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Islamophobia is a neologism used to refer to an irrational fear or prejudice towards Muslims and the religion of Islam.

Perceived prejudice against Muslims is believed to have increased since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Dr Abduljalil Sajid, an adviser to the Commission on British Muslims, an anti-racism group, has said he believes many organizations are "institutionally Islamophobic". He has said that "ince the 11 September attacks the single most important concern has been police harassment of Muslims. Even one of Muslim peers ... has been stopped twice by police." United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a December 7, 2004 UN conference on the emergence of Islamophobia that "hen the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry — that is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with 'Islamophobia'."

American journalist Stephen Schwartz has defined Islamophobia as the condemnation of the entirety of Islam and its history as extremist, denying the existence of a moderate Muslim majority, regarding Islam as a problem for the world, treating conflicts involving Muslims as necessarily their own fault, insisting that Muslims make changes to their religion, and inciting war against Islam as a whole.

The concept of Islamophobia has been questioned, with some commentators arguing that the term can also be used to censor legitimate criticism of Islam and of individual Muslims.

History and use of the term

Islamophobia, as a phenomenon, is believed to date back to the initial expansion of Islam and grew as a result of the crusades. It has been argued that Islamophobia exists outside the West, for example in India. This is more closely related to communal politics in India, although Islamophobia in India does share, with western Islamophobia, the denigration of Islamic culture and history.

The term 'Islamophobia' is a neologism dating from the early 1990s and is formed with the suffix -phobia in a similar way to Xenophobia or Homophobia. As such, it reflects the influence of such 1990s movements as multi-culturalism and identity politics. During this period, some sociologists and cultural analysts argued that there was a shift in forms of prejudice from ones based on race to ones based on notions of cultural superiority and otherness.

Actions and beliefs typically described as Islamophobic range from systematic discrimination to physical assault. Hate crimes against Muslims are commonly categorized as Islamophobic, as is inflammatory hate speech, and criticism. The UK Minister Peter Hain's statement that Britain's Muslim community is "isolationist" was met with accusations of Islamophobia, and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's statement that Western civilization is "superior" to Islam was similarly deemed Islamophobic.

The term most often appears in discourse on the condition of immigrant Muslims living as minorities in the United States, Europe, and Australia, although it has also been used in recent years in countries such as India, and occasionally in connection with non-immigrant Muslim communities or individuals. In the most prominent cases, however, experiences of immigrant communities of unemployment, rejection, alienation, and violence have allegedly combined with Islamophobia to make integration difficult. It has been argued that this has led, in the United Kingdom for example, to Muslim communities suffering higher levels of unemployment, poor housing, poor health, and levels of racially motivated violence than other communities.

Given the strong association between Arabs and the religion of Islam, Islamophobia is often expressed as a form of anti-Arab racism, though not all Arabs are Muslim and the majority of Muslims are not Arab. Anti-Muslim bias has occasionally been expressed in violent attacks on Sikhs who were mistaken for Muslims on account of their distinctive turbans.

Runnymede Trust usage

In the United Kingdom, the term "Islamophobia" was not used in government policy until 1997, when the UK race-relations think-tank Runnymede Trust published the report "Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All". (pdf) In a section entitled "The Nature of Islamophobia," the report itemizes eight features that Runnymede attributed to Islamophobia:

1. Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change.
2. Islam is seen as separate and "other". It does not have values in common with other cultures, is not affected by them and does not influence them.
3. Islam is seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive, and sexist.
4. Islam is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, and engaged in a 'clash of civilizations'.
5. Islam is seen as a political ideology and is used for political or military advantage.
6. Criticisms made of the West by Islam are rejected out of hand.
7. Hostility towards Islam is used to justify discriminatory practices towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society.
8. Anti-Muslim hostility is seen as natural or normal.

The Runnymede description of Islamophobia was accepted by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia and by numerous Muslim organizations such as FAIR UK, the forum against Islamophobia and racism. British columnist Josie Appleton criticized the definition and wrote:

This report talked about a rising 'anti-Muslim prejudice' that needed addressing in policy. But the section titled 'The nature of Islamophobia' suggests a very broad notion of prejudice — examples of Islamophobia included people seeing Islam as inferior to the West, rather than just distinctively different; seeing Islam as monolithic and static, rather than diverse and progressive; seeing Islam as an enemy, rather than a partner to cooperate with (7). This also seemed to be founded on an over-sensitivity, an attempt to stem any kind of criticism of Islam. Rather than engage Muslims in debate, non-Muslims are supposed to tiptoe around them, for fear of causing offence. Since 11 September we have seen how this attitude can stifle discussion.

Criticism of the concept

Some commentators have questioned the concept of Islamophobia, arguing that use of the term is often an attempt to police or censor opinion by characterizing any criticism of Islam or Muslims as pathological and irrational, just as use of the term anti-Semitism, many people would argue, may be an attempt to censor criticism of Israel. Some of these critics cite the case of the liberal feminist British journalist Polly Toynbee, who was nominated for the title of "Most Islamophobic Media Personality of the Year" at the Annual Islamophobia Awards overseen by the Islamic Human Rights Commission in May 2003. The nomination was based on her comments in an article she had written for the London-based liberal newspaper The Guardian:

Religious politics scar India, Kashmir, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Sudan ... the list of countries wrecked by religion is long. But the present danger is caused by Islamist theocracy … There is no point in pretending it is not so. Wherever Islam either is the government or bears down upon the government, it imposes harsh regimes that deny the most basic human rights.

Toynbee has rejected the label of "Islamophobe" and argued that her comments must be judged on their truth or falsity, not on the offence they might give to some members of the Muslim community.

Civil-rights activist Bahram Soroush views the term Islamophobia as a meaningless deflection. He claims the term is a means of avoiding legitimate criticism of Islam and Islamic history by means of name-calling, or is used to create the appearence of widespread hatred against Muslims.

Anti-Islamophobia efforts

• The Forum on Islamophobia and racism (FAIR) dedicates itself to fighting Islamophobia in the United Kingdom.

• The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) recently organized a conference with the topic of "Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism: Causes and Remedies," which touched on the issue of Islamophobia. Guest speakers included those from several American universities, Amnesty International, and former Deputy Premier of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim.

Aside from this many Islamic organizations in the west have taken step forwards to correct certain misconceptions about Islam that have become more prevalent in the post-9/11 world.

Hate crimes against Muslims

• Attack on a Mosque in Brisbane, Australia. (*)
• Attack on a Mosque in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
• Attack on a Mosque in Reading, England.
• The attack on a Mosque in Quincy, Massachusetts. (*)
• Smearing a Qur'an with feces and dumping it in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. (*)
• Attack on a pregnant woman in Islamic dress in Arlington County, Virginia, USA (*)

(*) These articles do not specifically use the term 'Islamophobia'

See also

• Persecution of Muslims
• Religious intolerance
• Islamism
• Islamist terrorism

References

1. Religion as a fig leaf for racism, Jeremy Seabrook, The Guardian, 23 July 2004, retrieved 29 January 2005 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1267567,00.html
2. Discrimination and Legislation - Response of Dr. Anya Rudiger from Discrimination and Legislation session of Muslims in Europe post 9/11 conference, 2003-04-26, St Antony's College, Oxford retrieved 2005-01-29 from http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/princeton/pap_rudiger.shtml
3. Islam and Muslims in Europe, Tariq Ramadan, Equal Voices issue 10, published by European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) verified 2005-01-29 from http://eumc.eu.int/eumc/index.php?fuseaction=content.dsp_cat_content&catid=3e3e6e32a2316&contentid=3e3e8c602f879
4. Discrimination and Legislation from Muslims in Europe post 9/11 conference, 2003-04-26, St Antony's College, Oxford retrieved 2005-01-29 from http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/princeton/pap_malik.shtml
5. Trapped in the ruins, William Dalrymple, The Guardian, 2004-03-20, verified 2005-01-29 from http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1172782,00.html
6. Loop professor takes heat for conduct, The DePaulia, verified 17 May 2005 from http://www.thedepaulia.com/story.asp?artid=77&sectid=1
7. Orientalism, Edward W. Said , ISBN 0614216303 (1996 edition, Kazi Pubns Inc), quote given is taken from Page 74 of the "2003 Edition", publisher unknown.

External links

• Islamophobia Watch
• "Who's afraid of Islamophobia?" by Josie Appleton, Spiked, July 2, 2002
• Forum against Islamophobia and Racism
• trueislam.com
• Muslim Women's League
• "Islamophobia", Islamicawareness.net
• Masud.co.uk
• "Muslims and the European Right" by Abdal-Hakim Murad, Masud.co.uk, first delivered as a lecture on April 30, 2000
• Islamonline.net
• "Deep roots of Islamophobia by James Brooks, Islamonline.net
• tripod.com "Eurocentrism and Islamophobia" by Saeid Reza Ameli, Islamic Centre of England, October 1997
• tripod.com Links about Islamophobia, Islamic Human Rights Commission
• "Muslimphobia Alerts", Muslaman.com
• Council on American Islamic Relations
• "Canadian Media Are Fuelling Hatred of Islam, Says Cic, Canadian Muslim Congress, February 13, 2003

• Moral panics
• Discrimination
• Prejudices
• Religious persecution
• Racism
• Phobias