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Islamophobia is fear or hatred of Muslims or Islamic culture. Islamophobia is characterized by the belief that Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as equality, tolerance, and democracy. It is a form of racism where 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.

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

The term itself is of recent coinage, and reflects the influence of such 1990s movements as multi-culturalism and identity politics. It most often appears in discourse on the condition of immigrant Muslims living as minorities in the West. However, its origin dates back to the Crusades. It has remained present in Europe for many centuries.

The Runnymede Trust has identified eight components of 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 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.

Some hold that in France, one of the factors contributing to Islamophobia was France's occupation of Algeria, a Muslim nation, during which France carried out human rights violations such as torture against Muslims, as witnessed by the unrepentant French General Paul Aussaresses, among many others.

A factor driving Islamophobia is the rise of anti-Western Islamist movements, which have either come to power outright in some countries (Iran, Sudan, post-Soviet-era Afghanistan), or else exerted a strong influence on government policy in others (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan).

It is sometimes claimed that the increasing fraction of North Americans and Europeans who identify themselves as Muslims is a factor driving Islamophobia. However, Islamophobia (or any other racist fear) is often present among populations with extremely few Muslims (or other perceived minority).

Perhaps the most important factor shaping the present wave of Islamophobia (as of 2003), though, is the extremely large and disproportionate media coverage given to Islamist-inspired terrorism, for example, to the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, while relatively little media coverage is given to equivalent acts of terrorism by other groups or nation-states.

Many people mistakenly believe that most Muslims are Islamist, when in fact the Islamist movement is only a minority position. How big of a minority, though, is a matter of intense controversy. The American scholar Daniel Pipes, for example, has estimated that 10% to 15% of Muslims have Islamist sympathies. , a figure most consider to be absurdly inflated, and for which (among other reasons) the Council on American-Islamic Relations has branded him an Islamophobic bigot.

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 practiced hijab in a show of solidarity with their Muslim counterparts, who 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.

In Israel, there are some organizations working to end anti-Muslim bias among Jews, as well as to end hatred of Jews among Arabs. See the entry on projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs.

Examples of Islamophobia

• Ann Coulter: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
• Jerry Vines: "Christianity was founded by the virgin-born Jesus Christ. Islam was founded by Mohammed, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives, and his last one was a 9-year-old girl."
• 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."

See also: anti-Islamism, persecution of Muslims, Religious intolerance

External Links

• example uses of the term by Muslim writer Faisal Bodi:
  • The Guardian: Call this monster by its name
  • The Guardian: Old hatred, new style
• The Guardian: To say that jihadis are a threat is not Islamophobic