakon "guntu" ko "abubuwa". Manufar ita ce a cire wa waɗanda aka cutar duk wata daraja da mayar da rayuwarsu ba komai ba. An haramta amfani da kalmomi kamar "gawa" ko "wanda aka cuta"; matattu kuwa an mai da su kamar gutsattsarin itace, ba su da wata ma'ana kwata-kwata. A cikin wata takardar sirri, mai kwanan wata 5 ga Yuni, 1942, mutanen da aka ware don mutuwa a cikin ɗakunan iskar gas masu motsi a Chelmno koyaushe ana kiransu "kaya" ko "abubuwa." Masu aikata kisan kare dangi ba sa ganin waɗanda suke kashewa a matsayin daidaikun mutane, sai dai a matsayin taro na jikkuna da gawarwaki. Idan muka ji labarin mutuwar dubban waɗanda aka cutar, yawan ba ya barin mu mu danganta kowace rayuwa da mutum. Lalle wannan ta'asa ta fito fili, amma baƙin cikin wata masifa ta mutum sau da yawa yakan kuɓuce mana. Masu gadi na Nazi sun tabbatar da cewa an cire katin shaidar waɗanda aka cutar, cewa ɗakunan iskar gas sun maye gurbin kisan gaggawa, kuma ba a taɓa kiran waɗanda aka cutar da sunayensu ba, ko ma da kalmomin da ke nuna cewa mutane ne.

In the Holocaust when speaking of prisoners, Nazi guards avoided using names or even words like ‘people’ or ‘individuals’ or even ‘men’, referring to them instead as “pieces” or “items”. The purpose was to strip victims of all importance and render their lives meaningless. Using words such as “corpse” or “victim” were forbidden; the dead were instead akin to blocks of wood, completely irrelevant. In a secret memorandum, dated June 5, 1942, the human beings marked for death in mobile gas chambers at Chelmno are always referred to as “the cargo” or “the items.” Perpetrators of genocide rarely see their victims as individuals, seeing them instead as a mass of bodies and corpses. When we hear of the deaths of thousands of victims, the number disallows a personalising with each life. The atrocity indeed stands out, but the sorrow of a personal tragedy often escapes us. Nazi guards had to ensure that identity cards were removed from their victims, that gas chambers took the place of summary executions, that victims were never addressed by their names or even in terms that denoted human presence.

Ta amfani da tsarin watsa labarai na tausayi na ƙasa baki ɗaya da ya fito daga Makarantar Firamare ta Sandy Hook da ke Connecticut a ranar 14 ga Disamba, 2012, George Monbiot ya yi ƙoƙarin haɗa tausayin jin kai tsakanin yaran Amurka da aka kashe a harin bindiga a Makarantar Firamare ta Sandy Hook da ke Connecticut a ranar 14 ga Disamba, 2012, da yaran da aka kashe a Pakistan sakamakon hare-haren jirage marasa matuƙa na Amurka. A misalin Monbiot, sakamakon Yakin Iraki ne ake jaddadawa, daidai da matsayin jaridar a kan yakin, da kuma tasirinsa ga yara. Sai dai hangen tausayi, da haɗa nau'ikan waɗanda aka kashe guda biyu, an yi shi ne don nuna yadda muke sanya rayukan da suka ɓace daban-daban cikin tsarin fahimtarmu. Monbiot ya bayyana yara da dama da aka kashe a hare-haren jirage marasa matuƙa waɗanda Shugabannin Amurka Bush da Obama suka amince da su, su 64 a shekaru uku na farko na mulkin Obama, da 69

Using the media framing of a national outpouring of compassion which emerged from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on December 14th 2012, George Monbiot sought to correlate humanitarian compassion between American children murdered in the gun attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on December 14th 2012 and children murdered in Pakistan from American drone strikes. In Monbiot’s example, it is the outcome of the Iraq War, in line with the newspaper’s critical position on the war, and its effect on children that is highlighted. However, the empathic outlook, the merging together of both types of victims is intended to show how we situate disparate lives lost in our cognitive schemas. Monbiot brings to light the dozens of children killed in drone strikes authorised by Presidents Bush and Obama, 64 in the first three years of Obama’s time in office and 69

yara da aka kashe a daya daga cikin hare-haren Bush na farko. Ya yi tsokaci kan rashin kula da yaran da suka mutu sakamakon hare-haren jirage marasa matuki na Amurka a matsayin wani bangare na tsarin kwace mutuncin mutum, 'suna na wani daban ne: na duniyar da ba ta mutane ba ta kwari da ciyawa da nama.'87

children killed in one of Bush’s earlier strikes. He comments on the indifference to the child victims of the American drone attacks as being part of a process of depersonalisation, ‘they belong to the other: to the non-human world of bugs and grass and tissue.’87

A shekarar 2018 BBC One ta fitar da wani shirin shaida mai suna ‘Killer in Our Classroom: Never Again’88, wanda ya dogara da harbin makaranta da ya faru a watan Fabrairu na 2018 a Parkland, Florida. Wannan harbi ne da Nikolas Cruz, mai shekaru 19, ya shiga Makarantar Sakandare ta Marjory Stoneman Douglas ya kashe ɗalibai goma sha huɗu da ma’aikata uku. Ya bi ɗaliban makarantar da suka shirya wani gangamin matasa na ƙasa baki ɗaya da ke kira da a tsaurara dokokin mallakar bindiga a Amurka. Babban abin da ke tayar da motsin rai a shirin ya ta'allaka ne a kan labaran wasu daga cikin ɗaliban da harbin ya shafa. Da aka nuna musu wani zane na Ginin 12 – Bene na Farko, mai ɗigo-ɗigo a azuzuwa daban-daban da ke nuna inda mutane suka mutu a lokacin harbin, ɗaya daga cikin ɗaliban ya ce, “Duk lokacin da digo zai zama shuɗi, ko digo ya zama rawaya, kamar na san wane ne, kuma hakan ya ba ni damuwa sosai.” Na biyu ya ce, “Na san kowane digo, kuma na san wane ne kowane ɗaya daga cikin waɗannan digon, kowane ɗaya. Na ji kamar na sake fuskantar duk abin.” Wani kuma ya ce, “Abin da ya fi muni shi ne idan ka ba digon suna, hakan yana ciwo.” Ɗaliban sun iya sanya dukkan rayuwa, gogewa da tunani a bayan kowane ‘digo’, don haka suka sa waɗannan rayuka su bayyana a matsayin masu daraja da kima, don bayyana lokuta, dabi’u da fifiko daban-daban.

A 2018 BBC One documentary ‘Killer in Our Classroom: Never Again’88 was based on the February 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting. This was a shooting in which 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killed fourteen pupils and three members of staff. He followed students from the school who had organised a mass youth-led campaign calling for stricter gun laws in America. Part of the emotive thrust of the documentary centres on the stories of some of the students affected by the shooting. On being shown a graphic of Building 12-First Floor with scattering of dots in different classrooms indicating where people died during the shooting, one of the students stated that “Every time a dot would turn blue, or a dot would turn yellow, like I knew who that was, and it was just really upsetting.” A second said that “I know every single dot, and I know who every single one of those dots are, like every single one. And I felt as if I just like experienced it all over again”. Another stated that “The worst thing is that when you do give names to the dots, it hurts”. The students were able to place an entire life, experience and memory behind the ‘dot’, and thus enabling the framing of those lives as worthy and treasured to articulate different temporalities, values and priorities.

Ga Kristoffer Goldsmith, Sajan a Rundunar Sojojin Amurka wanda aka tura Sadr City daga Janairu zuwa Disamba 2005, yaduwar hotunan wahala cikin zuciyarsa ce ta kai shi ga adawa da mayar da mutanen Iraki saniyar ware, wato rashin ɗan adam. Goldsmith ya bayyana wani hoto na wani mutum "da ya rasa fuskarsa, babu fata a kansa." Hoton, saboda "rashin cikarsa", ya wakilci wanda aka kashe wanda ya cancanci a yi masa jimami. Hakan ya sa Goldsmith ya gane ɗan adamtakar mutumin Iraki: "wannan ɗan wane ne, wannan miji ne na wane, wannan ɗan wane ne, kuma wannan ɗan uwan wane ne. Dalilin da ya sa ba mu damu da shi ba shi ne saboda ba farare ba ne, ba sojojin Amurka ba ne." 89 A Yakin Iraki, Bahaushen Iraki ya zama wanda aka mayar da shi kamar ba ya nan, ya zama "kamar fatalwa", kuma mun ga yadda mayar da mutum saniyar ware ke aiki a matsayin farkon tashin hankali, yana kuma haifar da cin zarafi da tashin hankali ta hanyar rashin samar da tsari da za a iya lura da rasuwar rai da shi.

For Kristoffer Goldsmith, Sergeant in the United States Army deployed between January-December 2005 in Sadr City, it was the diffusion of images of suffering into his self-consciousness that brought him to a point of contesting the dehumanisation of Iraqi people. Goldsmith describes a photograph of a man ‘missing his face, there is no skin left on his head’. The photograph was in its ‘incompleteness’ representative of a grievable victim. It led to Goldsmith recognising the humanness of the Iraqi man: “this is somebody’s brother, this is somebody’s husband, this is somebody’s son, and this is somebody’s cousin. The only reason that we’re desensitized to it is because they’re not white, they’re not American soldiers.”89 In the Iraq War the Iraqi Other undergoes a derealisation and becomes ‘spectral’ and we see how dehumanisation functions as a precursor to violence and results in abuse and violence through omission of a frame for the life lost.

A cikin wasan Shakespeare mai suna The Tempest, tunanin farko da ya zo wa Trinculo idan ya ci karo da Caliban shi ne cewa za a iya nuna shi a Ingila: "babu wani wawan biki a can da ba zai ba da azurfa guda ba... Idan ba za su ba da kwabo ko ɗaya don taimaka wa bara guragu ba, za su kashe goma don ganin wani Ba-Indiye matacce." Nunin hotuna na azabtarwar da ake yi wa mutanen da fatarsu ta fi duhu a ƙasashe masu nisa ya ci gaba da wannan al'ada, ba tare da la'akari da dalilan da ke hana irin waɗannan nune-nunen ga waɗanda aka cutar da su daga cikinmu ba. Wannan Ɗayan, koda ba abokin gaba ba ne, ana ɗaukarsa kawai a matsayin wanda za a gani, ba a matsayin wanda (kamar mu) shi ma yana gani.

In the Shakespeare play, The Tempest, the character Trinculo’s first thought upon coming across Caliban is that he could be put on exhibit in England: ‘not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver…When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.’ The exhibition in photographs of cruelties inflicted on those with darker complexions in exotic countries continues this offering, oblivious to the considerations that deter such displays of our own victims of violence; the Other, even when not an enemy, is regarded only as someone to be seen, not someone (like us) who also sees.

Sontag yana kira gare mu da mu yi tunani a kan sojan Taliban da ya ji rauni yana roƙon a bar shi da rai, wanda hoton halin da yake ciki ya bayyana sosai a cikin jaridar The New York Times, kuma wanda shi ma yana da mata, 'ya'ya, iyaye, 'yan'uwa mata da maza, waɗanda wasu daga cikinsu wata rana za su iya ci karo da hotunan launi uku na mijinsu, mahaifinsu, ɗansu, ɗan'uwansu suna a yanka – idan ma ba su riga sun gan su ba.90

Sontag calls on us to consider the wounded Taliban soldier begging for his life, whose fate was pictured prominently in The New York Times and who also had a wife, children, parents, sisters and brothers, some of whom may one day come across the three colour photographs of their husband, father, son, brother being slaughtered – if they have not already seen them.90