A comparison of the respective histories of Islam and the West shows a relative absence of racism in Islam. Islamic teachings have provided Muslims with an enlightened perspective of human diversity which inhibited the emergence of racist ideologies in Islamic civilisation. Consequently, Islam, unlike the West, is not scarred by incidents of annihilation of indigenous peoples, racist slave trades, holocausts nor any systems of apartheid. The Islamic perspective of human diversity provide constructive insights for a world still plagued by racism.