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Islamophobia is a neologism that refers to a fear or prejudice against Islam or Muslims as a religious group. The term, which is known to date back to 1991, became particularly prominent in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

According to Human Rights Watch and the Council on American-Islamic Relations there has been a recent increase in hate crimes against Muslims and Islamic organizations.

A number of writers, journalists, and intellectuals including Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, have criticized the concept for confusing the criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

History and use of the term

Dr Abduljalil Sajid (Brighton Islamic Mission, member of the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia and chair of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK) defined the term 'Islamophobia', a word that was first used in print in 1991, by quoting extracts from the 1997 Runnymede Trust report, which provided the first official definition of the term as unfounded hostility towards Islam, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims.

It is formed with the Greek suffix -phobia 'fear of -' in a similar way to xenophobia or homophobia. It reflects the influence of such 1990s movements as multiculturalism 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 have been categorized as "Islamophobic", as have inflammatory hate speech, and even 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 alleged to be Islamophobic. In Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg requires citizenship applicants from the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to answer questions about their attitudes on homosexuality, domestic violence and other religious issues. .

Clothing has become a flashpoint of Islamophobia. France, which has a strong secular tradition separating church from State, was accused of Islamophobia when the law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools was passed, which bans the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools. The policy extends to Muslim headscarves, large Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps, and other visible signs of religion, although smaller religious symbols (such as the Star of David and Crucifixes) are still allowed. The Dutch parliament has voted in favour of a proposal to ban the burqa in public, which has led to similar accusations.

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. Maleiha Malik has argued that this has led, in the United Kingdom, to Muslim communities suffering higher levels of unemployment, poor housing, poor health, and higher levels of racially motivated violence than other communities.

Since September 11, 2001, given the strong association between Arabs and the religion of Islam, Islamophobia is sometimes expressed as a form of anti-Arab racism. In the UK, Chris Allen has argued that whilst 'anti-Arab' sentiment is quite rare, Islamophobia has been to some degree transitory: a form of 'new' or 'cultural' racism that has seen the markers of discrimination shift from those of race to those of religion. In Germany, the majority of victims have not been Arabs, but rather are from Turkey, perhaps the most secular Islamic country. Anti-Muslim bias has also occasionally been expressed in violent attacks on Sikhs who were mistaken for Muslims on account of their distinctive turbans.

It has been argued that Islamophobia also exists in India. These claims are based upon a definition of Islamophobia that is more associated with communal politics in India, although accusations of the denigration of Islamic culture and history are also present.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a December 7, 2004 UN conference on the emergence of Islamophobia that " the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry — that it is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with 'Islamophobia'."

In 2006 the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) set up an observatory on Islamophobia .

Characterizations

Stephen Schwartz

American journalist and Muslim convert Stephen Schwartz believes that Islamophobia consists of the following:

attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the world;
condemning all of Islam and its history as extremist;
denying the active existence, in the contemporary world, of a moderate Muslim majority;
insisting that Muslims accede to the demands of non-Muslims for theological changes in their religion;
treating all conflicts involving Muslims as the fault of Muslims themselves; and
inciting war against Islam as a whole.

Schwartz suggests that Islamophobia, so defined, actually exists, though individuals are often accused of it without justification.

Runnymede Trust

File:Islamophobia graph.png

This graph from the Runnymede Trust tries to visually summarize all aspects of Islamophobia.

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. In a section entitled The Nature of Islamophobia, the report itemizes eight features that Runnymede attributed to Islamophobia:

Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change.
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.
Islam is seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive, and sexist.
Islam is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, and engaged in a Clash of Civilizations.
Islam is seen as a political ideology, used for political or military advantage.
Criticisms made of 'the West' by Islam are rejected out of hand.
Hostility towards Islam is used to justify discriminatory practices towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society.
Anti-Muslim hostility is seen as natural and normal.

The Runnymede description of Islamophobia has been accepted by by numerous Muslim organizations such as FAIR UK, the Forum against Islamophobia and Racism.

Some criticism of the Runnymede definition has however been put forward what with its 'closed views' being deemed outdated and unable to accommodate such manifestations of Islamophobia as physical violence or material damage, both of which have been prevalent since 9/11 across Europe.

Another critic of the Runnymede definition, British columnist Josie Appleton, criticized the definition given by the Runnymede Trust thusly:

This Runnymede 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.

The Runnymede Trust issued a report in 2004 which said that Islamophobia had become institutional in many Public bodies.

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe defines Islamophobia as "the fear of or prejudiced viewpoint towards Islam, Muslims and matters pertaining to them".

EUMC Report into Islamophobia in the EU following 9/11

The largest monitoring project ever to be commissioned into Islamophobia was undertaken following 9/11 by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC).

From a total of 75 reports – 15 from each EU member nation - a synthesis report was published in May 2002. Entitled 'Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001' it was co-authored by Chris Allen and Jorgen S. Nielsen at the University of Birmingham, England.

The report highlighted the regularity with which ordinary Muslims became targets for abusive and sometimes violent retaliatory attacks, all of which were seemingly becoming more extreme and accepted.

According to the report, despite localised differences within each member nation, the recurrence of attacks at street level upon recognisable and visible traits of Islam and Muslims was the report's most significant finding. These attacks took such form as the following: verbal abuse indiscriminately blaming all Muslims for terrorist attacks; women having their hijab torn from their heads; male and female Muslims being spat at; children being called 'Usama' as a term of insult and derision; and random assaults, which on one occasion, left a victim paralysed and others hospitalised.

The representation of Muslims in the media was also noted. Whilst some media initially attempted to differentiate Muslims, this was not always the norm. Inherent negativity, stereotypical images, fantastical representations and grossly exaggerated caricatures were all readily identifiable, drawing upon pre-9/11 established norms to locate further justification and resonance within the media’s audiences.

Similar concerns about the role of politicians and other opinion leaders were also raised. Within the mainstream of political activity, some political leaders made immediate verbal statements stressing the need to differentiate between 'Muslims' and 'terrorists'. In Portugal however, political leaders remained silent. In some other countries, mainstream political leaders were much more vocal and emotionally charged as regards anti-Muslim rhetoric, with both Italy and Denmark being earmarked in the report.

The report concluded that, 'a greater receptivity towards anti-Muslim and other xenophobic ideas and sentiments has, and may well continue, to become more tolerated' .

Criticism of the concept

Some commentators have questioned the concept of Islamophobia.

Commonly, critics of the term argue that its use is an attempt to police or censor opinion by characterizing any criticism of Islam or Muslims as pathological and irrational. Some of these critics cite the case of the British liberal feminist 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 most members of the Muslim community.

Civil-rights activist Bahram Soroush views the term Islamophobia as a form of "Intellectual blackmail", a means of avoiding legitimate criticism of Islam by "scaremongering".

Kenan Malik, a British journalist, has made several points in rejecting the widespread existence of Islamophobia in his essay The Islamophobia Myth:

Caution is needed in attributing Islamophobia as the base cause of any event.
It is not sufficient that a Muslim is a victim of crime.
The accusation of Islamophobia can be used as a mechanism to stifle debate and criticism of the cultural practices of Muslim societies.
Finally, anti-social behaviour and deliquency may be the cause of any of the events cited as being islamophobic attacks.

UK researcher Chris Allen has not denied the reality of Islamophobia but has criticised the primary theory, concept and definition of Islamophobia—that of the Runnymede Trust—as naïve and over‐simplified.

Wolfram Richter, professor of economics in the Dortmund University believes that what is seen as Islamophobia is essentially just another form of racism, and beleives the next Holocaust will be against Muslims.

On December 7, 2004 at a U.N. sponsored seminar entitled "Confronting Islamophobia: Education for Tolerance and Understanding”, Ahmed Kamal Aboulmagd Ph.D., a former member of the Government of Egypt, disputed the neologism and described the term as "derogatory".

The Dutch philosopher and criminal law expert Afshin Ellian, criticised the concept in February 2006 in a piece entitled Stop Capitulating to Threats. He stated:

Free speech is in danger of being increasingly restricted by invoking “Islamophobia” and “racism”. And some intellectuals have already capitulated. For example, the opera Aisha was called off in Rotterdam in 2001, because the wife of the Prophet was depicted on stage. The production had to be cancelled because a number of actresses felt threatened. Recently a columnist on the national daily NRC Handelsblad, Hasna el Maroudi was forced to abandon her column because of threats of violence from the Moroccan community. What has happened to civil courage? Why do we hear nothing from the publishers, artists, media and colleagues of people who have capitulated about the consequences of this voluntary capitulation?

The University of London philosopher Piers Benn suggests in the New Humanist that:

Many who fear the rise of Islamophobia veer away from critical analysis of Islamic claims and practices, perhaps for fear of what they might find. They denounce critical scrutiny of Islam as somehow impolite, or ignorant of the religion’s true nature. This is not intellectually or morally healthy. The real lesson of tolerance is that disputes should be settled by reasoned dialogue rather than abuse or violence, and that we should always accept that we may have much to learn from people whose beliefs initially appear strange. But these virtues are a far cry from the sentimental pretence that all claims to religious truth are somehow ‘equal’, or that critical scrutiny of Islam (or any belief system) is ignorant, prejudiced, or ‘phobic’.

The New Criterion editor Roger Kimball agrees with Benn's depiction of Islamophobia becoming powerful enough to itself trigger fear:

While we are waiting for that backlash, and humming “Let’s Not Be Beastly to the Muslims,” it is worth noting the word “Islamophobia” is a misnomer. A phobia describes an irrational fear, and it is axiomatic that fearing the effects of radical Islam is not irrational, but on the contrary very well-founded indeed, so that if you want to speak of a legitimate phobia—it’s a phobia I experience frequently—we should speak instead of Islamophobia-phobia, the fear of and revulsion towards Islamophobia.

The National Secular Society concurs with Benn and Kimball in seeing Islamophobiaphobia in that:

There is little evidence of any wave of popular Islamophobia. But there is plenty to suggest that some in high places are suffering from an exaggerated fear of an anti-Muslim backlash, viewing the public as a pogrom waiting to happen.

The Washington Times columnist Tony Blankley distinguishes between Islamophobia and what he calls Islamistphobia:

Of course Islamophobia is a repulsive mentality -- suggestive of old-fashioned hate of others. But, as Denmark's leading Islamic scholar, Jacob Skovgaard-Petersen, explained in 2004, there is a different and growing phobia, which he named "Islamistphobia." This is not an atavistic hatred of another man's skin or faith or last name, but is instead the fear of the ideas and conduct of radical Muslims.

He argues further that undue fears of Islamophobia resulting from conflation of Islamophobia with "Islamistphobia" undermine the United States's national security.

Efforts combatting Islamophobia

In the UK a number of methods aimed at curbing Islamophobia have been set up:

In Tower Hamlets, a densely populated area with a large Muslim community, a crime reporting scheme called "Islamophobia - Don't Suffer in Silence" has been set up which police hope will raise awareness of Islamophobia and help them to understand the extent of the problem.

The British National Union of Teachers (NUT) has issued guidance to teachers in the union advising that teachers have to "Challenge Islamophobia", and that they have a "crucial role" to play in helping to "dispel myths about Muslim communities".

Following the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy around four thousand people participated in a march in Trafalgar Square in opposition to Islamophobia and inctiement.. A similar themed march, a week later, drew around ten thousand people to the same place .

Following the July 7 bombings, the British government set up a number of initiatives aimed at combatting Islamophobia, including the "National Forum against extremism and Islamophobia". . There was also plans by the British government to ban incitement to "religious hatred", however, this failed to get through the House of Commons.

References in connection to Islamophobia

File:Bnp-islam-poster.gif

Poster used by the British National Party.

2005 Sydney race riots
Attack on a Mosque in Brisbane, Australia.
Attack on a Muslim Sanctuary in the Spanish city of Ceuta.
Smearing of a Qur'an with feces and dumping it in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
Pat Robertson founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network calls Islam "Demonic" and alludes to a mass Muslim conspiracy for "world domination".
Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard, says that Muslims all over the world are enemies of Western civilization.
Attacks on Hijabi women in the University of Toronto.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, claimed on the Fox News Channel that Muslims are "motivated by demonic power"
On November 9, 2001 syndicated columnist Cal Thomas quoted John Ashcroft as having said: "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you.". However, a White House spokesperson said "I understand from the Justice Department that the attorney general has been misquoted, and that the misquotes do not accurately reflect either what he said or what he believes." Cal Thomas has stood by veracity of the quote.
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools
"The Force of Reason" written by Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci
Prisoner abuse in Britain
Religious intolerance in Guantánamo Bay detainment camp
The British National Party's attempts to exploit Islamophobic feelings to make gains in local elections.
The political views of Filip Dewinter.
Crimes against Muslims during the Yugoslav wars, including the Srebrenica massacre.