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Islamophobia is a strongly negative set of beliefs on Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture, inspiring fear and sometimes leading to hatred.

Islamophobia encompasses the belief that all or most Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, support Islamist terrorism and reject concepts such as equality, tolerance, democracy and human rights.

It can be viewed as a new form of racism whereby Muslims, an ethno-religious group, not a race, are nevertheless constructed as a race. A set of negative assumptions are made of the entire group to the detriment of members of that group.

During the 1990s some sociologists and cultural analysts hypothesized that there was a shift in forms of prejudice from ones based on skin colour to ones based on notions of cultural superiority and otherness . Others, however, disagree, and hold that modern forms of prejudice are not substantially different from similar forms of prejudice that have existed in many other places and times.

History of the term 'Islamophobia'

The term is a neologism dating from the early 1990’s and derives from Xenophobia or Homophobia. As such, it reflects the influence of such 1990s movements as multi-culturalism and identity politics.

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 combined with Islamophobia to make integration particularly difficult. 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.

Islamophobia, as a phenomenon, dates 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.

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 definition

The Runnymede Trust has identified eight components that they say define Islamophobia. This definition, from the 1997 document ‘Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All’ is widely accepted, including by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. The eight components are:

  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 civilisations'.
  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.

Anti Islamophobia efforts

Recently there have been several efforts by non-Muslims to combat Islamophobia. In the wake of September 11, for example, a few non-Muslim women wore a hijab in a show of solidarity with their Muslim counterparts, whom it was feared would be particularly vulnerable for reprisal given their distinctive dress. Non-Muslims also helped form community watches to protect mosques from attack.

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

Examples of Islamophobia

  • Arlene Peck: "Most of the Muslims reaching the U.S. refuse to learn our language and take over our neighborhoods with their codes of dress and education. Then, they pressure the residents, as they did in Dearborn, Michigan, to leave by razing the churches and putting mosques in their places, displacing the local delis with Middle Eastern food. The Arabic signs go up and another neighborhood bites the dust. Now, everyone can be serenaded five times a day with loudspeakers calling them to prayer. Fast learners, they are now armed with the knowledge of how to beat us with bullets and ballots."
  • Thomas E. Klocek: "Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims."
  • Rep. C. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA): "Just turn (the sheriff) loose and have him arrest every Muslim that crosses the state line" (to Georgia law officers, November 2001)
  • Ann Coulter: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
  • Will Cummins: "It is the black heart of Islam, not the black face, to which millions object."
  • Robert Kilroy-Silk: "Muslims everywhere behave with equal savagery. They behead criminals, stone to death female - only female - adulteresses, throw acid in the faces of women who refuse to wear the chador, mutilate the genitals of young girls and ritually abuse animals"
  • Jean-Marie Le Pen: "These elements have a negative effect on all of public security. They are strengthened demographically both by natural reproduction and by immigration, which reinforces their stubborn ethnic segregation, their domineering nature. This is the world of Islam in all its aberrations."
  • Jerry Vines: "Christianity was founded by the virgin-born Jesus Christ. Islam was founded by Mohammed, a demon-possessed paedophile who had 12 wives, and his last one was a 9-year-old girl."

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, is often an attempt to police and 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 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.

Although some would argue that such views are Islamophobic and confuse Islamism and Islam, 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.

See also

References

  1. Religion as a fig leaf for racism, Jeremy Seabrook, The Guardian, 2004-07-23, retrieved 2005-01-29 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. Insurgents? Militants? Hell No, They’re Terrorists!, Arutz Sheva, verified 2005/05/19 from http://israelnn.com/article.php3?id=5128
  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.
  8. Legislative Update, Siskind's Immigration Bulletin February 7, 2003, Visalaw.com, verified 2005/01/22 from http://www.visalaw.com/03feb1/17feb103.html
  9. This Is War - We should invade their countries., Ann Coulter (Contributing Editor), National Review Online, 2001-09-13, verified 2005/01/22 from http://www.nationalreview.com/coulter/coulter091301.shtml, according to proislam.com the National Review later ceased employing Ms Coulter.
  10. The Tories must confront Islam instead of kowtowing to it, Will Cummins, The Daily Telegraph, 2004/07/18 verified 2005/01/22 from http://www.sport.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/07/18/do1802.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2004/07/18/ixopinion.html
  11. When speech is too free, Ahmed J Versi (Editor and publisher of The Muslim News), BBC News 2004/01/19, retrieved 2005/01/22 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3409123.stm
  12. Le Pen ultimate, Adar Primor, Haaretz International, verified 2005/01/22 from http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=153419
  13. Vines calls founder of Islam a 'demon-possessed pedophile', Biblical Recorder 2002-06-14, verified 2005/01/22 from http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/content/news/2002/6_14_2002/ne140602vines.shtml
  14. There Is No Palestine, by Rabbi Meir Kahane 1974, verified 2005/01/22 from http://kahanetzadak.com/palestine.html N.B. probable extremist site, declared as terrorist by the U.S. State Department.
  15. Last chance to speak out, Polly Toynbee, The Guardian 2001/10/05, verified 2005/01/22 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,563619,00.html
  16. The Annual Islamophobia Awards, Islamic Human Rights Commission, 2003/05/31, verified 2005/01/22 from http://www.inminds.co.uk/islamophobia-awards-2003.html
  17. Loop professor takes heat for conduct, The DePaulia, verified 2005/05/17 from http://www.thedepaulia.com/story.asp?artid=77&sectid=1

External Links

Anti Islamophobia websites and articles

Examples of Use

Examples of use by the writer Faisal Bodi:

Categories: